Vladimir Slepak
Vladimir Semyonovich Slepak | |
|---|---|
Владимир Семёнович Слепак | |
| Born | 29 October 1927 |
| Died | 24 April 2015 (aged 87) |
| Citizenship | Soviet Union (1927–1987) Israel (1987–2015) |
| Alma mater | Moscow Aviation Institute |
| Occupation | Radio engineer |
| Known for | human rights activism, participation in the Moscow Helsinki Group |
| Movement | Dissident movement in the Soviet Union |
Vladimir Semyonovich Slepak (Russian: Влади́мир Семёнович Слепа́к; 29 October 1927[1] – 24 April 2015[2]) was a Soviet dissident, refusenik,[3] member of the Moscow Helsinki Group.[4] Along with his wife Mariya Slepak (née Rashkovskaya) and sons Alexander and Leonid he fought for the right of Jews to emigrate from the Soviet Union.[5]
He participated in the compilation of about 70 documents, appeals by Moscow Helsinki Group.[6]
He graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute as a radio engineer.
He lived and worked in Moscow as the head of the laboratory at the Research Institute of television in Golyanovo District and trust "Spetsgeofizika."
Slepak and his wife were arrested by Soviet authorities on June 1, 1978, after displaying a banner from their Moscow apartment reading: "Let us go to our son in Israel."[7] On June 21, they were sentenced to "internal exile" for "malicious hooliganism".[8][9][10] Slepak was sent to the village of Tsokto-Khangil, Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug in the Chita Oblast, where he lived in a shack and worked as a stoker in temperatures reaching -50 degrees Celsius.[11] "Nobody knows" what will happen after his sentence is completed, he wrote in English to a Canadian supporter. "Let's be more optimistic. Let's hope for a 'happy end' of this too long story."[12] Slepak returned to Moscow from exile in Siberia on December 4, 1982.[13]
On Oct. 14, 1987, months after finishing a 17-day protest fast,[14] Soviet authorities announced they would allow the Slepaks to leave the country.[15] Previously, Slepak told Natan Sharansky, the KGB had told him that he couldn't leave the Soviet Union "because you know state secrets." When Slepak questioned the assertion, because "Where I worked, we were ten years behind the West," the KGB officer responded: "Aha, that's the secret." "But that secret is known by every schoolboy," Slepak protested. "But you know it better," he was told.[16]
The Slepaks emigrated to Israel on October 26, 1987,[17] 17 years after he first applied to the Soviet Visa Office to leave.[18] He immediately lived with his family in Kfar Saba, Israel.[19]
Books
- Potok, Chaim; Slepak, Leonid; Slepak, Vladimir; Slepak, Alexander; Slepak, Maria (2010). The Gates of November. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0307575517.
References
- ↑ Кошаровский, Юлий. "Владимир Слепак" (in Russian).
- ↑ "Умер Владимир Слепак | Московская Хельсинкская группа". mhg.ru. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
- ↑ Jalil, Justin (25 April 2015). "Renowned Soviet refusenik Vladimir Slepak dies at 87". The Times of Israel.
- ↑ Kampelman, Max (Spring 1982). "First attempts at a concluding document". World Affairs. 144 (4): 403–439. JSTOR 20671918.
- ↑ Людмила Алексеева, Юрий Орлов, Виталий Рубин, Анатолий Щаранский. Документы МХГ (1976—1982) О разделённых семьях Документ № 4 Archived 11 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine 17 июня 1976 г.
- ↑ Каталог Самиздата
- ↑ "Mrs. Slepak Tells of Questioning by Moscow Police," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 5, 1978.
- ↑ "Slepak Sentenced to 5 Years, Nudel 4 Years of Internal Exile," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 22, 1978.
- ↑ ИМЕННОЙ УКАЗАТЕЛЬ к книге Е. Печуро Реквием по ушедшей эпохе
- ↑ Stewart, Robert (1 December 1987). "Freed refuseniks keep fight alive for Soviet Jews left behind: Vladimir Slepak laments trickle of emigration in talk at Encino synagogue". The Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ Zeev Ben-Shlomo, "A Portrait of the Man [Slepak]," London Jewish Chronicle News and Feature Service (March 12, 1982), p. 4.
- ↑ Letter dated Aug. 7, 1981, Slepak to Rena Cohen, reproduced as "From Exile in Siberia," Calgary Jewish Star (Oct. 23, 1981), 2.
- ↑ "Refusenik Slepak freed," Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle (Dec. 17, 1982), 1.
- ↑ "Slepaks, on 13th Day of Hunger Strike in Moscow, Say They Are Achieving Their Purpose," Jewish Telegraphic Agency (April 9, 1987).
- ↑ Philip Taubman, "Soviet to Let Key Jewish Dissident Leave," New York Times (Oct. 15, 1987), 3.
- ↑ Natan Sharansky, Fear No Evil (New York: Random House, 1988), 61.
- ↑ "Slepaks Arrive in Israel with Delight and a Warning," Jewish Telegraphic Agency (Oct. 28, 1987).
- ↑ Михаэль Бейзер. Евреи борьбы. Еврейское национальное движение в СССР (1967—1989 гг.)
- ↑ Владимир и Мария Слепак, село Цокто-Хангил, 1980 г.