Recognizing the 40th Anniversary of the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom and the 20th Anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally for Soviet Jewry on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise in support of H. Res. 759, which recognizes two of the most important events in the area of human rights in the twentieth century: Recognizing the 40th Anniversary of the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom and the 20th Anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally on the Mall in Washington, DC.

I would like to specifically touch on one of the most important aspects of the Jewish struggle for freedom--the right to emigrate.

A few months ago, the travel plans of many Americans were disrupted when they were unable to acquire within a reasonable period of time U.S. passports that would allow them to travel abroad to certain regions. It was an inconvenience, but fortunately, the State Department with great effort cleared up the backlog and the waiting period is now back to around two months.

Now imagine waiting five, ten, or even fifteen years for a passport allowing you to leave the country.

Imagine not filling out an application and dropping it into the mail, but instead trudging from office to educational institution to police station seeking signatures from employers and various officials, without which the emigration office would not even consider the application to emigrate.

Imagine being told you can't leave, but not given any rational reason as to why not. Or being told that you cannot emigrate because of military service--in a construction unit!

Imagine taking to the streets with a sign demanding the right to reunify with one's family and loved ones abroad, as stipulated in the U.N. Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and being set upon by police and perhaps winding up in a forced labor camp or in internal exile in some tiny village in Siberia.

It may be hard to imagine, but this is what thousands of Soviet Jews faced when they wanted to emigrate to Israel from the former Soviet Union.

And why did Soviet Jews want to emigrate? Many of them were tired of the government anti-semitism that permeated the Soviet system, including a quota system for educational institutions. Understandably, they did not want their children to face these obstacles.

Many wished to practice their Jewish faith, to be able to attend a synagogue--if they could find one that hadn't been closed by the Communists--without having to worry that some Communist Party hack would see them and report them to their employers or teachers. Others were tired of the constant stream of anti-Semitic articles in the Soviet press parading as opposition to Zionism.

In 1967, with the Soviet press spewing tirades against Israel and alleged Zionist misdeeds in the wake of Israel's victory in the Six Day War, the Jewish emigration movement in the Soviet Union began in earnest. Many applicants, to be sure, were allowed to leave, but others were refused time and time again. The word ``refusenik'' was coined. Members of the Jewish community in the United States and throughout the world took up their cause. Others who cherished basic human rights, including Members of this body, joined in solidarity. Activists took part in demonstrations, wrote letters to Soviet officials, visited refuseniks in the Soviet Union, sent packages to imprisoned refuseniks, and never quit working on their behalf. It was an impressive demonstration of determination and unity.

And as this resolution notes, almost twenty years ago, on December 6, 1987, an estimated 250,000 persons demonstrated on the National Mall here in Washington on behalf of Soviet Jewish emigration as President Reagan prepared for a summit meeting with General Secretary Gorbachev. African Americans joined the rally in large numbers due in part to the active Jewish participation in the civil rights movement in the United States. One of these African American leaders eloquently expressed why so many non-Jews were there. He said, ``As long as one Jew is kept against his will in the Soviet Union, we are all Jews.''

A few years later, as the Soviet Union was collapsing and perestroika and glasnost became the watchwords, the barriers to Soviet Jewish emigration were lifted. Justice had at last prevailed.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution recognizes both the brave individuals who stood up to tyranny and demanded their right to freedom of movement, and those who vigorously campaigned on their behalf.

As Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I am honored to stand with my colleague and good friend, Henry Waxman, in support of this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 759, introduced by the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), marking the 40th anniversary of the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom and the 20th anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally for Soviet Jewry on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Mr. Speaker, in 1967 the plight of Soviet Jews was severe and largely unknown to the outside world. State-sponsored anti-Zionism and a widespread culture of anti-Semitism made daily life difficult for the millions of Jews living in the Soviet Union. Worst of all, these Jews had no right to leave the country for more welcoming parts of the world, namely, Israel and the United States.

