<< No. 43 : 31 December 1976 >>

1. The Struggle for Emigration

19 SEPTEMBER 1976

On 19 September a group of Jewish ‘refuseniks’ sent the following statement to three Moscow city departments:

• Soviet Executive Committee,
• Department of Internal Affairs,
• Visa & Registration Department (OVIR)

And sent copies to:

• USSR Supreme Soviet and
• CPSU Central Committee

STATEMENT

We have been handing in documents applying to emigrate, on behalf of ourselves and our families, to live permanently in the State of Israel. In reply to our request, we have received refusals from OVIR, based on ‘security’ and other considerations, which have been delivered to us orally without any indication of how long the refusal would be valid.

We regard ourselves as citizens of Israel who are being forcibly detained in the USSR. In this use of force there is a similarity between our position and that of prisoners. However, if prisoners who have broken the law know the limit of their imprisonment, we — who have not broken any Soviet laws — do not know the limits of our forced separation from our historic homeland …

It is amazing, to say the least, that over a year after Helsinki the Soviet official organizations have not been able to introduce any kind of legality into their procedure for issuing refusals.

We demand that a refusal of visa on ‘security’ or any other grounds should be issued in written form, with the reasons for the refusal and its duration.

Signed:

Victor M. Yelistratov, I. L. Tsitovsky, Arkady A. Polishchuk, Josif A. Ass, Mikhail Kremen, Boris M. Chernobylsky, Ya. G. Rakhlenko, Vladimir S. Slepak, A. G. Gurevich, Z. L. Tesker, A. I. Gvinter, L. D. Shabashov.

*

OCTOBER

On 15 October Sivets, an OVIR inspector, told Chernobylsky that there would be no written refusals.

*

On 18 October all twelve authors of the statement, together with I. Elkin, went to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet with a new statement — asking for a reply to their statement of 19 September. The Jews refused to leave the reception room without receiving a reply.

At the end of the working day they were pushed into a bus, taken to the outskirts of Moscow and thrown out forcibly. On getting back to the city centre, the Jews informed Western journalists of what had occurred.

*

On 19 October the same Jews set off again for the reception room with a similar statement.

All day they sat in the room without obtaining any results. At the end of the working day the refuseniks were pushed into a bus and driven out of Moscow, this time to a distance of 60 kilometres. The Jews refused to get out of the bus on a deserted road in the middle of a forest. The drunken volunteer militia, who outnumbered them by more than two to one, began to throw the Jews out of the bus and beat them up.

Shouts were heard: “So you haven’t been killed off yet?” and “yids”. Trying to stop the bus, the Jews lay down in front of it. Others began to kick them.

Mikhail Kremen was severely beaten, Arkady Polishchuk was kicked in the ribs, and Z. Tesker’s nose was broken. Two militiamen shoved I. Ass into a ditch beside the road and began to trample on him. In addition to the bus there was a Volga automobile parked on the road. Deciding that the men in charge were inside it, the men being beaten ran towards the car. The Volga reversed, turned round and disappeared. The bus also drove away. The wounded Jews only got back to Moscow late at night.

The same night a press conference was organized at the flat of Vladimir Slepak. The next day Western papers published photographs of the men who had been beaten up; the papers also told the story of the statements addressed to the Supreme Soviet. Western radio stations also reported on these events.

*

On 20 October 28 refuseniks arrived in the morning at the reception room of the Praesidium.

They repeated the demands made by the Twelve on 19 September and also demanded that those responsible for the beatings of the day before should be punished. In addition to those who had been beaten up, the following persons signed the statement: A. Shcharansky, I. Beilin, A. Mai, F, Kandel, R. Levitanaite, B. Lainer, B. Fishkin, A. Gurevich, D. Shchiglik, R. Yakir, E. Yakir, V. Khnokh from Leningrad, I. Andryukhin, E. Nizhnikov and A. Druk. Later the statement was also signed by E. Chernobylskaya and M. Liberman.

In the afternoon an assistant at the room, I. V. Volkova, stated that N. A. Shcholokov, the Minister of Internal Affairs, would receive those who had assembled on 21 October at 10 a.m.

