Prisoners of Zion. 1946, page 2.

Born on November 25th, 1920 in Podbroches, Poland, he was an active member of “Hashomer Hatzair” in Vilnius from 1936 until the Soviet occupation in 1939. After the occupation he continued this activities underground but was arrested in 1946 and sentenced to 7 years in the Gulag. His sentence was served in Lubjanka (Moscow) and in the camps of Vorkuta. Released in 1953, he left for Israel in 1959.

Born in 1908 in Bessarabia he joined the “General Zionists” at the age of 17. In 1929-1932 he was a member of the “Hashmonaim” movement, and in 1932-1940 affiliated with the “HaTsakhar” (Zionist- revisionists) party. He was an activist in the “Maccabi” sport organization and participated in working for the Zionist funds “Keren Kaemet”, “Keren Ha’esod” and “Keren Tel-Khay”. In 1946 he was arrested, accused of Zionist activity and sentenced to 5 years in the Gulag. Released in 1949 due to bad health, he remained a prisoner in his own country till 1973 when he succeeded in emigrating to Israel. He died in 1984.

Born in 1918 in Leipzig, Germany, she was a member of the Zionist organization “Kadima” in her home city from an early age. Arrested in Vilnius in 1946 on the charge of attempting to escape by aircraft from the Soviet Union to get to Eretz Israel, she spent 8 years in the Gulag and after her release continued to fight for the right to leave for Israel. In 1971 she left the USSR for Israel together with her husband Nakhum. She died in 1978.

Born in 1907 in Vilnius, Lithuania, he was an activist in “Maccabi” during the 20s and the 30s and in the Zionist movement of Kaunas, Lithuania. Arrested in 1946 for his Zionist activities and his attempt to flee by aircraft from the Soviet Union to Poland and from there to Eretz Israel, he was sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag and served his sentence in various camps in Siberia. He left for Israel in 1971 together with his wife of Lilly. He died in 1972.

Born in 1910 in Minsk, Belorussia, he served in the Red Army during WWII, was promoted to the rank of Colonel and was injured twice. In 1945-46 he served as the head of the logistics department for the Soviet occupation forces in Poland and in Germany and at the same time was secretly occupied by the organization of illegal aliyah of Holocaust survivors. Arrested in 1946 and sentenced to capital punishment, he had his sentence commuted to 10 years in the Gulag. He served 9 years in Siberian camps. After coming to Israel in 1958, he was recognized as Honorable Colonel of Israeli army in 1976. He died in 1988.

Born in 1927 in Warsaw, he was a member of the “Gordonia” movement until the Nazi occupation. During the War he was a member of an underground Zionist organization in Cheliabinsk. Arrested in 1946 and imprisoned for his Zionist activities, he spent 7.5 years in prison and was released in 1953. After fighting for his right to emigrate to Israel, he made aliyah in 1962. He died in 1975.

Born in 1919 in Shakiyai, Lithuania, he was an activist in the movement “General Zionists” in his youth. He travelled around Lithuanian cities in search of those wishing to be emigrate to Eretz Israel, and supplied them with false documents which allowed them to cross the border with Poland. In 1946 he was arrested and sentenced by the military tribunal of Vilnius to 10 years in the Gulag plus 3 years probation. His sentence was served in a high security camp in Chukotka but, though he was released in 1954, he was not allowed to move himself and his family to Israel until 1990.

Born in 1918 in Riga, Latvia, he was a member of “Beitar” from 1929 till 1940. In 1946 he was arrested and charged with assisting in the illegal flight of Jews from the USSR, with the aid of the organization “HaBrikha,” and in his own attempt to leave the Soviet Union for Eretz Israel. He was sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag and served his sentence in Kazakhstan. Released in 1956, he left the USSR for Israel in 1971. As a volunteer he helps in the integration of new olim. He is a member of the “Council of the Organization of the Prisoners of Zion”.

Born on April 4th, 1920 in Lithuania, he got involved, in 1944, in assisting in the illegal transfer of Jews from the USSR to Poland and from there to Eretz Israel. After 2 years of this activity he was arrested in 1946 in Vilnius and sentenced to 3 years in the Gulag. Released in 1948, his dream of living in Israel did not come true till 1979.

Born in 1929 in Kaunas, Lithuania, he became a member of “Beitar” from 1938 till 1941. In 1945-1946 he had some connections with the underground organization “HaBrikha” and organized the flights of Jews from Lithuania to Eretz Israel through Poland. Arrested in 1946, he was charged with Zionist subversive activity and also “treachery to the Soviet motherland”. He was sentenced by OSO (a special board of NKVD) to 10 years in the Gulag. His sentence was served in the hard labor concentration camps of Vorkuta. Released in 1954, he remained a prisoner in his own land till 1990 when he got permission to leave for Israel together with his family.

Born in 1920 in Slonim, Poland, he became an active member of “Beitar” in his youth. In 1942 he joined the anti-Nazi resistance and escaped together with his family to the guerilla armed forces in the woods. In 1944-45 he fought in the ranks of the Red Army but after the War he began to be actively involved in Zionist activity, organizing the transfer of Jews to Poland and then to Eretz Israel. Arrested in 1946 on charges of conspiring in the organization of the flight of Jews from the Soviet Union to Poland and of “treachery to the Soviet motherland” he was sentenced by the military tribunal of Potsdam, Germany, to 10 years in the Gulag plus 5 years in exile. In 1947 he escaped from the transfer prison, but was caught and sent on to the camp where he served his sentence in Ivdlag. Released from the camp in 1954 and from exile in Karaganda in 1956, he succeeded in emigrating to Israel in 1966.

