'Let our people go'
Our man Peter .Ackroyd, asked along by Patrick Cormack, Peter Archer, Hugh Dykes and Greville Janner, MPs all, to the Palace of Westminster last week, reports: It wa,s an incongruous setting for what was about to take place. Room A in the House of Commons, comfortable and sedate. And tea. It was an event organised by a group of MPs for the relief of Soviet Jews. Dame Peggy Ashcroft, the Bishops of Chichester and Southwark, leaders of Jewish organisations and some thirty MPs were here to make contact by telephone with a group of Jews in Moscow. The first call came through clearly enough, and Peggy Ashcroft talked to Vladimir Slepak, an engineer who has been denied permission to leave the country. His voice was strong, but there was no doubt about his fatigue and the loneliness of his situation. " am very glad to hear your voice," he said, and it was something of a shock to realise that this call was perhaps his only chance to speak out to the world and find some small release. One of his friends had just come out of prison. He had been beaten, and was " very bad." Very little could be said on our side, beyond greetings and a few brief enquiries, but the feeling beneath the messages was very clear. The most affecting call came from Benjamin and Tania Levitch, both university teachers. Mrs Levitch was the one who spoke, and she talked, only of her son, not of herself. He Was very ill, but had been sent to do military service. " It is," she said, "just a question of life and death." Talking like this to London, even though the KGB were listening, was her one hope: "It is the only thing that is keeping us in high spirits." I felt how defenceless she must feel, for we could do little but listen. We applauded her, and there were words of encouragement. But there was a terrible sense of helplessness. Lord Janner was clearly affected: " Keep your courage up, our hearts are beating with yours." The Bishop of Chichester spoke to Mrs Levitch, and she replied " I am very glad to hear you Mr Bishop." And then we all drifted away.
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