Vladimir Horowitz’s Concert in Moscow

Vladimir Horowitz went to see his friend Yelena Sofronitskaya in Moscow and played on her father’s piano. We watched this nostalgic scene on television: the virtuoso returning to his teacher’s house, where he took piano lessons more than 60 years ago.

Among those watching was our friend, Roxanne Cogan of Daly City--Yelena’s daughter, who has been trying to see her mother for the last 10 years. Eighty-six-year-old Yelena, like many Soviet citizens, does not want to emigrate from the Soviet Union, preferring to live out her remaining years among friends, in familiar surroundings. She does want to see her only daughter and grandchildren, but has been denied a visitor’s visa for the past 10 years. Roxanne herself was denied a visa to the Soviet Union, because, as a general rule, former Soviet citizens are not allowed to visit.

What a bittersweet moment for Roxanne and her children, to see her mother and their grandmother on television and to realize that old friends and strangers can visit each other, while relatives cannot. And, sad to say, among the 4 1/2 million Americans with roots in the Soviet Union there are tens of thousands of stories like theirs.

DAN HORODYSKY

TONI HORODYSKY

Berkeley

Dan and Toni Horodysky are co-chairs of VISA, Visits International for Soviets and Americans.