Mayor Siro Bargiacchi of Ladispoli, a seaside town about 30 miles north of Rome, anticipates trouble.
Although nothing has happened, he admits he is uneasy about the sharply increased presence of Soviet Jews in his town waiting for visas to enter the United States.
“It’s true that so far there haven’t been any problems. But we know that when a foreign population grows quickly in a place, overtaking the level of security, conflicts inevitably will take place,” the mayor said in an interview published in La Stampa.
Soviet Jewish emigres en route to the United States or other Western countries have for years taken up temporary residence in Ladispoli.
There are plenty of vacant apartments and summer homes belonging to Romans, who are happy to rent them out.
But lately, the Soviet Jewish population has burgeoned, owing to the liberalized emigration policies of Mikhail Gorbachev.
At the same time, U.S. immigration procedures have fallen behind, due in some measure to budget limitations. Soviet Jews now must wait longer for American visas.
At the same time, the American authorities have become more selective about granting Soviet Jews refugee status. As a result, scores of visa requests from Soviet Jews have been rejected, leaving hundreds stranded in Ladispoli.
“When there are two or three thousand, the situation is not worrisome,” said Mayor Bargiacchi. “But today there are more than 6,000, and we are beginning to get anxious.”
Ladispoli, on the Mediterranean coast, normally has a population of about 15,000.
NEW LUBAVITCH CENTER DEDICATED
Technically, the Soviet Jews there are not stranded. They could go to Israel, but most prefer not to.
“I like Israel, but I want to go to America,” a man called Sergei told La Stampa.
He reflects the desire of more than 90 percent of Jews leaving the USSR on Israeli visas.
But Rabbi Hirsch Rabiski, a Lubavitcher rabbi from New York, attributes this to lack of Jewish knowledge on the part of Soviet Jews and years of negative propaganda about Israel. He is in Ladispoli trying to persuade the Jewish emigres to choose to settle in Israel.
The Lubavitch movement has just dedicated a new center for immigrants in Ladispoli, directed by Rabiski, who is himself a Russian immigrant.
The center is equipped with a synagogue and educational facilities. It provides a number of religious and cultural services, including family counseling and wedding and Bar Mitzvah ceremonies.
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