"At first, the Soviets regarded this as a trivial matter," a consular official told us. "Their message to us was: :Throw them out.' For the first 21⁄2 years, they enjoyed seeing us squirm. Now it's no longer a simple emigration problem but a major political question to be dealt with at higher levels." The Kremlin's stated position is that the Seven must leave the embassy, return to Chernogorsk and reapply for emigration. Low-level Soviet officials have said the Seven will not be harmed or punished, but they refuse to put that in writing. American officials regard such assurances as worthless. All of the Seven say they are not afraid to die but that they also are not about to sell their lives cheaply. "We won't leave this room willingly until our families are overseas," Lyuba insists. "If we do leave, we're convinced the KGB will take us and kill our parents. But we aren't afraid." I asked Lyuba, a bright and articulate woman, her impressions of how the two superpowers have handled their case. "They've been like two big cats fighting over a piece of meat," she said, shrugging, as we sipped tea. Her answer conveyed what had become obvious to us: The strains of the ordeal are beginning to take a toll physically and emotionally. Maria Chmykhalov sits silently for hours on the edge of her bed, knitting sweaters, gazing at the floor, occasionally struggling to control bouts of silent weeping. Timothy, her youngest son—a shy, gangling youth with a broad smilewas 16 when he entered the room. The 31⁄2 years of unnatural confinement with his mother and five members of another family have blunted many of the strong emotions that all teenagers struggle with. He used to exhibit a lively curiosity--he had begun to learn English-and liked to shoot baskets in the courtyard. Now he mostly sits in the room. ז hings are no less difficult for the Vashchenkos. Peter had been an important lay leader in Chernogorsk, a rallying point for the Pentecostals in their fight with the authorities. He is also the proud patriarch of his large family. Now he finds his formerly unquestioned authority undercut by the conditions in which he's forced to live. His wife. Augustina. desperately misses her other children as does Maria. Lyuba translated her reply to my question of what troubles her most: "I'd like to speak to all mothers around the world and ask them to imagine the heartache that comes from being separated from a child. It's difficult to think that my youngest son, Abraham, who was 4 when I last saw him, is now a 7-year-old of school age. In 33 years of marriage, our family has been together for only 10 years. There have been the prisons, camps, mental hospital... the state took the girls away for six years for reeducation..." The three younger Vashchenko women seem to draw strength from each other. They try to keep busy. Lyuba works hard on her English-the other women and Timothy also are learningand spends much time writing and "We didn't come here to occupy this room or to stay this time... We don't ask for anything...Our only concern now is freedom for our families." Even though the Seven are relatively insulated inside the embassy, the Soviets manage to squeeze them emotionally by pressuring their families in Chernogorsk. Through monthly telephone calls, they have learned of a campaign in the local newspapers to depict them as traitors leeching off the Americans. The three Vashchenko sons also face imprisonment in labor camps for refusing military induction. There was little that Jane Drake or I could tell the families in the way of encouraging developments except that President Reagan is known to be aware of and interested in their situation. It is crumbs of information like this that provide encouragement to the families and help fortify their resolve. During the final moments of our visit. I asked every family member if he or she had any final thought or message to be passed on to PARĂDE'S readers. Each thought for a long time. then said basically the same thing: "Thank you for giving us refuge. Please do not forget us." It seemed right to give Peter Vashchenko the final comment. I asked him, through Lyuba, whether-after 20 years of trying to emigrate to America and considering his present plighthe was losing hope. We didn't need the English translation. "Nyet," he roared."Nyet! Nyet!" The farewell was tough as any goodbye can be, and Peter Vashchenko's voice rang in our ears as we walked out of the courtyard for the last time, past the Soviet militiamen and into a cold Moscow night. The last part of our tour took us to Leningrad, and our stay there-- apart from searches of our luggage in the hotel rooms-was uneventful. But at the passport check at Leningrad airport, we knew we were in trouble when we saw Svetlana waiting for us I was near the front of the line. Jane Drake almost at the end, but it didn't matter. While our 28 fellow tour members were whisked through formalities in minutes, we were taken away. Every piece of our luggage was meticulously searched beneath the gaze of the militiamen. When nothing incriminating was found, we were taken separately into tiny windowless rooms. I was strip-searched and questioned. The two customs men grew progressively angrier at not finding whatever they thought I might have, and my assertions that we were simply independent-minded tourists didn't help. Mrs. Drake was allowed to keep her clothes on but was given a bad scare. After nearly an hour, they gave up. and we were allowed to board the plane to Helsinki. Our film of the Siberian Seven and my notebook had sailed through customs in the purses of two young women travelers from our tour who had courageously agreed to help. The Soviets did confiscate film Jane Drake and I carried, but it was either blank or contained some rather boring shots of Leningrad's main street. P What You Can Do To Help The Siberian Seven The Soviet government is known to be responsive to American public opinion, and the U.S. State Department believes that a ground swell of protest may help shift the stalemate that keeps the families prisoner in our embassy. PARADE will forward your letters, which should be addressed to: Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, Embassy of the USSR, clo PARADE magazine, 750 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017. The seven family members draw