Mr. Speaker, in answer to this reality, 1967 saw the rise of an organized movement to rescue the Soviet Jews, the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom. Looking back 40 years later, we can all chart the profound success of that movement which lifted hundreds of thousands of people out of persecution and poverty and into freedom. Beginning in 1971, this movement made possible the mass exodus of Soviet Jews from the Soviet Union to the shores of Israel, the United States and elsewhere.

Mr. Speaker, I am gratified to represent the largest community of former Soviet emigres in the United States, and I have the great fortune of knowing many of those leaders and entrepreneurs who owe their livelihoods and freedom to the success of that movement organized in 1967.

The former Soviet Jewish community of Brooklyn, New York, from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Uzbekistan and elsewhere has returned the humanity and kindness shown to them years before in their new capacity as industrious, law-abiding, and dynamic members of American society. In neighborhoods like Brighton Beach, Coney Island and Bensonhurst, you can witness every day how hard they have worked in order to secure happiness for their families and how they strive to give back to the Nation that rescued them from persecution.

Mr. Speaker, no discussion of this movement of Soviet Jews would be complete without mention of Jacob Birnbaum, an exceptional leader and human being who worked night and day to bring this issue to the forefront of our minds so many years ago. Earlier this year, I was very proud to introduce a resolution honoring Mr. Birnbaum, and I am pleased that Congress passed it, thereby bringing official recognition to a leader who made an incalculable difference for the lives of many thousands of Soviet Jews and others throughout the world.

In addition to the courageous work of Mr. Birnbaum, tribute ought to be paid to the other pioneers and national organizations who fought so strenuously for the liberation of Soviet Jews, people like Malcolm Hoenlein who is now executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations but who pioneered much of the work in the Soviet Jewish movement.

I am pleased today to join with my colleagues to mark the accomplishments of the Soviet Jewry movement and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally for Soviet Jews and the 40th anniversary of the founding of the movement to free Soviet Jews. I am proud to have been part of this movement beginning in the late 1960s in many marches and demonstrations and picketings of the Soviet embassy. I was here on the Mall 20 years ago.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 759) recognizing the 40th Anniversary of the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom and the 20th Anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally for Soviet Jewry on the Mall in Washington, DC.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I am pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H. Res. 759, a bill that recognizes the 40th Anniversary of the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom and the 20th Anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally for Soviet Jewry on the Mall in Washington, D.C. H. Res. 759, which has 57 cosponsors, was introduced by Representative Henry Waxman on October 18, 2007. House Resolution 759 was reported from the Oversight Committee on October 23, 2007, by voice vote.

Mr. Speaker, the former Soviet Union today has the third-largest Jewish community in the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Russian Empire was home to the world's largest Jewish community. In the late 19th century, over 5 million Jews lived as a persecuted minority in Czarist Russia. This indifference towards Jews continued throughout the 20th century under the leadership of Secretary General Joseph Stalin and Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union.

In the mid-1960s, Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin was reported to have said ``the road is open and no problem exists'' for Soviet Jews who might want to leave for Israel. This remark sparked an increase in the efforts of Jews to leave the Soviet Union and helped initiate international efforts to facilitate their mass movement from Soviet Russia.

In 1967, in response to earlier Soviet Jewry advocacy efforts, Russian authorities allowed some Jewish citizens to leave for family reunification in Israel. Due to the lack of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Soviet Union, most emigres traveled to Vienna where Israeli authorities flew them to Israel. By March 1976, the majority of emigres who left on visas for Israel chose to resettle in the United States and other Western countries.

Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague Representative Waxman for seeking to recognize the 40th Anniversary of the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom and the 20th Anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally for Soviet Jewry on the Mall in Washington, D.C., and urge the swift passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler).

Mr. Speaker, at this time we have no additional speakers. I urge my colleagues also to support the 40th anniversary of the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom and the 20th anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally for Soviet Jewry by unanimously adopting this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank my friend from Missouri, and I rise in strong support of H. Res. 759, which recognizes the 40th Anniversary of the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom and the 20th Anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally for Soviet Jewry on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

The gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley) is so right when she says that these rallies inspired the cause of human rights all over the world. And as we fight for human rights all over the world, we must continue to fight for human rights wherever bad things raise their ugly heads.

