Prisoners of Zion. 1959.




Sarah Burgin

Born in 1924 in the town of Kobilnik, Poland, she applied after WWII for permission to return to Poland, but was refused. In 1959 she attempted to cross the Polish border illegally in order to get to Israel, but was arrested, charged with Zionist and anti-Soviet activity, and sentenced to 1.5 years of imprisonment. Released in 1961, she continued seeking permission to join her family in Israel, but was refused 18 times. In 1966, after the 19th application, she received the longed for permission and left for Israel.





Itzhak Engelberg

Born in 1919 in Riga, Latvia, he was a member of the "Beitar" movement in Riga from an early age and was engaged in Zionist activity. In searching his house, the KGB found Zionist literature and other Jewish materials. Arrested in 1959, he was sentenced to 2 years in the Gulag. In 1971 he was allowed to leave for Israel where he died in 1980.





Herman Veitzmann

Born in 1913 in the town of Gorodenka, Galicia, Austria-Hungary, he graduated in Agricultural Engineering. At the beginning of WWII he was mobilized into the Red Army, and later was sent to labor battalions in Siberia. In 1959 he was arrested in Poland and charged with Zionist activity and with contacts with the Israeli Embassy in attempts to locate Jewish children who had been saved from the Nazis in churches, monasteries and by private parties. He was sentenced to 3.5 years imprisonment. Released in 1962 and soon after left for Israel.



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