Sylva Zalmanson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sylva Zalmanson
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| Сильва Залмансон | |
Zalmanson in 1977
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| Born | 25 October 1944 |
| Alma mater | Riga Polytechnic University |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Known for | Prisoner of Zion |
Sylva Zalmanson was born in Siberia, Soviet Union in 1944. She is a brave Jewish woman who fought for her right to move to Israel. In the Soviet Union, many Jewish people were not allowed to leave. Sylva became known as a "Prisoner of Zion" because she was put in prison for trying to move to Israel. She is also an artist and an engineer. She finally moved to Israel in 1974.
Sylva Zalmanson was most memorable with the stringing and hunting effect, not heard since the publication of Anne Frank's diary of a young girl
Contents
Early Life and Dreams
Sylva was born in Siberia in 1944. Her family was Jewish and came from Riga, a city in Latvia. They had to escape from the Nazis during World War II. After the war, in 1945, they returned to Riga.
When Sylva was a student at the Riga Polytechnic University, she became very interested in Zionism. This was a movement that supported Jewish people having their own homeland in Israel. She helped share books for learning Hebrew, the language of Israel. She also listened to radio programs from Israel. These activities were against the law in the Soviet Union at that time.
Sylva finished university in 1968 and became an engineer. Her biggest dream was to live in Israel. She asked many times for permission to leave the Soviet Union, but her requests were always denied. Because of this, Sylva and her husband, Eduard Kuznetsov, joined a secret group of activists. They came up with a daring plan to escape.
The "Operation Wedding" Plan
The secret plan was called "Operation Wedding." The group had 16 members. They planned to buy all the tickets for a local flight, pretending they were going to a wedding. Once they were on the plane, they would take control of it. Major Mark Dymshits, a former Soviet pilot who was also Jewish and not allowed to leave, would fly the plane. The idea was to fly secretly over the Soviet border into Sweden.
Sylva helped find most of the people for the group. This included her husband, Eduard Kuznetsov, and her two brothers, Wolf and Israel Zalmanson. They knew that the KGB, the Soviet secret police, was watching them because of an informant. Even so, they decided to go ahead with their plan.
On June 15, 1970, just before they could get on the plane, the group was arrested. They were put on trial for "high treason," which meant trying to betray their country. Sylva was the only woman in the trial, which began on December 15, 1970. She was the first to speak.
"If you had not denied us our right to leave Russia, this group wouldn't exist. We would just leave for Israel with no desire of hijacking a plane or any other thing that's illegal. Even here, on trial, I still believe I'll make it someday to Israel. I feel I'm the Jewish people's heiress so I'll quote our sayings (in Hebrew) Next year in Jerusalem and If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."
(Hebrew: לְשָׁנָה הַבָאָה בִּירוּשָׁלִָים Hebrew: אִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִי)
Sylva was sentenced to 10 years in a Soviet labor camp called the Gulag. Three years were for trying to escape, and seven years were for "anti-Soviet propaganda." This referred to her sharing Hebrew learning books. Her husband, Eduard Kuznetsov, and the pilot, Mark Dymshits, were initially sentenced to death. However, after only eight days, their sentences were changed to 15 years in prison. This happened because people all over the world protested and demanded their release. The "Let My People Go!" campaign helped tell the world about their situation. Thousands of people demonstrated, asking for the activists to be freed and for Soviet Jews to be allowed to leave.
A Wave of Emigration
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While Sylva and the other activists were in prison, many countries put pressure on the Soviet government. Because of this, hundreds of thousands of Jewish people were finally given permission to leave.
Before Sylva's trial, between 1948 and 1970, about 10,720 Soviet Jews had left the Soviet Union. After the trial, from 1970 to 1979, around 300,000 Soviet Jews were able to move to other countries.
From Prison to Freedom
Sylva spent four years in the Potma women’s penal colony. At one point, she was put in a special isolated cell. This happened after she stood up to another prisoner who made mean comments about Jewish people.
On August 22, 1974, Sylva was released early from prison. This was part of a secret prisoners exchange between the Soviet and Israeli governments. Israel had caught a Soviet spy named Yuri Linov. In exchange for Linov, Sylva Zalmanson and Heinrich Shefter were released. Shefter was a Bulgarian Jew and a UN employee who had been arrested for spying, likely to help get Linov released.
After arriving in Israel, Sylva worked as an engineer in the aviation industry. But she did not stop fighting for her family and friends who were still in prison. In 1976, she went on a 16-day hunger strike in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York. She refused to eat until she lost consciousness.
Most of the group, including Sylva's husband and brother, were released in April 1979. This was also due to a prisoner exchange, this time with the American government, which had caught two Soviet spies in New Jersey.
Sylva Zalmanson Today
Today, Sylva Zalmanson lives in Israel. She and Eduard had a daughter, but they later divorced in 1981.
Sylva worked as a Mechanical Engineer until she retired in 2005. In 1992, she started painting. She uses acrylics, oil paints, and other materials in her art. Sylva is now a member of the "Painters and Sculptors Association of Israel." Her artwork has been shown in many countries, including Israel, the US, the UK, Italy, Romania, and Finland.
Sylva and Edward's daughter, Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov, is an Israeli filmmaker. In 2016, she directed a documentary film about her parents' story called Operation Wedding.
See also
In Spanish: Sylva Zalmanson para niños
