Prisoners of Zion. 1944.

Born on January 22nd, 1922, he joined the religious Zionist movement B’nei Akiva in 1931 and was an active member of this movement up to 1939. In 1944, while trying to escape the USSR illegally through the Persian border aiming to reach Palestine-Eretz Israel, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag. Released in 1954, he applied for an exit visa, but, despite numerous attempts, he and his family didn’t received permission to go to Israel till 1972.

Born in 1914 in Poland, he joined the Zionist movement “Beitar” at a young age. Before WWII he was very active in this movement in Proshkow and vicinity and from 1941 to 1944 he was an active participant in the underground Zionist movement in the town of Mary, in Turkmenistan. In 1944 he tried to escape the USSR illegally through the Persian border in order to reach Palestine-Eretz Israel, but was arrested and sentenced to 8 years in the Gulag plus 4 years of exile. Released in 1955, he still had to wait till 1961 before getting to Israel.

Born in 1921 in Chernovtsy, Romania, he was a member of organization "Beitar" from 1937 till 1940. At the beginning of WWII, he was evacuated to Aktyubinsk, USSR, where he was arrested in 1944 on charges of his previous Zionist activities. These included the spreading of the idea, among Jews in Khazakhstan, of the necessity for a Jewish State in Eretz Israel in which Jews around the world could settle. Sentenced in 1945 by OSO (Special Court of NKVD) to 7 years in the Gulag, he served his time in the concentration camps of Aktyubinsk and Siberia. He was released in 1951.

Born in 1921 in Yaroslavl, she joined the organization «Hashomer Hatzair» in Riga at a young age. After the German occupation she escaped from Riga’s ghetto but in 1944 she was arrested in Yaroslavl on charges of participating in the Zionist movement and was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment and 5 years exile. She served her time in the camps Northern Eagle, Usul’lag, Lentsa and in Kazakhstan. Released in 1956, she returned to Riga in 1957 and in 1971 managed to get to Israel.

Born in 1915 in Poland, he became a member of the Zionist movement «Dror» (Freedom) at a very early age and then became an activist in «Poalei Zion» (Workers of Zion). At the beginning of WWII he escaped to Armenia, but in 1944 was arrested in Yerevan, charged with Zionist propaganda. Sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag, he spent his sentence in various concentration camps in Siberia, among them in Wetlag. Released in 1954, he received permission to go to Poland in 1957 and in the same year he got to Israel. He died in 1982.

Born in 1923 in Danzig, he was arrested in 1944 because of his previous membership of the revisionist party «Beitar», and sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag. Released in 1952, he consistently applied for permission to go to Israel. His dream came true in 1990 when he finally got to Israel. Alexander’s father - Abraham, born in 1897, a native of Warsaw, was a prominent Zionist leader, and a very popular Jewish figure in Poland. He was arrested by the Soviet authorities on June 24, 1945, and the NKVD military court sentenced him to death. He was executed by firing squad.

Born in 1922 in Poland, he became an active propagandist and organizer in the movement for immigration to Palestine-Eretz Israel. Arrested in 1944 in Karakul, Uzbekistan on charges of Zionist activity, he was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment in the Gulag. His sentence was served in the camps of Vorkuta and Pechlag. Released in 1952, he got to Israel in 1959. He was a member of the Organization of the Prisoners of Zion Council. He died in 1990.

Born in 1925 in Chernovtsy, Bukovina, he was a member of the "Beitar" movement from 1939 to 1940. Arrested in 1944 on charges of Zionist activity, he was sentenced in1945 to 5 years in the Gulag plus 5 years of exile. His sentence was spent in the camps Yenisseisk, Tatarka, Mutgina, Telsky, Sviask and Irkutsk. Released in 1954, he didn’t get to Israel until 1972. He is a member of the Council of the Prisoners of Zion organization.

Born in 1909 in Naomastis-Taorga, Lithuania, he became a member of the Zionist organizations "Ha-Mizrahi" and "Beitar" while still a teenager and was very active in them up to the beginning of war. In 1944 he was arrested on charge of Zionist activity and sentenced to 8 years in the Gulag, in Karaganda. He was released in 1951, but his request for permission to go to Israel was constantly rejected and he only got there in 1967.

