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PAGE 6 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE October 24, 1986
Ordeal ends for Soviet Jewish families
NEW YORK (JTA)—In two
surprise moves last week, Soviet
authorities allowed a prominent
Jewish scientist and his wife and
the family of a cancer victim who
is now living in Israel to leave the
Soviet Union.
David Goldfarb and his wife
Cecilia were given permission to
leave on Oct. 15. Two days later,
the entire family of Viktor and
Inessa Flerov were notified that
they could leave.
For the Flerov family, permis
sion to emigrate ended an eight-
month ordeal.
Inessa Flerov’s brother, Mi
chael Shirman, 31, is a leukemia
patient living in Israel whose sole
chance of survival rests on a pos
sible bone-marrow tranplant from
his sister, his only sibling, who
lives in Moscow.
Inessa Flerov and her two
daughters, Dariya, 7, and Mari
ana, 5, were granted exit visas at
the end of August; however, So
viet officials would not allow
them to leave with Viktor, citing
his father’s refusal to grant him a
waiver of financial obligation.
Shirman had told Mrs. Flerov
not to leave without her hus
band, thereby separating the
family on his account.
Viktor Flerov and his father
had had little contact, if any, in
years.
Mrs. Flerov first applied for a
temporary visa last February,
and was repeatedly given con
flicting advice about emigration
visas by Soviet officials. Both
Inessa and Viktor went on hunger
strikes to protest the official
stonewalling.
Shirman came to the United
States last week for two days, fol
lowing a visit to Iceland during
the summit meeting between
President President Reagan and
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
to plead his case with American
and Soviet officials. Last week he
told a press conference on Capitol
Hill that he has been given about
a month to live unless he received
the transplant.
If all goes well, the Flerovs
may leave by the end of this
week. But some news reports
from Moscow noted that it might
take up to two weeks for them to
leave.
Lynn Singer, director of the
Long Island Committee for Soviet
Jewry and former president of
the Union of Councils for Soviet
Jews (UCSJ), sponsors of Shir-
man’s trip to the United States,
said Shirman would receive
chemotheraphy during his stay
in New York for the Sukkot hol
iday and then would be placed
aboard the first possible plane
for Israel.
Armand Hammer, the Ameri
can industrialist who played a
role in Goldfarb’s release, was
asked whether he also was in
volved in the Flerov case.
“This is part of the same
goodwill gesture shown by the
Soviets with the Goldfarb re
lease,” Hammer said in an inter
view. “I brought it to the atten
tion of the Soviets when I heard
from Dr. (Kenneth) Prager some
time ago.”
Prager, a cardiopulmonary
physician at Columbia-Presby-
terian hospital in Manhattan,
is treating both Shirman and
Goldfarb. He wrote to Hammer
in August, detailing Shirman’s
condition and the plight of the
Flerov family.
In that letter, Prager asked
Hammer during his trip to the
Soviet Union last month to in
tervene “as forcefully as possi
ble” and “as soon as possible” to
convince the Soviets that allow
ing the Flerovs to leave would be
the “humane thing to do.”
David Goldfarb is a retired
geneticist who suffers from severe
complications of diabetes, inclu
ding the possibility of amputa
tion of his leg. He lost his other
leg as a Soviet soldier during
World War II.
He and his wife arrived in New
York late last week with Hammer
aboard Hammer’s private jet.
They were met at Newark Air
port by their son, Alexander
Goldfarb, and David Goldfarb’s
friend, journalist Nicholas Dani-
loff.
Goldfarb, a 67-year-old mo
lecular biologist and geneticist,
was first refused an exit visa in
1979. He finally received a visa in
1984, but it was rescinded shortly
afterward when he refused to
help the KGB frame Daniloff.
Daniloff, the Moscow corre
spondent for U S. News and World
Report, was arrested by the KGB
in late August after accepting an
envelope from a friend that the
KGB claimed contained secret
material. He was released Sept.
