POC/Pénson, Boris, 1968-1978

File

Identifier: B093.01.0004.0032

Staff Only

Abstract

Materials related to Boris Pénson. Known for poster art, he and his family moved to Riga, Latvia, in 1950 where he graduated from an art school. In 1967 he decided to emigrate to Israel but was refused a visa. After endless requests and refusals, he joined the Dymshits group which planned the hijacking of an aircraft to escape from the Soviet Union. In June 1970, together with other members of the group, he was arrested by the KGB at the Smolny airport. In December 1970, at the "First Leningrad Trial," he was sentenced to 10 years of high-security imprisonment. He served his sentence in the political camps of Mordovia but, as a result of international pressure and a special agreement with America, he was released in 1979, and allowed to emigrate to Israel in the same year. The "First Leningrad Trial" led to worldwide outrage and galvanized the Soviet-Jewry protest movement.

Dates

1968-1978

Extent

From the File: 1 Linear Feet (record box)

Additional Description

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

Most of the records consist of letters, educational materials, bulletins and published newspaper accounts of activities by world-wide, national and local groups on behalf of Soviet Jews. Rhoda Friedman collected most of this material. The Records also have scrapbooks about Lillian Hoffman.