POLITICAL USSR PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE JEWISH STAR FREEDOM BADGE BORIS PENSON

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POLITICAL USSR PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE JEWISH STAR FREEDOM BADGE BORIS PENSON:
$79.99

This pendant has great historical significance !!!

Star of David badge with one side that says \"Let My People Go\" and a star of David chained up by the soviet symbol and the other side has Boris Penson Prisoner of Conscience.

Star measure 2.5 inches . Length of chain is 24 inches. Medal is gold toned.

Pendant in great condition. Sorry there is a little schmutz on it I just noticed in picture but it can be cleaned off.

1970 \" operation wedding \" called by underground Zionist groups plan and attempt to escape communist Russia via hijacking a plane. There were 12 men . 2 were executed and 10 were sentenced to 10 years in prison including the artist Boris Penson. Boris was released after 9 due to poor health . This Star of David Badge was worn in protest and remembrance of those imprisoned.

Here is some info I grabbed off internet:

In the wake of the Six-Day War in 1967, the USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. To apply for an exit visa, the applicants (and often their entire families) would have to quit their jobs, which in turn would make them vulnerable to charges of social parasitism, a criminal offense.[1] A large number of Soviet Jews applied for exit visas to leave the Soviet Union. While some were allowed to leave, many were refused permission to emigrate, either immediately or after their cases would languish for years in the OVIR (ОВиР, \"Отдел Виз и Регистрации\", \"Otdel Viz i Registratsii\", English: Office of Visas and Registration), the MVD (Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs) department responsible for exit visas. In many instances, the reason given for denial was that these persons had been given access, at some point in their careers, to information vital to Soviet national security and could not now be allowed to leave.[1]

IncidentEdit

In 1970, a group of sixteen Refuseniks (two of whom were non-Jewish), organized by dissident Edward Kuznetsov (who already had served a seven-year term in Soviet prison for publishing an anti Soviet newspaper called \"Phoenix\"), plotted to buy all the seats for the local flight Leningrad-Priozersk, under the guise of a trip to a wedding, on a small 12-seater aircraft Antonov An-2 (colloquially known as \"кукурузник\", kukuruznik), throw out the pilots before takeoff from an intermediate stop, and fly it to Sweden. Their final goal was to arrive in Israel. One of the participants, Mark Dymshits, was a former military pilot. They called it \"Operation Wedding\".

On 15 June 1970, knowing they faced a huge risk of being captured or shot down, they group arrived in Smolny (later Rzhevka) Airport near Leningrad, the entire group of the \"wedding guests\" was arrested by the KGB.

AftermathEdit

The accused were charged for high treason, punishable by the death sentence under Article 64 of the Penal code of the RSFSR. Mark Dymshits (age: 43) and Eduard Kuznetsov (age: 31) were sentenced to capital punishment but after international protests it was appealed and replaced with 15 years of incarceration, Yosef Mendelevitch and Yuri Fedorov - 15 years, Aleksey Murzhenko (age: 27) - 14 years, Sylva Zalmanson (age: 25, Kuznetsov\'s wife then, and the only woman on trial) - 10 years, Yosef Mendelewich (age: 22) - 15 years, Arie (Leib) Hanoch (age: 25) - 13 years, Anatoli Altmann (age: 28) - 12 years, Boris Penson (age: 23) - 10 years, Israel Zalmanson (age: 21) - 8 years, Wolf Zalmanson (brother of Sylva and Israel) - 10 years.

Strong international condemnations caused the Soviet authorities to significantly increase the emigration quota. In the years 1960 through 1970, only 4,000 people (legally) emigrated from the USSR, from 1971-1980, right after the trial, 300,000 Jews received a visa to leave the USSR.