Born in 1915 in Olishkany, Bessarabia, he was a member of “Maccabi” and “Poalei Zion” from an early age. Mobilized into the Red Army in 1941, he was sent to work in Gorky. In 1946 he attempted to escape to Eretz Israel through Rumania but was arrested in Bucharest and sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag. 8 years were spent in various concentration camps in Siberia. He went to Israel in 1973 where he died in 1991.

Born in 1920 in Berdichev, in the Ukraine, she helped her husband, Yaakov Shotland, in his Zionist activities from 1938: distributing Zionist propaganda, gathering donations and preparing false documents for the Jews who wanted to leave the Soviet Union for Poland in attempting to escape to Eretz Israel. In 1946 she and her entire family were arrested and sentenced to 5 years in the Gulag. In 1954 she was released from the camp and sent to exile in the North of Siberia. She continued her Zionist activities both in the camps and in exile. Released in 1957, she had to wait the 14 years that it took to be successful in getting to Israel in 1971 together with her family.

Born in 1919 in Gdyach, in the Ukraine, to a Zionist family whose home served as the centre of underground meetings of Zionists. In 1940, during service in the Red Army in Poland, he helped Jews to leave Poland and to emigrate to Eretz Israel. He organized material aid and helped with false documents. He fought in the ranks of the Red Army till 1945 and was twice injured. After the War he returned to Moscow and continued his Zionist activities there but, in 1946 he and his entire family were arrested and sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag. Released from the camp in 1956 he was sent for a year’s exile to the North of Siberia. Despite being released in 1957, he had to wait till 1971 before finally getting permission to go to Israel together with his family. He died in 1993.

Born Feb 15th, 1915 in Douga, Lithuania, he joined “General Zionists” at the age of 15. He spent the period of 1934 till 1936 on the Arlozorovian kibbutz taking courses in agricultural training (“Hakshara”) in Lithuania. In 1941 he was enrolled into the Red Army but after the War was active in the organization “HaBrikha” in Vilnius. When arrested, he was charged with underground Zionist activity and sentenced by OSO to 7 years in the Gulag plus 3 years in exile. He served his sentence in Vorkuta. Released in 1956, he had still to wait until 1987 in order to receive permission to leave the USSR for Israel.

Born in 1925 in Lithuania, she was a member of “Maccabi” and “Beitar” and worked in the Zionist underground in the city of Vilnius. Arrested in 1946 she was charged with attempting to cross the border of the USSR. Sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment, she was released in 1948 but was unable to emigrate to Israel until 1971.

Born in 1915 in Riga, Latvia, he was an activist in “Beitar,” the revisionist movement. Arrested in 1946, he was charged with attempting to leave the USSR illegally to get to Eretz Israel. Sentenced to 5 years in the Gulag, he finally emigrated from the USSR to Israel in 1966 where he died in 1992.

Born in 1922 in Khantsevits, Poland, she joined the Zionist movement “Hashomer Hatzair” at the age of 11 and soon became an activist, continuing this activity secretly during the period of the Soviet occupation. In “HaBrikha” she was involved in the underground transfer of Jews from the Soviet Union through Iran to Eretz Israel. Arrested in 1943, she succeeded in escaping. At the end of the War she returned to Poland and continued to work in “HaBrikha” promoting Jewish emigration to Israel. In 1946 she was sent by “HaBrikha” to the Soviet Union to find new routes of escape for Jews through Hungary and Rumania. That year, however, she was arrested in Lvov and sentenced to 8 years in the Gulag in Siberia serving her sentence in the camps of Inta, Vorkuta, etc. Released in 1954, she was allowed to leave the Soviet Union for Israel that same year. In Israel she was actively occupied in the absorption of immigrants from the USSR. She is a member of the Council of the Organization of the Prisoners of Zion.

Born in 1910 in Russia, he was a member of the “HaHalutz” movement between 1933-1939. Attempting to cross the Polish border illegally in 1946, he was arrested and incarcerated in the Gulag. Released in 1950, he still had to wait till 1972 to get permission to emigrate to Israel. He died in 1981.

Born in 1910 in Kishinev, he was an activist in the Zionist movement “Young Zionists” in his home city. He was arrested in 1946, and charged with active participation in the movement “HaBrikha” and with attempting to cross the Rumanian border in order to get to Eretz Israel from there. Sentenced in 1947 to 10 years in the Gulag, he served his sentence in the camps of Taishet. Released in 1955, he continued to fight for the right to emigrate to Israel. His dream came true only in 1965. He died in 1993.

Born in 1925 in Kishinev, she was an activist in “Beitar” from an early age. Arrested in 1946, she was charged with attempting to cross the Rumanian border in a bid to get to Eretz Israel. In 1947 she was sentenced to 5 years in the Gulag. Released in 1951, she continued fighting for the right to be allowed to emigrate to Israel. Her dream came true in 1965.

Born in 1916 in Riga, Latvia, to a Zionist family, he joined “Hashomer Hatzair” at an early age. Mobilized into the army at the beginning of WWII he was demobilized at the end of 1942 as a result of severe injury. Returning to Riga in 1946, he and several of his friends established an underground organization “HaBrikha” for the illegal transfer of Jews from the Soviet Union. 450 families were transferred to Eretz Israel by his team! But in June of 1946 he was arrested and sentenced to 8 years in prison (Lefortovo, Moscow), and to 3 years in exile (Salekhard, the Archangelsk province). Released in 1957 he still had to wait till 1972 before he was able to make his aliyah.