encouragement from letters and cards. They should be sent airmail (40 cents each half ounce) to any of the seven to whom you wish to write. The address is: Peter Vashchenko (or other name), Embassy of the United States, 19 Ulitsa Chaikovskogo, Moscow, USSR 117234. To receive more information and a regular newsletter on the campaign to free the Siberian Seven, write to: SAVE, Route 1, Box 49-A, Pike Road, Ala. 36064. Mr. BONKER. We shall now hear from Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Zakim. I think it is Joyce. Mrs. ZAKIM. Joyce, yes, sir. Mr. BONKER. Are both of you going to testify or just the one? Mr. BONKER. Please proceed. STATEMENT OF JOYCE ZAKIM, DIRECTOR, MEDICAL Mrs. ZAKIM. Mr. Chairman, members of the House Subcommittee on Human Rights, we are indeed honored to have been invited by this subcommittee to give testimony regarding our recent trip to the Soviet Union and our visit with the Russian Pentecostalists who are the subject of this important hearing. My name is Joyce Zakim and I am the director of Medical Mobilization for Soviet Jewry. This is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization of physicians, dentists, and other health professionals which was formed in 1973 as a result of a deep concern over the status of Soviet Jews who are ill and ill-treated in the Soviet Union. The organization works in conjunction with action for Soviet Jewry and is a member of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. It is based in the Boston area and currently has chapters in Miami, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Denver, and Chicago. We publicize incidents of psychiatric abuse in the Soviet Union, the plight of refusenik physicians, and cases of people deprived by the government of adequate health care. Our intent is to aid those denied proper medical care and to assist them in obtaining emigration visas. My husband, Leonard Zakim, is the Eastern States Civil Rights Director and Counsel to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith. The ADL is a national human relations organization with 29 offices around the country and offices in Paris, the Vatican, and Jerusalem. As the only organization that deals with the issue of anti-Semitism as our key priority, the ADL has long been at the forefront of the struggle for civil and human rights for all people. The ADL, for all of its nearly 70 years, has based its policy of combating bigotry on the recognition that anti-Semitism does not occur in a vacuum and that when one person is denied their fundamental human rights because of their religious beliefs, no one's liberty is safe. As a result of our organization's interest in the plight of Soviet refuseniks and motivated by our own personal concern about the derivation of human rights in the Soviet Union, we recently traveled there. Despite all we already knew, had heard or read about the plight of refuseniks, Jews and Christians alike, we were ill-prepared for the emotional and personal tragedy of uncertainty and despair that marks the daily life of the refuseniks with whom we met. These people, punished, persecuted, and ostracized for the crime of wanting to leave a country where observance of one's religion is itself a crime, live in a Kafkaesque no-man's land, unsure of the present and more unsure of their future. It is in this context and in this climate of repression that we visited the Pentecostalists, the Vashchenko and Chmykhalov families. The facts of their decades-long persecution, harassment, assaults, beatings, hunger strikes, and state-imposed separation from their children by the Soviet regime are well known to this subcommittee, as is their 4-year-long exile in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. What we want to share with you today is our observations and discussions with the Vashchenkos and Chmykhalovs and to describe their present situation as of early June. This preceded their most recent hunger strike for freedom with which medical mobilization is especially concerned because of the physical damage such a protest can cause to their health. While we spent time and spoke with all of them, most of our discussions were with Lubov. They are sweet, unassuming, sincere people, quick to tell of their plight, the status of their family in Chernogorsk, the many unfulfilled promises, and their personal regrets at intruding and being an inconvenience for so long at the Embassy. Yet that story is told neither with cynicism nor bitterness; it is told with humility. It was a talk of disappointment and hope. It was a conversation in which Lubov's gratitude for the efforts of so many in the Congress and throughout the United States on the families' behalf was openly shared. She also indicated her appreciation for the help and support of many officials at the Embassy. She was not trying to "sell us" on her case. Indeed, the fact that her brothers and sisters were recently beaten by the Soviet police during a demonstration for their release was not even mentioned. Pity is not what they want; they want to leave. They are tired, physically and emotionally; tired of waiting, tired of finding endless routine things to do to pass their time, for they are unable, of course, to leave the confines of the Embassy. Most of the time they sit, think, daydream, and wait. Their files of correspondence of the last 4 years are meticulously kept and reviewed, often to pass the time, often to spark dissipating hopes. Much time is spent reading from the Bible, caring for plants, sewing. They recently were provided with a second room, allowing for a bit more privacy and space, yet mostly they wander around, staring out the one window in their room, worrying about the rest of their family in Chernogorsk, and working on their case. Watched constantly and with hostility by the many Russians working at the Embassy, glared at by the Soviet guard through whom you must pass to get inside in the first place, this is the epitome of the life between two worlds that has been their sentence for the last 4 years. STATEMENT OF LEONARD ZAKIM, NEW ENGLAND DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE OF B'NAI BRITH Mr. ZAKIM. The perpetrator of this crime, yet to be held accountable by this administration is the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets bear responsibility for the campaign