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U.S. visitors to USSR faced risks, brought help, hope
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BY: Ellen Schur Brown Editor, Family Section
Many Clevelanders traveled to the Soviet Union to meet refusniks in their homes, bringing them Jewish books and other items, sharing pamphlets calling for their freedom, and carrying their stories home.
These weren’t mere social calls. At times, the missions were risky and dangerous.
Donna and Bennett Yanowitz led a 1975 mission that included Myrtle and Bob Silverman, Helen and Al Demb, Ellen and Harold Ticktin, Alan Riga and Joan and Keeva Kekst.
Abe Bayer of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Committee (NJCRAC) in New York came to brief the travelers.
Al Gray traveled to the Soviet Union six times and twice got a taste of the fear and tactics that Soviet refuseniks lived with every day. In Feb. 1978, he and his then-wife Anita were among the few visitors staying at the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow.
Knowing they were being followed everywhere, they avoided subways and cabs, choosing to walk n despite temperature of -25° n to discourage KGB agents from following them.
Visiting refuseniks in Kiev, Gray accepted translations of letters to newspapers for smuggling out of the country. The exchange was reported by a Jewish spy, a woman Gray eventually helped immigrate to Cleveland.
Preparing to return to Cleveland, the Grays were detained at the Leningrad airport by the KGB. Agents ripped the linings of their suitcases, and they were strip-searched.
“They wouldn’t let us leave the country,” says Gray. After three tense days, the American Embassy got them safely home. The KGB never found the translations. The day before he was to leave, Gray handed the papers to the U.S. Embassy, and the letters were delivered by diplomatic pouch.
These weren’t mere social calls. At times, the missions were risky and dangerous.
Donna and Bennett Yanowitz led a 1975 mission that included Myrtle and Bob Silverman, Helen and Al Demb, Ellen and Harold Ticktin, Alan Riga and Joan and Keeva Kekst.
Abe Bayer of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Committee (NJCRAC) in New York came to brief the travelers.
Al Gray traveled to the Soviet Union six times and twice got a taste of the fear and tactics that Soviet refuseniks lived with every day. In Feb. 1978, he and his then-wife Anita were among the few visitors staying at the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow.
Knowing they were being followed everywhere, they avoided subways and cabs, choosing to walk n despite temperature of -25° n to discourage KGB agents from following them.
Visiting refuseniks in Kiev, Gray accepted translations of letters to newspapers for smuggling out of the country. The exchange was reported by a Jewish spy, a woman Gray eventually helped immigrate to Cleveland.
Preparing to return to Cleveland, the Grays were detained at the Leningrad airport by the KGB. Agents ripped the linings of their suitcases, and they were strip-searched.
“They wouldn’t let us leave the country,” says Gray. After three tense days, the American Embassy got them safely home. The KGB never found the translations. The day before he was to leave, Gray handed the papers to the U.S. Embassy, and the letters were delivered by diplomatic pouch.
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