Spotlight on Soviet Jewish struggle

Spotlight on Soviet Jewish struggle

Exhibition marking 40 years since launch of Jewish struggle in USSR to open at Beth Hatefutsoth, reveal life of Zion prisoners, refuseniks behind iron curtain

Ynetnews

Forty years after the Jews of the Soviet Union launched their struggle for freedom, a unique exhibition dedicated to this period will open at Beth Hatefutsoth, the World Center for Jewish Peoplehood, in Tel Aviv.



The exhibition, titled Jews of Struggle: The Jewish National Movement in the USSR 1967-1989, presents a first of its kind collection that reveals the story of the refuseniks and Zion prisoners, and the efforts taken to preserve and increase Jewish-national consciousness behind the Soviet iron curtain.



Through photographs, posters and paintings by Russian Jewish artists, as well as rare films, documents, books, diaries, albums and letters, the show will seek to portray the anti-Semitic campaign in the USSR during Stalin's rule and afterwards, and the oppression of Jewish life there.



Glorious chapter in Jewish history


The exhibit will also feature the Soviet authorities' attempts to conceal the annihilation of Jews during the Holocaust; the Soviet Jews' reactions to the establishment of Israel; the protests and actions for the Soviet Jews in Israel and across the world; and finally the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989 and the opening of the gates for aliyah.




According to Natan Sharansky, chair of Beth Hatefutsoth's Board, "This is the first exhibition that spotlights one of the most glorious chapters in Jewish history, a chapter that has become a charter moment in the history of the Jewish people.



"The exhibition's objective is to mark the heroic struggle of the Zion prisoners, the refuseniks and other activists who operated behind the iron curtain, and the support of the Israeli governments and Jewish organization from all over the world in their fight."



The exhibition opens October 31 at Beth Hatefutsoth, Tel Aviv University campus