When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry (44 page)

More than any other group, Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry captured the spirit of the 1960s with its protests. Here, in June 1964, a weeklong interfaith fast takes place in front of the Soviet mission in Manhattan. Yaakov Birnbaum is third from right, with beard and white hat.

Jacob Birnbaum Archives

Starting in 1971, a rally and march known as Solidarity Sunday was held every spring, bringing huge crowds into the streets of Manhattan. They massed at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in front of the United Nations after walking down Fifth Avenue. This photo was taken on April 15, 1975, at the fourth annual Solidarity Sunday.

© Bettmann /
CORBIS

Meir Kahane's Soviet Jewry exploits were regularly covered by the New York tabloids. Here he stands outside the Manhattan Criminal Court on January 21, 1971, at the height of his anti-Soviet harassment campaign.

AP Images / Rooney

Lou Rosenblum (seated, second from right) traveled to the Soviet Union in May 1974 with three other Union of Councils activists. To his right is Sasha Lunts, and standing behind them is Anatoly Shcharansky. Most of the rest of the group were part of the Hong Wei Bing protest strike force, including Leonid Tsypin (standing, with blond beard and glasses), who would later denounce Shcharansky.
Courtesy of Louis Rosenblum

As soon as news of the emigration tax reached the West, Holocaust analogies came quickly to mind, as in Paul Conrad's political cartoon in the September 24, 1972,
Los Angeles Times.
© Tribune Media Services, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

After their release from prison in 1979, Eduard Kuznetsov (in black-rimmed glasses) and Mark Dymshits (seated, at left) visited New York City. Senator Henry Jackson, embraced by the Jewish community for his amendment, sits between them.

Beit Hatfutsot Photo Archive

An iconic photo of the most famous refusenik activists, taken in 1976. Front row, left to right: Vitaly Rubin, Anatoly Shcharansky, Ida Nudel, and Alexander Lerner. Second row: Vladimir Slepak, Lev Ovsishcher, Alexander Druk, Yosef Beilin, and Dina Beilin.
Beit Hatfutsot Photo Archive

The movement inspired some striking poster art, including this 1969 design by Israeli artist Dan Reisinger.

Beit Hatfutsot Photo Archive

Anatoly Shcharansky's trial turned him into the face of Soviet Jewry and a symbol for all that was untenable about détente. ©
Time, Inc.

Simchat Torah, the holiday celebrating the end of the Torah-reading cycle, became a joyous annual occasion for Soviet Jews. In Moscow, thousands would cram narrow Arkhipova Street in front of the city's main synagogue, as here in 1981, and dance late into the night.

Photo © Bill Aron

Ronald Reagan championed the cause of Soviet Jewry from his first days in office. In May 1981, he invited Avital Shcharansky and Yosef Mendelevich, only recently released from prison, to the White House.
Beit Hatfutsot Photo Archive