Prisoners of Zion. 1969.




Lilia Ontman

Born in 1937 in the village of Bergomitz, the district of Tshernovitzy, to a traditional Jewish family. The family was sent in 1941 to a concentration camp (Kopaigorod, the district of Vinnitsa). Starting from 1957 Lilia had constantly applied for an exit visa to Israel, but was always refused. In May 1969 after the now routine application she was demoted in her job, crossed off the waiting list for a new apartment, and in December of 1969 was arrested. In February 1970 she was sentenced to 2.5 years imprisonment in the Gulag.

The material was taken from the book: Anti-Jewish Processes in the Soviet Union (1969-1971), vol 2. Editor and the author of the commentary - A. Rozhansky.





Baruch Shilkrot

Born in 1946 in Leningrad, while still quite young he actively entered the fight for democracy in the Soviet Union, distributing anti-Soviet books and manifests. In 1969 he was arrested, charged with anti-Soviet activity and sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment in the Gulag. After his release he constantly applied for an exit visa to go to Israel, but was arrested again and sentenced to 6 month in jail. Released in 1974, he received the exit visa in the same year and immediately went to Israel.





Arie (Yuri) Vudka

Born in 1947 in Pavlograd, USSR, by 1967-1969 he was compiling and distributing "Samizdat" brochures, where among other topics the free immigration of Soviet Jews into Israel was discussed . He was arrested in 1969, charged with anti-government and Zionist activity and sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment in the high security camps of the Gulag. His sentence was spent in the camps of Mordovia, Ural, Riazan, Perm and others. In the camps he took part in hunger strikes and other protest actions for the free emigration of Jews and their right to celebrate Jewish holidays. As a result of this behavior he was charged again with sabotage and Zionist activity and sentenced to another 3 years of imprisonment in the closed Vladimir Prison (Central). All together he spent 3 years in the high security camps and 4 years in prisons. Released in July 1976 in Dnepropetrovsk, he left for Israel in the same year.



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