Born in 1918 in the small town of Gorodok, he joined the "Beitar" movement in Riga in 1932 and before the Soviet occupation in 1939 he was an active Zionist. Arrested in Moscow, in 1944, on charges of Zionist activity, he was sentenced to 8 years in the Gulag plus 4 years of exile; he served his time in the camps of Kotlas and Munlag. He was released in 1956, but was only allowed to go to Israel in 1973.

Born in 1919 in Poland, to a family of religious Zionists, he was a member of the Zionist movements "He-Halutz ha-Zioni" and "Beitar" from 1934 till 1939 working with Halutzian groups engaged in agricultural education. During the war he participated in Zionist work in Georgia, unofficially teaching Hebrew and organizing Jewish groups for escape from the Soviet Union. Arrested in 1944 he was sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag, 8 of which were spent in different concentration camps, and the last several years of his sentence in exile. He was released in 1956, but only in 1966 did he and his family get permission to go to Israel. He died in 1989.

Born in 1920 in Hovrino, Poland, he escaped to Lithuania in 1939. After the German occupation of Lithuania in 1941, he fled to the Soviet Union and lived on various collective farms. In 1942 he was mobilized by the Red Army and sent to a munitions factory in Moscow. There he found a secret Zionist group among Jewish workers in the factory, who exchanged both national and historical information and organized Hebrew classes. Arrested in 1944 on charges of Zionist activity, he was sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag. Some of this time was spent in Moscow prisons: Lubianka, Lefortovo, Butyrka, and Krasnaia Presnia and some in several camps in Norilsk and Cheboksary which was followed by a period of exile. Released in 1955, he succeeded in getting to Israel in 1957.

Born in 1907 in the district of Sorokko, Bessarabia he was, from an early age and up to the Soviet occupation in 1940, an active member of the revisionist movement “Beitar” in Romania. In 1944 he was arrested by the Soviets for these activities and sentenced to 8 years in the Gulag, which he spent in several concentration camps in Siberia. After his release he renewed his active Zionist propaganda among Jewish youth. In 1965 he and his family got to Israel. He died in 1973.

Born in 1919 in Poland, he was very active in the Zionist movement there. In 1948 he distributed information among Jews about the Soviet support of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. As these facts were never published officially in the Soviet Union, its distribution awakened tremendous interest, giving hope to Soviet Jews. He was arrested, sentenced to 8 years in Gulag plus 3 years of exile and spent the sentence in several concentration camps in Siberia. Released in 1956, he got to Israel in 1957.

Born in 1914 in Riga to a family of Zionists, he was a member of "Beitar" until 1927, joining the «Bar-Kohba» and «Gordonia» movements in 1929. He also participated in Halutzian agricultural training in Tukume. From 1932 until the German occupation he was an active Zionist but in 1941 he was mobilized by the Red Army and fought in the war against the Nazis. Arrested in 1944 on charges of his previous Zionist activities, he was sentenced to 10 years exile in Siberia. Released in 1954, he struggled for several years for his rights to go to Israel. He received permission in 1969, and the same year left for Israel.

Born in 1921 in Riga, Latvia, he became a member of the revisionist organization "Beitar" in his youth and became a popular Zionist figure among his peer group. Arrested in 1944, while in hospital with severe war wounds, he was sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag and 2 years in exile. Released in 1954, he returned to Riga and continued his Zionist activities among Jewish youth, teaching them the love and aspiration of Zion. He was one of founders of the monument in Rumbula, erected in memory of the tens of thousands of Jews of Riga executed there. In 1974 he got to Israel and became an active and honored member of the Organization of Prisoners of Zion. He died in 1990.

Born 1923 in Pneyovna, Poland, he was captured, in 1941, during a German round-up of Jews and sent to a ghetto. Escaping in 1942, he joined the guerrillas. In 1944 he tried to leave the Soviet Union illegally through Romania aiming to reach Palestine-Eretz Israel but was betrayed and thus caught. Sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in the Gulag, he was released from the camp in 1946 and in 1951 fulfilled his dream of immigrating to Israel. He has written a book of memoirs entitled «As We Have Defended Our Souls».