SOVIET "REFUSNIKS" FILES, 1986-1988

Summary: Documentation of Gallo's efforts to obtain the right to emigrate for refusniks. Chiefly correspondence from Gallo's office to the Soviet government, families, supporters and colleagues, internal memos from Gallo's office, handwritten notes and letters to the Soviet government signed by members of Congress.

Biographical information on individual refusniks is also included, chiefly in the folders labeled with personal names. Among the other items of interest in these folders are: a twelve-page autobiography of refusnik Marina Furman and an 18-page document about refusniks, "A Great Miracle Will Happen Here: A Journal of Meetings with Soviet Jews During the Week of Chanukha, December, 1986 through January, 1987," written by Shira Leibowitz and dedicated to Marina Furman (Furman folder); signed petitions calling for the Soviets to allow Myron Ferenc to emigrate, as well as letters written by United States schoolchildren to Gallo and to the Soviet government in support of Ferenc (Myron Ferenc folder); two copies of A Child In Refusal, "a selection of articles by refusnik mothers and a lighthearted but yet sad children's view of refusnik life," published by the Soviet Jewry Education and Information Centre, Jerusalem, inscribed to Gallo and Donna Mullins, respectively, on October 12, 1987 (Shenderovich folder); a petition signed by U.S. citizens calling for the Soviet government to allow Galina and David Livshitz to emigrate (Livshitz folder); and a copy of the 1988 Congressional Handbook for Soviet Jewry (volume 1), published by the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews in Washington, D.C. The handbook includes a directory of Soviet Jewry organizations, a directory of Soviet officials, a section on how members of Congress aid Soviet Jews, Congressional Record statements on the issue from the 100th Congress and sample Congressional letters (Zaslavsky folder).

The "Human Rights Record" consists of printed reports from the Congressional Human Rights Caucus Tracking System, for the years 1986 to 1988, listing activities in which Gallo was involved on behalf of human rights. Each entry contains a brief summary of the case, Congressional action taken and a list of Congressional members who participated. The 1986 report includes annotations.

The "List of Refusniks" folder contains general information on Soviet emigration and a few papers dealing with the Kleinermans, a refusnik family. There is a one-page memo, December 23, 1988, from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews identifying refusniks who had recently been granted permission to emigrate or whose secrecy restriction had been lifted. The folder also contains a copy of a Hearing before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe pertaining to "The Current Situation in Poland."

Located in the "Resolved Cases" folder is a 24-page transcript of remarks made by John Loftus at the semi-annual meeting of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Inc., May 14, 1987. The remarks deal with his work as a member of President Carter's Office of Special Investigations, during which Loftus uncovered U.S. intelligence files that indicated that the United States had possessed detailed knowledge of the Holocaust. These remarks briefly reference H.R. 1620, a bill cosponsored by Gallo, intended to establish a Commission to investigate Federal involvement with the immigration of Nazi collaborators. There are also two pages from a January/February 1988 Rutgers Magazine article written by refusnik Marina Shenderovich.

The "Status of Refusniks" folder contains an information packet addressing American bureaucratic delays in issuing U.S. entrance visas to refusniks who had been granted permission to leave the Soviet Union.

Several folders focus on emigration restrictions and human rights abuses in Ukraine, and they include the first issue of the Russian-American Review (Fall 1988), a brochure, The Millennium of Christianity in Russia 988-1988, and a reprint of an article from the Winter 1988 issue of Policy Review, "The National Rebirth of Russia: A U.S. Strategy for Lifting the Soviet Siege," by David Moro. The contents of the folder "Ukraine and Ukrainians," containing general information about the region, were sent to Gallo by the Ukrainian National Association.

Some related photos are located in PHOTOGRAPHS under "Soviet Refusniks."

An audiotape of a phone call between Gallo and a Soviet refusnik can be found in AUDIO AND VIDEO TAPE RECORDINGS.