The Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry made public yesterday a petition sent to the International Red Cross by Prof. Evsey Ratner, an eminent Soviet specialist in plant physiology, appealing for assistance for his wife and himself to be reunited with their daughter and granddaughter in Israel. The professor stated: “At present we are refused permission to go to Israel. All our petitions to have our case re-examined remain without results. Our family is now divided…Our sole desire in our old age is to spend the rest of our days together with them….”
Prof. Ratner is 72 years old and his wife, Katzia, is 67. Both are invalids and incapable of working. The professor is quite ill, according to the Conference with a debilitating eye disease that has left him with a 50 percent loss of vision. The Soviet authorities have refused the Ratner appeal on the grounds that he is too important a man to be allowed to leave.
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