[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 19 (Thursday, February 13, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 13, 1997

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, last week an extraordinary event took place 
here in the United States. The Prime Minister of the Russian 
Federation, Viktor Chernomyrdin, was the special guest of a dinner 
hosted by the Russian Jewish Congress and attended by business and 
political Jewish leaders all across America. During the ceremony, Prime 
Minister Chernomyrdin was presented an award from the president of the 
Russian Jewish Congress, Mr. Vladimir Goussinsky, in recognition of his 
commitment and efforts to insure religious freedom and liberty in 
today's Russia, particularly the 1.5 million Jewish citizens now living 
in that country.
  Many of my colleagues in the Senate and House also attended the 
dinner. Congressman Tom Lantos who moderated and offered some poignant 
remarks about his own experience as a survivor of the Holocaust, was 
also presented an award along with former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn.
  For many of us in Congress who attended the event and have been 
actively involved in Soviet Jewry over the years, this was a long-
awaited and richly satisfying moment. It was not expected in our 
lifetime to see the establishment of a Russian Jewish Congress in 
Moscow, nor did we ever expect to see a Russian Prime Minister on our 
soil proclaiming support for the fundamental rights of the Jewish 
inhabitants of that country.
  Mr. Speaker, the Russian people and their leaders are coping with the 
challenges and even hardships inherent in forming a democracy and 
market economy. It is not a pretty picture, to be sure, by what we see 
in the daily press. We know democracy is in its infant stage and 
largely untested as is the economy, which is undergoing a painful 
transformation and still lacks full public support. However, Russia has 
made surprising strides in respecting the inalienable rights of its 
citizens. Where once there was suppression of religious beliefs, we now 
see churches and synagogues being restored. The old state prohibition 
on immigration has been replaced with relative freedom of movement both 
inside and outside Russia.
  The Russian Jewish Congress choose to publicly recognize Mr. 
Chernomyrdin's record in full view of United States Congressmen and 
high ranking officials and business and organizational leaders and 
present an award to him for his public commitment to preserving Jewish 
culture and rights in that country.
  In presenting the special award, Mr. Goussinsky made reference to a 
recent event which took place at a sacred Site, which is the burial 
place for the millions who perished in what is in Russia called the 
Great Patriotic War. At this place a new synagogue has been built and 
at the commemoration ceremony, Prime Minister Chernomyrdin laid the 
first stone and concluded his remarks with the word ``Shalom.'' Mr. 
Goussinsky also noted that in today's Russia there are still different 
opinions and attitudes and the fact that Prime Minister Chyernomyrdin 
would make such an appearance carried historic importance.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to add a second historic event, which is 
the establishment of the Russian Jewish Congress in January 1996. At 
the urging of Jewish leaders in the United States and Israel, Mr. 
Vladimir Goussinsky assumed the leadership for its formation and is now 
serving as its first president. As such, it is the first attempt to 
unite the country's foremost Jewish business, public, religious, 
political, academic and cultural leaders and will also give identity 
and purpose to the Jewish culture, which has so long been repressed in 
that nation. The congress has approximately forty branches throughout 
the Russian Federation that contribute to their own communities.
  During 1966, the congress launched the construction of a Holocaust 
memorial synagogue as part of the national World War II Memorial Park 
in Moscow. The Congress held the ground-breaking ceremony for the 
Holocaust memorial synagogue in October of 1996, which was attended by 
Viktor Chernomyrdin. It was the first Jewish event in Russian history 
attended by a Russian Prime Minister.
  I applaud Mr. Goussinsky, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and other leaders 
in Russia for their efforts to create self sustaining, proud and 
independent Jewish communities in Russia, just as they exist all over 
the world.

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