*

USSR MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS

On 21 October in the morning the following people came to the Ministry of of Internal Affairs, in addition to those already mentioned: E. Seidel, A. Lerner, Ida Nudel, Dina Beilina, S. Priven, G. Rosenstein, O. Mendeleyev, E. Axelrod, V. Fain, T. Druk, M, Gorbatov, Naum Meiman, L. Blitzstein, I. Gildengorn, R. Tesker, I. Kosharovskaya, Yu. Kosharovsky, N. Biberstein, R. Ospovat, M. Novikov, A. Nizhnikov, E. Lenchik (from Odessa), M. Khait and L. Ulanovsky.

Those who assembled there were told that Shcholokov would talk to each of them in turn about the reasons for refusal of his visa. The Jews would not agree to this method of discussion, as they wished to discuss measures to ensure their own safety.

The two sides agreed that the refuseniks should choose representatives (Vladimir Slepak, Boris Chernobylsky and Anatoly Shcharansky) who would then be seen by the Minister. During the ensuing conversation police commissars, MVD and army generals were present, as well as officials in civilian clothes, including Obidin, the head of OVIR, and his deputy Ovchinnikov.

Shcholokov [¹] began by talking about the reasons why visas are refused.

The Jews wanted to ask the Minister if measures would be taken to ensure the safety of Jewish refuseniks. Shcholokov replied that neither he nor his ministry were responsible for safety in the reception room of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. He also informed them that he had listened to a BBC broadcast which had spoken of Jews being beaten up, and added that, according to his own sources, three militiamen had been beaten up.

The conversation turned to the demands formulated in the statement of 19 September.

Shcholokov suggested that he would discuss the reasons for refusal of visas with each person individually, by word of mouth, but refused to give any reasons in writing. When in the course of conversation people were mentioned who had been ‘in refusal’ for more than five years, Shchelokov would turn to Obidin: “That’s a mistake, check it.” The conversation lasted for about forty minutes.

As they had not received an answer to any of the questions in the statement, the refuseniks put on their Stars of David and went straight from the MVD to the Presidium reception room. The Jews composed a new statement, in which they demanded that:

(a) those responsible for beating up 13 Jews in the forest on 19 October 1976 should be punished;

(b) measures should be taken to ensure the physical safety of Jews who were being persecuted because they want to emigrate from the USSR;

(c) an official answer should be given to every person on the question of emigration.

That evening three buses were needed; 40 people were put into the vehicles provided and driven out of Moscow. Those driven into the forest included M. Zelyony from Odessa. While they were still in the reception room M. Kremen, Boris Chernobylsky, Victor Yelistratov and A. Polishchuk were separated from the rest of the group on the orders of someone in civilian clothes and taken away.

*

On 22 October the Jews again came to the room and handed in a statement addressed to N. V. Podgorny which described the events of 19-21 October. They demanded that those arrested should be released; that those responsible for the beatings should be brought to book; and that Shcholokov’s statement about the lack of guarantees for their safety should be explained. The statement was signed by 45 persons.

When they received no reply, the Jews again put on the Star of David and walked slowly along Marx Avenue to the reception room of the CPSU Central Committee in Old Square. Colonel Zolotukhin, the deputy head of Moscow OVIR, ran after them to the reception room.

The Jews took a statement, similar to that addressed to Podgorny, in to the Central Committee. The representatives of the refuseniks received an unexpected invitation to talk to Albert Ivanov, deputy head of the Central Committee’s administrative agencies department (for Ivanov’s previous conversation with Jews, see CCE 40.12). Five people went to see him (Slepak, Shcharansky, Beilin, Kandel and Ass). The talk with Ivanov was shorter and more to the point than that with the minister. During the conversation Ivanov referred disapprovingly to the actions of the militia and said that this incident would be ‘investigated’. Nevertheless, the Jews did not receive an answer to any of their questions.

While the delegates were talking to Ivanov, Zolotukhin was trying to participate in the conversation of those waiting outside. He went up first to one group, then to another, asking: “When is the feast of Hanukha?” “Is Haifa a good city?”

The Jews stayed at the Central Committee, waiting for news of the four arrested the day before. Sometime later Ivanov told them that the four were at Police Station 40. At the police station they said the arrested men were not there. Ivanov insisted that he had told the truth. The negotiations went on to the end of the working day.

