KLAIPĖDA
In July the faithful of Klaipeda again appealed to Leonid Brezhnev, the General-Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In the petition of the people from Klaipėda is written:
"On March 19, 1972, the Catholics of Klaipėda sent a request to Leonid Brezhnev, General-Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which was signed by 3,023 believers. After some time, the sender of this appeal, Jonas Saunorius, residing in Klaipėda, Soviet Army Street 41-5, received a notification from the post office that the appeal had been presented to the addressee. After a few days, however, a KGB official visited J. Saunorius and took from him the postal notification. Afterward, no official response was received from Moscow.
"Thus the suspicion arose that the petition with the signatures had not reached Moscow—that someone had arbitrarily withheld it in Lithuania hoping to conceal from the Soviet government this petition from the citizens of the LSSR.
"In view of these circumstances, we are once again sending the petition with copies of the 3,023 signatures.
"We await the reply at the following address: Klaipėda, Mituva Street 8-2, [Mrs.] Gražienė, Vanda, daughter of Antanas."
