Testimonial letter from Gianni Pennacchi
This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.
This letter is from Gianni Pennacchi. It is "Exhibit A-772" in the Noles collection.
The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original.
The original letter, written in Italian, appears first, followed by its English translation. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file with the whole original letter, the translation and a notary statement attesting to the validity of the translation. It has 3 pages.
 LA STAMPA T0 WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Aggiungo la mia voce a quanti,in questo momento, chiedono alle autorità degli Stati Uniti d'America,di concedere a Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh il permesso di risiedere negli Usa insieme ai suoi discepoli. Nella mia attività di giornalista,ho avuto modo di conoscere i suoi insegnamenti filosofici e religiosi. Essi sono di alta levatura morale,ed onorano il Paese che ha la ventura di ospitare un tale maestro. Gli Usa e la libertà religiosa perderebbero una causa,se Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh fosse costretto ad abbandonare la comunità ove attualmente risiede. Spero che ouesto appello venga accolto. translationRoma, July 19, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I add my voice to that of all who, at the moment, request the United States authorities to grant Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh the permission the reside in the USA together with his disciples. As a journalist I have had occasion to know HIs philosophical and religious teachings. They have a very high moral quality and will honor the Country which will have the chance to host such a master. The USA and the religious freedom will loose a cause if Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh will be obliged to leave the community where he is at the moment residing. I hope this appeal will be accepted |
(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)
