The Southern Israelite. (Augusta, Ga.) 1925-1986, September 19, 1986, Image 1
Kate Shtein
Emory accepts Kate;
U.S.S.R. says ‘nyet’
by Yonatan Ben-Natan
Special to The Southern Israelite
Though 1,250 students entered
Emory College this fall, the largest
entering class in Emory’s 150 years,
one student has not been allowed
to attend, though admitted last
April.
Kate Shtein, Emory’s student in
special standing, was sent a letter
of acceptance from the admissions
office in April, according to Win
ston Carroll, associate director of
admissions. Though it is not clear
from Kate’s letter whether she re
ceived the official letter of accep
tance, she has been made aware of
her status.
In the most recent letter received
from Kate, she writes, “As a matter
of fact not long ago 1 received good
news (of acceptance to Emory)...It’s
like in fairy tales. I could only
dream about it. I am very thankful
to you for your troubles about me
but I think now it’s beyond reality,
and of course you know why.”
Why is it so difficult for Kate to
come to Emory? Since 1979 she
and her family have been refused
permission to leave their home in
the U.S.S.R. They are refusniks,
having been refused permission to
emigrate each time they applied.
There is no particular reason given
for their refusal other than “it is
not in the interest of the Soviet
State,” an excuse commonly used
by Soviet officials. It is hoped that
Kate will be permitted to leave the
U.S.S. R. to study at Emory, though
as she points out, her chances are
not great.
Kate wants to become a doctor
but is barred from Soviet medical
institutes because of her status as a
refusnik. With Jewish emigration
at an all-time low since the begin
ning of the Soviet Jewish emigra
tion movement. Kate s chances do
indeed seem very small. She is
reminded, however, that she ought
to continue to be optimfrtmtffrpugl'r
regular letters and phone calls from
Emory students. Recently she re
ceived an Emory sweatshirt so that
she can feel a part of the Emory
community despite her physical
absence.
Another positive factor on
Kate’s side is the adoption of her
case by U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich
(Ga.-6th Dist.). Gingrich will help
intercede on Kate’s behalf using
diplomatic means as well as per
sonal letters of support and en
couragement.
The Emory Soviet Jewry Com
mittee has presented many events
and activities on Kate’s behalf and
to increase awareness about the
plight of Soviet Jewry in general.
This year will be no different as the
coming semester’s plans include all
forms of activism and awareness.
The first event will be a slide
presentation from two students who
have recently been in the Soviet
Union, one of whom has spent
extensive time visiting Kate and
her family. The program, “A liber
ating God in a Captive Land: Jews
and Christians in the U.S.S.R.”
will take place Wednesday, Sept.
24, at 8 p.m. at the Alpha Epsilon
Pi Fraternity House, (11 Frater
nity Row) and is co-sponsored by
Alpha Epsilon Pi and Atlanta
Hillel.
The program will be followed by
a phone call to Kate on Sunday,
Sept. 28. For more information
about either event, contact the
Emory Soviet Jewry Committee at
727-6490.
Friendly letters of encouragement
can be sent to Kate, and should be
non-political. Kate Shtein, Liape-
devsky St. 12-65, Moscow, 125581
U.S.S.R.
The Southern
Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
'Since 1925'
in
c
! >■
Vol. LXII
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, September 19,1986
No. 38
'jj
Reagan praises Perer
as statesman for peace
by David Friedman
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Presi
dent Reagan said farewell Monday
to Shimon Peres as Israel’s prime
minister by praising him as a
“valued friend and statesman for
peace.”
“No one has done more than
Prime Minister Peres” in the effort
to bring about peace, Reagan said
in a statement in the White House
Rose Garden after the two leaders
had met for an hour, including a
30-minute meeting just between
themselves. “His vision, his sta
tesmanship and his tenacity are
greatly appreciated here,” Reagan
said of Peres.
Left unsaid was that Peres came
to Washington just before he has
to turn over the Prime Minister-
ship to Foreign Minister Yitzhak
Shamir in October in accordance
with the terms of the national unity
agreement between Labor and
Likud. He will then become for
eign minister.
But a senior administration offi
cial, briefing reporters on the White
House talks, stressed that Peres
had “succeeded” in staying within
the guidelines of the government of
national unity during his two years
as prime minister. He said the U.S.
expects “no change in the conduct”
of Israel’s foreign policy when Peres
and Shamir exchange jobs next
month. The official said that the
bulk of the discussion at the White
House was on the peace process.
In his Rose Garden remarks,
Reagan stressed that the U.S. and
Israel are committed “to search for
a negotiated peace between Israel
and all of its Arab neighbors.”
Shimon Peres
Reagan said that he and Peres
“have agreed that a steady deter
mined effort is needed by all if the
remaining obstacles to direct nego
tiations are to be surmounted.”
Peres said that “peacemaking is
a process which requires constant
patience and cultivation.” He said
the next step should be “direct
negotiations between the parties
concerned.” He stressed that an
international forum, which is de
manded by Jordan, should only be
an “opening occasion” that would
bring about direct negotiations,
“not substitute for it.”
Earlier Monday, Peres and Sec
retary of State George Shultz agreed
that the Soviet Union cannot par
ticipate in an international forum
on the Middle East unless Moscow
restores diplomatic relations with
Israel and allows Jews to freely
emigrate. They also stressed that
such a forum cannot be a substi
tute for direct negotiations.
President Reagan
The two leaders expressed this
policy to reporters after they met
together over a breakfast of blue
berry pancakes, prepared by Shultz’s
wife, Helena, at the Shultz home
followed by a meeting including
their aides at the State Department.
Peres at his summit conference
with Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak last week agreed that
Israel and Egypt would see if an
international forum to deal with
the Middle East could be set up for
1987. King Hussein of Jordan has
said he needs an international forum
as an “umbrella” for talks with
Israel.
“The essence of the peace pro
cess is direct negotiations such as
those which have proved so fruitful
oetween Israel and Egypt,” Shultz
said. He said an international forum
could be useful if it was aimed at
the “achievement of direct negotia
tions.”
Church built on death camp site
WARSAW (JTA)—A Roman
Catholic church has been built on
the site of a former Nazi torture
chamber at the Sobibor death camp,
where 200,000 Jews were killed by
gassing, the World Jewish Con
gress reported here.
According to the WJC, Euro
pean Jewish communities are out
raged at this development, coming
in the wake of the continuing con
troversy over the erection of a
Carmelite convent in a building
which stored gas canisters in the
Auschwitz death camps.
Virtually all of the victims at
Sobibor were Jewish. From April
1942 to Oct. 1943 some 200.000
Jews from Poland, the Netherlands,
France, Czechoslovakia and the
Soviet Union were transported to
the camp outside of Lublin where
they were killed in the gas chambers
and cremated.
The church was erected on the
site of a tiny chapel which the
Nazis had converted to a torture
chamber. The church contains no
reference to being on the site of a
camp created to murder Jews, and
there is no sign or plaque memor
ializing the victims, the WJC re
ported.
European Jewish leaders stressed
that neither the local Capucine
Order nor other Catholic officials
had consulted or given prior notice
of the plans to establish a church at
Sobibor.
On Oct. 14, 1943, Sobibor was
the scene of one of the most cour
ageous and daring prisoner rebel
lions of the war. Some 300 Jewish
inmates killed the SS contingent
and their Ukrainian aides. After
the rebellion the Nazis razed the
camp.
Meanwhile, the American CBS
television network has announced
it is filming a multi million-dollar
movie based on the escape, with an
international cast. Surviving mem-
of the rebellion will be consultants.
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