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the'Southern lift *f*fi3s Continued from page 1 his master’s degree. However, former Georgia Tech electrical engineering professor John Wal lace, who taught at the institute at the time Chapovsky studied there, questioned the inability of a Georgia Tech graduate to find a job. “Even the worst students get at least one job offer, and the good students get several very lucra tive job offers,” Wallace said in a telephone interview. Admitting that he did not spe cifically remember Chapovsky from his years at Georgia Tech, Wallace added: “Georgia Tech is a good school. They graduate decent people and they don’t pass out positions on the dean’s list for nothing. ...It seems that there’s more there than meets the eye.” A Jewish communal source, on the other hand, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that after obtaining his master’s degree, Chapovsky worked at a part-time job in some area of his field in Atlanta, earning a fairly good income. The source said that after ob taining his master’s degree, Cha povsky also studied in France toward his Ph.D. There, as in the United States, according to the source, Chapovsky was “unhappy and dissatisfied.” Chapovsky left France before completing his doctoral degree, the source said, and when he came back to Atlanta “he was pretty much determined that the United States was not for him either.” The source said that Chapovsky had problems adjusting to the lifestyle in America and what seemed to be “philosophical ques tions” about the American eco nomic and social structure. “1 think this is the kind of young man who cannot live in a competitive world,” he added. Thus the source continued, Chapovsky contacted Soviet au thorities while visiting Washing ton recently. He reportedly is planning to return to the Soviet Union in early November. According to Leonard Cohen, JFS executive director, emigres often have trouble adjusting to life in America, having left part of their roots in their native land. “At best, even if we don’t see that overtly...! don’t know if we METRO WIDE DELIVERY MAJOR CREDIT CARDS BY PHONE C/V) ALWAYS , FLOWER SHOPS 255-7127 5975 Roswell Rd Hommond Festivol Center 565-2217 1401 Johnson Ferry Rd. Merchants Festivol Center would look internally at some of the emigres; they’re having a hard time adjusting culturally,” Cohen said. For the Soviet emigre, he con tinued, the adjustment might be especially difficult, as the U.S. and Soviet systems are “radically different.” The immigrant from the U.S.S.R., Cohen explained, is coming from a society that is strongly regimented, in which each person is given a niche, through which he finds security. In the United States, with all its freedoms, the individual must make his own way through a great deal of hard work in a fiercely competitive society. “Many will bridge the gap because they like the freedom and what they can achieve here,” Cohen said. But others don’t adapt, he cau tioned, and they may sometimes express the desire to return to the Soviet Union. This is rare, Cohen said, but even rarer is the Soviet emigre who acts on it. “Of the 600 Soviet refugees we have resettled in Atlanta since 1973, this is the first overt situa tion that I’m aware of in which an individual has actually chosen to go back to Russia,” Cohen declared. The source who spoke of Cha- povsky’s studies in France specu lated that his adjustment prob lems may have started even before he reached America’s shores. “He was the most adamant one in the family calling to leave Russia,” the source said. Other sources close to the fam ily also said Yuri Chapovsky was the driving force behind the fami ly’s decision to emigrate from the Soviet Union in the first place. That this is the first incident of a Soviet Jewish emigre from the Atlanta area returning to the Soviet Union may indicate that the immigrant community here is aware of the difficult situation for Jews in the U.S.S.R., the source said. He added that the rest of Cha- povsky’s family appears to have adjusted quite well to life in the United States. According to HIAS (the He brew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society) in New York, which is charged with helping Soviet Jewish emigrants resettle in the West, more than 90,000 have settled in the United States since BATHROOMS SHOULDN'T BE BORING Complete bathroom renovations Plumbing repairs & installation Shower pans replaced making dreams come true 4he-mostep-bolh- (404)971-8162 LYNN BRESSl£R MBf » IOURNE YMAN Pi UMBt R jlliXR Of SIGN SPECIALIST Journey 1966, most of them since the early 1970s. I nail, other statistics show, more than 260,000 Jews have come out of the Soviet Union in the past decade, and almost none of them have re turned. No statistics have been found to confirm whether Chapovsky and Israel Glickman, the 61- year-old laborer from Dallas, are the first Soviet Jewish emigres in the United States to go back since the gates to the West were opened in the late 1960s-early 1970s. “There undoubtedly have been some cases, but we don’t believe it’s a widespread phenomenon,” a State Department official said by telephone from Washington. “The Soviets would have us be lieve it’s a large-scale problem, but we don’t believe it is.” Speaking on the condition that her name would not be used, the State Department official added, referring to last week’s press con ference at which the four return ing emigres spoke, “This is a scene that the Soviets used to discourage people in the Soviet Union who want to emigrate.” According to the official, the Soviets recently intensified this campaign to convince people in the U.S.S.R. that there are prob lems with life in the West and that a lot of former Soviet citi zens living in the West are dissat isfied. The official did not know of any effort by the U.S. govern ment to contact the four return ing Soviets to convince them to stay in the United States. “Anyone is free to leave our country who wishes to,” the offi cial said. “We challenge the Soviets to make the same state ments.” Myrna Shinbaum, associate director of the National Confer ence on Soviet Jewry in New York, agreed with the State De partment’s assessment of the sit uation. She called the return of the four an incident the Soviet au thorities would play “for all it’s worth.” “It’s so isolated,” she said. “It comes now because the Soviets are reacting to several things. They are reacting to the fact that we presented to the (Soviet) ad ministration more than 11,000 names of refusniks. They are reacting to the publicity sur- rounding(refusnik) David Gold- farb’s flight out of the Soviet Union. And, I think they need a way to counteract. And this is how they counteracted. So, they found some disillusioned people who can’t cut it.” Ms. Shinbaum said she didn’t think the emigres’ return would affect the Reagan-Gorbachev summit talks, which the United States and the Soviet Union still hope to conduct by the end of the year. However, she expressed con cern for Chapovsky once he is again on Russian soil. “The sad part of it is that the Soviet authorities will use it initially, and then who knows what they’ll do with him,” she said. “The reception will be terrific. He will be a hero initially. They will play up that he is someone disillusioned with the corrupt West. It’s what they’re always saying. But, what happens when the camera lights go off? 1 have no idea. “Will he be punished? Very possibly.” Richard Bono is a staff writer for The Southern Israelite. Diane Wolkow is the managing editor of the Kansas City Jewish Chron icle. “Interesting, humorous and well- written, Memo From Russia is a must for book lovers of all ages!’’ — The Broward County Florida Jewish Journal * * A ny age group Mm would enjoy Rose's candid impression of the world's number two superpower. His impressions on his month long trip to the Soviet Union, including a trip to Siberia, and traveling on the Trans Siberian Railroad provided the impetus for this book.” “I Photos by Shirley Rose $Q95 n a straight forward. easy- to-read manner, the book gives readers a glimpse of the lifestyles and govern ment structure of the communist superpower without the dry historical style of a textbook.” Southern Israelite readers: We will send you autographed copies of MEMO FROM RUSSIA. Just fill out the Information below and include $2.00 shipping charge for each order. Your nimr Address Number of books ordered ( City State _ ) (2 »9 95 each plus *2 00 shipping charge = S Zip Total Please send check with this order and mall to: MEMO FROM RUSSIA c o Southern Israelite Sun Book Division 7373 W 107th St Overland Park. KS6E212 NOTE: Shipping charge applies only to first book ordered Additional copies Included with order are 19 95 I I I I J