Voinovich leaves after authorities return confiscated papers (12/28/80)

Voinovich leaves after authorities return confiscated papers

MOSCOW - Vladimir Voinovich, the brash and popular Soviet satirical writer, left the Soviet Union for Munich on December 21, but not without a final display of the tenacity and will that has characterized his nine-year joust with Soviet officaIdom.

With 30 friends and well-wishers looking on, the 49-year-old author, accompanied by his wife and 7-year-old daughter, threatened to tear up his plane tickets unless customs officials returned a sheath of papers that they had confiscated, according to The New York Times. When his request was refused, Mr. Voinovich calmly walked to the baggage counter and began unloading his luggage. Finally, after a tension-filled half-hour, Mr. Voinovich was permitted to turn over the bundle of papers to a friend who had come to the airport to see him off.

This latest skirmish with authorities was emblematic of the war of nerves between Mr. Voinovich and the Soviet establishment which began after the publication in the West of "The Ivankiade" and "The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Chonkin," the author's best-known works. Despite increased pressure from the government, Mr. Voinovich continued to insist that he had no desire to leave his homeland, but last spring, after the treats became more frequent and menacing, he announced his decision to seek emigration visas for himself and his family.

Mr. Voinovich, his wife Irina and daughter Olga, flew to West Germany where the Soviet author has been invited by the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts to deliver a series of lectures, reported the Times.

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