That evening the buses drove up again and took the Jews to Sobering-Up Station 8. The buses were followed by a police van containing witnesses. (The witnesses had been brought beforehand to the courtyard in front of the Central Committee reception room.) They came in useful when all the Jews were reported for violating public order. Having been detained at the sobering-up station for some time, the Jews were gradually released in small groups.

It later became known that Arkady Polishchuk, Mikhail Kremen and Viktor Yelistratov had been imprisoned for 15 days for violating public order.

*

23 October. Saturday at the synagogue. The Jews wrote a letter appealing to Western public opinion, in which they described the events of the past days. The letter was signed by about 100 people.

*

25 October. The Jews were preparing to meet again at the reception room of the Presidium in order to write a new statement and get a reply. However, their plans were foiled. Some of them were seized at their homes, some on the way to the room. Only five people reached it.

Buses were parked in the university courtyard, ready for the Jews. The buses were gradually filled. Some people ended up in them quite by chance — from the reception room or even off the street.

Those detained were again taken to sobering-up station 8. Those who had been picked up by chance were soon released.

Five Jewish women were fined: R. Levitanaite, E. Seidel, G. Mendzheritskaya, R. Yakir and I. Nudel. One of them did not have enough money to buy her release. It had to be quickly collected.

The following spent the day under arrest: N. Rozenshtein, V, Fain, S. Fain, A. Druk, T. Druk, A. Nizhnikov, A. Lifshits and his wife, E. Shakhnovskaya, A. Mai, A. Bolshoi, N. Meiman, M. Azbel, V. Brailovsky, G. Shapiro, A. Zavurov, I. Tsitovsky, V. Prestin, Talyanker and others.

The following were under arrest for 15 days: Anatoly Shcharansky, V. Shakhnovsky, Vladimir Slepak, F. Kandel, Z. Tesker, M. Zelyony, G. Rozenshtein, I. Beilin, Yu. Kosharovsky, Ya. Rakhlenko, A. Gurevich, L. Volvovsky, I. Tufeld, A. Gvinter, E. Yakir, L. Shabashov, L. Tsypin and D. Shchiglik.

*

On 25 October Vladimir Slepak received a sympathetic telegram from J. Carter, a candidate for the USA presidency; on 28 October, when Slepak was already serving his 15 days, his wife Maria Slepak received a telegram from Senator E. Kennedy.

*

2. The Case of Ass and Chernobylsky

On 25 October Josif Ass was taken from Sobering-Up Station [vytrezvitel] 8 to Police Station 40, where Boris Chernobylsky was already.

These two Jews, who had been beaten up on 19 October, were charged under Article 206 (RSFSR Criminal Code: “hooliganism”). The case was conducted by investigator Tikhonov of the Moscow City Procurator’s Office. Ass and Chernobylsky were put in Butyrka Prison. By 30 October the investigation was completed. None of the Jews who had been with Ass and Chernobylsky on 19 October were questioned.

On 1 November a group to Facilitate an “Open Public Enquiry into the Reasons for the Arrest of Josif Ass and Boris Chernobylsky and the Circumstances Surrounding it” was set up. This group included M. Azbel, Victor Brailovsky, Dina Beilina, A. Lerner, Naum Meiman, Ida Nudel, V. Prestin and V. Fain. Ludmila Alexeyeva participated as an observer from the Helsinki Group. Sophia Kalistratova acted as a legal adviser.

The group sent a series of statements to Soviet and international organizations, describing the circumstances of the case and the course of the investigation. The statements emphasized the fact that not one defence witness had been questioned during the investigation. In addition, the statements pointed out that no measures had so far been taken to punish those responsible for the beatings of 19 October.

On 15 November the case against Ass and Chernobylsky was dropped in accord with Article 6 of the RSFSR Code of Criminal Procedure (“… because of a change in circumstances, the act committed by the guilty party has lost its socially dangerous character or the individual himself has ceased to be a danger to society”).

*

ZAVUROV

On 20 November the brothers Amnon and Amner Zavurov (Bukharan Jews from Shakhrisabz near Tashkent) were put under arrest for 15 days.

About a year ago their exit visas were taken away from them at the last moment. Since then, they have been asked to take back their Soviet passports. On 25 October 1976 they appealed to the USSR Supreme Soviet, asking to receive documents indicating that they are stateless persons. This was refused and they were sent to OVIR. Obidin promised Amnon Zavurov that their case would be decided within a month.

