 Valery Kukuj
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Born in 1938, in Moscow, he became a Zionist when he became aware of the extent of the anti-Semitism in the USSR. Involved in Zionist propaganda, Hebrew studies and organizing illegal repatriation of Jews into Israel, he, together with his friends, sent letters of protest against the "Leningrad Trial" to the Soviet Authorities. He had also some connections with anti-Soviet dissidents. In 1971 he was arrested and sentenced to 3 years in the Gulag. In 1972 he sent a letter to the Soviet authorities in which he renounced his Soviet citizenship. Released in 1974, he left for Israel within a few days. |