3°.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State
George Shultz said early this
week that the exit visas given the
Goldfarbs and Flerovs did not
come about because of any “pre
cise agreement” during the meet
ing between Reagan and Gorba
chev Oct. 11-12.
“We didn’t have any precise
agreement, although many names
of individuals were talked about,”
Shultz said on NBC-TV’s “Meet
the Press” program.
He added that Reagan and
Gorbachev also discussed the
“hundreds of thousands who
would love to emigrate.”
A concert featuring the out
standing choirs of Atlanta’s
Clarke, Morehouse, Morris
Brown and Spellman Colleges
and internationally known Can
tor Isaac Goodfriend, will be
held at The Temple on Peach
tree, Wednesday, Nov. 19, as
part of the international labor
movement’s fight against the
apartheid laws of South Africa.
Proceeds from the “Freedom
from Apartheid” concert, which
was approved unanimously by
the Georgia State AFL-CIO con
vention last week, will go to the
Afro-Asian Institute of the His-
tadrut, Israel’s General Federa
tion of Labor, to enable it to con
tinue monthly courses for black
South African leaders.
The courses, which are held in
Tel Aviv, began earlier this year
In an address late last week to
the National Press Club, Shultz
had said there was “sustained
discussion” on human rights is
sues in Iceland. He said the Na
tional Conference for Soviet
Jewry and other human rights
groups “helped us to make a
powerful presentation.”
UCSJ president Pam Cohen,
in a statement following an
nouncement of the Flerov’s re
lease, said: “While we are grati
fied by the decision, the members
and board of the UCSJ remain
profoundly disturbed by the
Soviet Union’s continued refusal
to allow emigration for the esti
mated 400,000 Soviet Jews who
wish to do so. We see no reason
why the Soviet government con
tinues to delay in these matters,
and we urge Soviet authorities to
expedite emigration procedures
for all Soviet Jewish citizens who
wish to go.”
at the request of black trade
union leaders, teachers’ associa
tions and church organizations
in South Africa. They are designed
to develop black civic infrastruc
ture in South Africa and train
participants in organization and
communication techniques, trade
unionism and in what it takes to
build a country.
In August, the Afro-Asian
Institute ran out of funds for the
courses (each course costs
$100,000), but, with the help of
Friends of the Institute in the
United States, they are con
tinuing.
Tickets are available for a $5
donation each from the Histad-
rut offices in Atlanta: Suite 272,
Prado North Building, 5600 Ros
well Road, Atlanta, GA 30342
(telephone: 255-0938).
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Histadrut to sponsor
anti-apartheid concert
SECOND ANNUAL CHARITY BALL
Leo M. Frank
B'nai B’rith Lodge
invites you to attend
Saturday, November 1, 1986
8:30 p.m. until midnight
at the
Westin Peachtree Plaza, Downtown Atlanta
Entertainment by Eli Frisch and the Tempos
Kosher Desserts and Cash Bar
Black Tie Optional
Donations: $18 (Chai),
$36 (Double Chai), $54 (Triple Chai)
Send check payable to “Leo M. Frank B’nai B’rith’’ to:
Robert M. Augenstein, Suite 246, 2480 Briarcliff Road, Atlanta, GA. 30329
or call him at 659-2213 for Visa/ MasterCard donations.
Tickets will also be available at the door.
For further information, call Alan Ulman, 688-7820 or 874-8308.
BENEFITING* THE ATLANTA JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS
(HEBREW ACADEMY • EPSTEIN SCHOOL • YESHIVA . TORAH DAY SCHOOL)
TAX REFORM ACT
OF 1986
Panel Discussion
November 3,1986 6 p.m.
Atlanta Jewish Federation
1753 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30309
This “Valuable” presentation
is provided as a community service by
the Endowment Fund
of the Atlanta Jewish Federation.
Dinner: *5.00
Call 873-1661 for reservation
ACTION VOU CAN
TAKE THIS VERA