of terror, deprivation, and abuse of refuseniks, as well as of the Poles, Afgans, and other nations under their thumbs, it is a responsibility they do not share alone. As Liubov wrote on June 10, 1982: We think that both governments have handled the case carelessly; one constantly deceives, the other does not take any serious action to pressure the Soviets and make them tell the truth and act accordingly. They told us, with a concern we share and that we think you should, that their case is not really a priority for the U.S. Government. They spoke with disappointment of Senator Percy's visit in 1980, not suspicious or ungrateful for his interest, but unhappy that he sought for them to return to Chernogorsk before he would pressure the Soviets for their release. A good-faith gesture like that is one they really cannot afford, and one they should not be asked to make, for it is one they will not be able to take back. Their remaining in the Embassy is the only bargaining chip they have. Our responsibility, the responsibility of our democratic nation, can be fulfilled if we will it; we, the American people must decide if we are ready to stand up and decide, in George Will's words, whether we love commerce more than we hate communism. Indeed, as appreciated and as needed are the words of compassion and commitment for the Pentecostalists that we speak today, what is needed is firm, intelligent, responsible and persistent action to secure the release of the thousands of refuseniks for whom we are their only hope. The recent news that came out yesterday in the papers indicated that the President was going to extend the grain deal with the Soviets for 1 more year without exacting anything back in return; this is of great concern to us. The perpetrators of these human rights violations are the Soviets and their crime is seen on the loving faces of the Pentecostalists, disillusioned but still hopeful, tired but still fighting on. But_responsible too are those who can do more, but don't or won't. For without real action, words, wonderful in tone, serve only to raise expectations and produce shattered hopes. It was in this state of recent disillusion with those who should and could do more, that we found the Pentecostalists. For they and the many Jews we met were beside themselves with disappointment in the words and actions of the Reverend Billy Graham during his widely publicized visit to the Soviet Union. The Pentecostalists themselves preceded us by just a few days. Aghast at his exculpation of the Soviets for religious persecution, these daily victims of that persecution felt a deep sense of frustration and loss at the opportunity forfeited and surrendered by this respected religious leader to fulfill his reputation and his mission. Of course, Reverend Graham's motivations for his trip and for what he did and said on his trip are best known only to him. Let it be said that everyone we met there felt betrayed. The Pentecostalists had written Reverend Graham in anticipation of his trip and urged him not to come to the Soviet Union, for his visit they said would legitimize the Soviet propaganda that religious freedom was protected and that religious persecution could not exist in a workers' state. When it became clear he was coming anyway, they wrote him again, seeking a meeting, citing in that letter scripture after scripture regarding the responsibility of a prophet to his people. After some delay, the Reverend Graham notified them that he would meet with them. Their 31⁄2 years of raised and shattered hopes gave way once again to hope. As diligent and impassioned believers and fundamentalists, they looked forward with unrestrained hope to a meaningful meeting with one whose legendary reputation was well known, even in the Soviet Union. To be blunt, they were disappointed. They felt used. Numerous advance people came to their cellar home demanding promises that religion and prayer would be the only items on the agenda; their political status could not be discussed. So in the name of freedom of religion, freedom of speech was waived, and Reverend Graham came to pray with his fellow Christians, but first the curtains to their only window had to be drawn. There was no anger expressed by these people; they are accustomed to disappointment and manipulation. There was only sadness, a deep sadness that another hope had expired, followed by a lingering question about how many hopes were left. And afterward, when Reverend Graham continued to speak out about how free people are to pray in the Soviet Union, their 4-year ordeal was in effect denied its reality. Distinguished members of this subcommittee, this tragedy cannot be denied by those with assumedly honorable intentions like Reverend Graham. Where does that leave us and where do we go from here? It was extremely clear as we met with refusenik after refusenik, that they are very concerned about the chance that their plight will be ignored, their persecution forgotten. It was equally clear that the smallest thing we in the States and you in our Congress do invigorates their hopes. The day before we arrived with introduction letters from Senators Kennedy, Tsongas, and Congressman Frank. The Vashchenkos had received a letter from Congressman Frank, typed in Russian, updating what they and the Congress had recently done on the Pentecostalists' behalf. Coming as it did right after their meeting with Reverend Graham, it was the first uplifting message they had received. They showed it to us with a show of relief and gratitude. It meant a lot to them. So we want to tell you all that you should not think that your efforts here are without meaning or impact to you or to them; you should only step those efforts up. They need us. Additionally, we urge you to ask the President to make the issue of Soviet violations on human rights a priority in the upcoming grain deal negotiations. We urge support of the bill and urge you to join with Medical Mobilization for Soviet Jewry, Action for Soviet Jewry, the Anti-Defamation League, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, and SAVE, to continue to speak out for all those imprisoned in the Soviet Union, deprived of their freedoms and unable to speak out for themselves. For if we don't do it, it is an unfortunate truth that no one else will. Thank you. Mr. BONKER. Dr. Kent Hill. |