Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair
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The Dymshits–Kuznetsov aircraft hijacking affair, also known as The First Leningrad Trial or Operation Wedding (Russian: Ленинградское самолётное дело, or Дело группы Дымшица-Кузнецова) (Leningrad Process), was an attempt to take an empty civilian aircraft on 15 June 1970 by a group of 16 Soviet refuseniks in order to escape to the West. Even though the attempt was unsuccessful, it was a notable event in the course of the Cold War because it drew international attention to human rights violations in the Soviet Union and resulted in the temporary loosening of emigration restrictions.
Background
In the wake of the 1967
Incident
In 1970, a group of sixteen Refuseniks (14 of them Jewish) [clarification needed] were organized by dissident Edward Kuznetsov, who had previously served a seven-year term in prison for publishing Phoenix-61, a samizdat poetry collection.[3] The group plotted to buy all the seats on a small 12-seater Antonov An-2 (colloquially known as "кукурузник," kukuruznik) making a local flight from Leningrad to Priozersk, under the guise of a trip to a wedding; throw out the pilots before takeoff from an intermediate stop; and fly to Sweden.[4] Their final goal was Israel. One of the participants, Mark Dymshits, was a former military pilot, who had experience flying the An-2s.[5] The group called the plan "Operation Wedding".[6]
The plan was set in motion in June 1970. On the morning of 15 June the group arrived together in Smolny (later Rzhevka) Airport near Leningrad, only to be arrested by the KGB.[7]
Aftermath
The accused were charged with
After international protests, the Judicial Commission for Criminal Cases of the RSFSR Supreme Court in Moscow considered an appeal of the cases, and modified the sentences, commuting the capital sentences of Dymshits and Kuznetsov to 15 years in prison, and reducing the length of prison terms for several other defendants by two to five years.[8]
Strong international condemnations caused the Soviet authorities to significantly increase the emigration quota. In the years 1960 through 1970, only 4,000 people had (legally) emigrated from the USSR; after the trial, in the period from 1971 to 1980, 347,100 people received a visa to leave the USSR, of whom 245,951 were Jews.
In August 1974, Sylva Zalmanson was released as part of an Israeli secret Soviet prisoner exchange with the spy Yuri Linov[11] that took place in Berlin, after which she immigrated to Israel, arriving in September. In the following years she advocated for the release of her husband, Edward Kuznetsov, and other dissidents.[12][13]
Kuznetsov was finally released on 27 April 1979, and joined his wife in Israel.
After immigrating to Israel, Kuznetsov headed the news department of "
"The Committee to Free the Leningrad Three," headed by Colorado State Senator Tilman Bishop, was instrumental in organizing grassroots and diplomatic campaigns to release the remaining prisoners.
In February 1981, Mendelevitch was released and joined his family in Israel. He urged continuance of the campaign to free two members of the group, Fedorov and Murzhenko: "The fact that both are non-Jewish is the worst example of Soviet discrimination and must not pass without protest."
On 15 June 1984, Aleksei Murzhenko (1942-1999)
In 2016, Operation Wedding, a documentary about the hijacking directed by Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov (the daughter of Kuznetsov and Sylva Zalmanson, two participants in the plot) was released.[16]
See also
- Eastern Bloc emigration and defection
- Jackson–Vanik amendment
Notes
- ^ ИСТОРИЯ ИНАКОМЫСЛИЯ В СССР (The History of Dissident Movement in the USSR) Archived 22 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine by Ludmila Alekseyeva. Vilnius, 1992 (Russian)
- "The Leningrad trial of the 'hijackers'," A Chronicle of Current Events (17.6), 31 December 1970, and compare
- "The Aeroplane affair", A Chronicle of Current Events (20.1), 2 July 1971.
References
- ^ Beckerman, Gal (2010). "3. A Circumcision at the Dacha, 1966-1969". When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- ^ The Right to Emigrate, cont. Archived 9 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine Beyond the Pale. The History of Jews in Russia. Exhibit by Friends and Partners Archived 11 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Beckerman, Gal (2010). "5. "Escape, Daughter of Zion Dwelling in Babylon," 1969-1970". When They Come For Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- ^ Beckerman, Gal (2010). When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry. Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 179, 191, 194–195.
- ^ Beckerman (2010), p. 177-178.
- ^ Beckerman (2010), p. 186.
- ^ Beckerman (2010), p. 196-199.
- ^ a b c Mozorov, Boris (Ed.) (1999). Documents on Soviet Jewish Emigration. London; Portland, OR: Frank Cass. p. 90, note 3.
- ^ "Proceedings of the Leningrad Hijacking Trial." In: Eduard Kuznetsov (1975). Prison Diaries. Translated from the Russian by Howard Spier. New York: Stein and Day. pp. 217–254. The account is described as having been "recorded by a relative of one of the accused who was present in the courtroom" (p. 217); ages or years of birth, as well as other biographical details, are included for most of the defendants.
- ^ "Zalmanson Sentenced to 10 Years; Termination of Trial of Nine Seen As Ploy" (8 January 1971). Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ^ Bergman, Ronen (28 October 2016). "The KGB's Middle East Files: Agents in positions of power". Ynetnews – via www.ynetnews.com.
- ^ "Woman Keeping Vigil at U.N. Collapses After Plea Fails" (9 October 1975). The New York Times.
- ^ Ghert-Zand, Renee (29 December 2012). "My mom and dad, the would-be Zionist plane hijackers." The Times of Israel. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ Kuznetsov, Eduard S. (27 April 1980). "Flight from the Gulag." The New York Times.
- ^ "Soviet dissidents". americanpushkinsociety.
- ^ "Operation Wedding, documentary - Official website".
External links
- "OPERATION WEDDING" A documentary film by Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov
- The role of Sen. Tilman Bishop in "The Committee to Free the Leningrad Three"
- When Russian Jews tried to steal a plane to reach Israel, Shlomit Sharvit Barzilay YNET, December 19th, 2020
- Hijacking History ,Fifty years ago today in Leningrad, a small group of Soviet Jews was tried for attempting a daring escape to Israel. Eerily, their story is relevant again—this time, for American Jews. Izabella Tabarovsky, Tablet December 24th, 2020
- Declaration and ‘Last Will’ of the Leningrad Hijackers Izabella Tabarovsky, Tablet December 24th, 2020