During their arrest the brothers were threatened with criminal charges if they refused to take back their Soviet passports. Threats were made that they would be charged with attacking the owner of the house they live in, although he has not made any complaint and there are no witnesses of any attack.

*

3. Jewish seminars

Recently unofficial Jewish seminars have been taking place in various towns in the Soviet Union, at which the economy and culture of Israel and Hebrew history are studied.

*

Two seminars take place in Riga, run by Arkady Tsinober and Valery Kaminsky.

At the end of October Kaminsky and eight participants in his seminar were summoned by the KGB and asked to stop holding the seminar. Kaminsky was warned that his activities would be defined as anti-social and that he was carrying on nationalist propaganda. Those summoned included Boris Frenkel, Yakov Arev, Yakov Gordin and Boris Raukhman. Many people who do not intend to emigrate from the USSR come to Kaminsky’s seminar.

*

A seminar in Vilnius is organized by Salansky, a professor of physics.

On 12 November Aronson and Gersovicius, who attend the seminar, were interviewed by the Vilnius KGB. On 15 November, while Shapiro was being searched at Vilnius airport, the text of his letter at the seminar and personal letters were confiscated from him. On the same day the KGB talked to Salansky and Raiz. Salansky was asked to stop holding the seminar. On 17 November a search was carried out at the Vilnius flat of the Estulins. Some of Salansky’s personal belongings were confiscated, including a typewriter and an account book.

*

4. A Jewish Cultural Symposium

It was announced that a seminar on ‘Jewish Culture in the USSR: its Present Position and its Perspectives’ would take place on 21-23 December.

The organizing committee included 30 Jewish activists from Moscow, Leningrad, Vilnius, Riga, Tallin, Minsk, Kiev, Vinnitsa, Kishinev and Tbilisi. Papers from the Soviet Union, Britain, Sweden, Israel and the USA were to be read at the symposium. In particular, the chief American prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, Taylor, intended to take part in the symposium [²].

On 28 November searches were carried out in Moscow at the homes of V. Fain (in Chernogolovka, near Moscow) and of his wife; at the homes of P. Abramovich, V. Prestin, L. Volvovsky, I. Essas, Josif Begun and L. Vilenskaya. The warrant was signed by Tikhonov and Nesterov. The case is being conducted according to Article 190-1 (RSFSR Criminal Code). The next day a search was carried out at the home of V. Bogomolny in connection with the same case.

On 29 November Andrei Sakharov made a statement in support of the symposium:

“The Soviet authorities are trying to break up the symposium, which is important not only for Jewish culture but for all the national cultures of our country. Such a national-cultural enterprise could set an important precedent after decades during which national cultures have not been allowed to develop freely. I call for international support for the symposium.”

*

On 21 December, the day when the symposium was to begin, all participants were to assemble at the synagogue building and move on to the apartment where it was to take place. However, not everyone came to the synagogue — 13 people (mostly Muscovites, members of the organizing committee) were detained at their homes, while 20 people from out of town were detained on the way to Moscow. Some of those detained had their homes searched, others were simply kept at the police station until the end of the day, while many were put under house arrest. None of the academics from abroad were allowed into the country for the symposium.

Those who had assembled at the synagogue set oil for the flat, where the symposium then began. About 50 people were present, including A. D. Sakharov and foreign journalists. Because of the absence of most of the lecturers, the symposium lasted only one day (instead of the planned three days).

On 21 December searches took place at the homes of V. Slepak, V. Fain and F. Kandel (Felix Kamov). The searches were carried out on the orders of investigator Tikhonov of the procurator’s office.

Eleven people were put under house arrest: Azbel, Slepak, Lerner, Mai, Kandel, Fain, Prestin, Rozenshtein, Abramovich, Essas and Lazaris.

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NOTES

1. Shcholokov (Shchyolokov) was USSR Minister of Intrernal Affairs between 1966 and 1982, when he was dismissed and subsequently committed suicide.
   ↩︎
2. This is not strictly accurate.
   
   At the first Nuremberg Trial (1945-1946), Telford Taylor assisted the chief US counsel Robert Jackson. He headed the prosecution at 12 subsequent trials of German war criminals (see CCE 44.17-3).
   ↩︎

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