yes... they weren't allowed religious books or anything like that.. we were able to bring them loads of stuff.. walkmans, books, and all kinds of things. i can remember being a bit scared because we were on this covert mission, and we thought every russian dude who spoke to us was a spy.. probably we werent wrong.. fortunately they never searched us and we had a very special time meeting many Jewish families and sharing our love and time with them.. we then could also take their names and addresses and help them get out.. i guess today things are totally different!.
anyways.. lets hope we all move forwards and not backwards. the world is surely a very different place now, 30 years later..