For decades, Jews in the Soviet Union faced serious restrictions on their right to practice their faith. In response, a campaign developed in the United States and around the world to pressure the Soviets to end the abuses and permit their Jewish population to emigrate. In 1964, the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry was founded to spearhead a national campaign on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Israel's victory in the 1967 6-Day War inspired Soviet Jews to intensify their efforts to win the right to emigrate to Israel and other places, but the Soviets followed with an anti-Zionist propaganda campaign in the state- controlled mass media and a crackdown on Jewish autonomy.

A key event in the campaign to free the Soviet Jews occurred in 1982 when President Reagan enacted Public Law 97-157, expressing the sense of the Congress that the Soviet Union should cease its repressive actions against those individuals who seek the freedom to emigrate or to practice their religious or cultural traditions. This law drew special attention to the hardships and discrimination imposed upon the Jewish community in the Soviet Union.

After so many years of captivity, the Supreme Soviet passed a law in 1991 that codified the right of every Soviet citizen to emigrate, precipitating massive emigration by Jews from the Soviet Union, primarily to Israel and the United States. The hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Soviet Union and former Soviet republics have greatly enriched their new-found homes in areas as diverse as business, science, the arts, politics, and philanthropy.

As Ms. Berkley mentioned, I was proud to be part of the effort to liberate the Jews of the Soviet Union and remember the historic Freedom Sunday Rally for Soviet Jews in Washington, DC 20 years ago before I was a Member of Congress. I remember meeting Natan, then Anatoly Sharansky, at the gathering of approximately 250,000 people prior to the start of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit. This event helped increase the awareness of the plight of Soviet Jews throughout the world. Earlier, I demonstrated in front of the Soviet mission to the U.N. in New York in an effort to demonstrate how deeply I felt about religious freedom and the right of the Jews of the Soviet Union to emigrate.

In conclusion, I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 759 and remember the campaign to liberate the Jews of the former Soviet Union. And, again, may we have many, many more resolutions like this to help all oppressed people all over the world.

I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution and in support of the human rights movements worldwide. This movement for Soviet Jewry demonstrated that a small group of people who are dedicated and committed to principle can make an enormous difference, not only in their home countries but throughout the world.

Just this past weekend, I attended a meeting in Philadelphia where Natan Sharansky spoke. Sharansky has been a hero to so many of us in the United States in his struggle for freedom from Soviet oppression. He and his fellow refusniks embody the spirit of determination and unbelievable courage to stand up for human rights and freedom and demand that Soviet Jews be able to leave the Soviet Union and immigrate to Israel or the United States or other countries of their choice.

Sharansky told us the movement for Soviet Jewry not only freed him and other refusniks, but that it set in motion the process that ultimately brought down the Soviet Union. By demanding human rights for some, we hastened the demise of one of the most repressive, most dictatorial regimes in history.

This movement demonstrated that human rights questions do not exist in a vacuum separate from larger questions of global politics or trade. We have a tremendous capacity to be global leaders by tying questions of human rights to other issues that we deal with in the international arena, whether in trade or the environment or immigration policy. While we do business with other countries, we should not, we must not, turn a blind eye to human rights abuses. It is as true today as it was 40 years ago.

While human rights are trampled on in so many parts of the world, from Darfur, North Korea, to the Arab world, we look to the movement for Soviet Jews as a shining example of how we as a country can succeed in bringing human rights issues to light through citizen activism for the greater good.

Mr. Speaker, when I was in Philadelphia listening to Natan Sharansky, they showed films of the March on Washington for Soviet Jewry, and it put me in mind of the fact that Members like Mr. Waxman who were here 20 years ago were in the forefront of this fight.

As a point of personal privilege, the next speaker on our side of the aisle, Mr. Eliot Engel, Congressman from New York, before he was a Member of Congress, he was on that stage fighting for the basic human rights and dignity of Soviet Jews and human rights worldwide, as was our very good friend Jerry Nadler.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I yield back, and I thank the gentleman once again for bringing this to the floor of the House for a vote.