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ZEEV FAITELSON Z'L

Zeev Faitelson was a prolific leader in Russian-Jewish community during the 1960's-1970's in the Soviet Union. He was notable for his relentless fight for the rights of Jews in the Soviet Union and in particular, he was a key figure in establishing the rights of Russian Jews to emigrate (Aliyah) to their Jewish homeland, Israel.

Faitelson initiated and was a key organizer of a staged hunger strike within the Soviet Supreme Council Hall, Moscow, on March 10th - 11th, 1971 which resulted in a change of Soviet Policy to now permit the immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel.

Hunger Strike against Forceable Detainment On March 10th, 1971 Faitelson, Kosharovsky, Kukui, Aks, Rabinovich, Voytovetsky and others (ten families) applied for exit visas to Israel in Sverdlovsk. 146 Jews from eight cities of the USSR, 57 of them are from Latvia, began a hunger-strike at the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR against the "forcible confinement of Jews in the USSR." Later they were joined by 69 Jews from Lithuania and 20 Jews from Moscow. On the 11th March, in continuation of the hunger-strike protest Jews staged a demonstration at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and were received by the Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolay Shchelokov. On 17th March, another demonstration was held of 80 Jews in Moscow in the waiting room of the CPSU Central Committee, demanding freedom of exit from the USSR and more transparent procedures for consideration of appeals.

Faitelson led over 1 million Soviet Jews in the immigration to Israel and on his arrival om April 1971, he was awarded the National Honor of lighting the peace candle at the ceremony commemorating Israel's 23rd Independence Day celebrations in Jerusalem. At this national event, he was recognized by the government and the people for his instrumental contribution to the rights and liberation of Soviet Jewry and expressly for his tireless work to allow Soviet Jews to immigrate to their homeland, Israel

Commemorating Rumbula Massacre During the Soviet regime in Latvia questions and discussions about the past were silenced or forbidden so it was extremely difficult for survivors and their families to openly grief and commemorate the massacre and genocide that occurred. Rumbula massacre is a collective term for incidents on two non-consecutive days (November 30 and December 8, 1941) in which about 25,000 Jews were killed in or on the way to Rumbula forest near Riga, Latvia, during the Holocaust. Except for the Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine, this was the biggest two-day Holocaust atrocity until the operation of the death camps.[1] About 24,000 of the victims were Latvian Jews from the Riga Ghetto and approximately 1,000 were German Jews transported to the forest by train. Zee Faitelson defied the Soviet regime that prohibited the discussion of commemoration of the holocaust, and organized annual ceremonies at great risk to allow a suitable honoring and commemoration of the victims and events of the Holocaust.

Personal Zeev Faitelson was born in USSR ( now Russian Federation) to middle class parents, x and y and grew up in an orthodox jewish household. His early life was influenced by... Zeev Faitelson was married in x and was the father of two children, a daughter, who resides in Israel and Yaakov Faitelson, CEO and Co-Founder of Varonis (NASDAQ; VRNS).