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Yelena Olshansky Yelena Olshansky (born April 12, 1928, in Leningrad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg, Soviet Union) is a Russian-American musician, dissident, and inventor. She survived the Siege of Leningrad during World War II. Her family experienced the repression of Stalin's terror. After the war, she married Moisei Olshansky, an Air Force officer, and had two sons. She graduated from a music college in Baku and worked as a choir conductor and music teacher. In the 1970s, Olshansky became an active participant in the Leningrad nonconformist art movement, organizing one of its first exhibitions in her apartment. Under constant surveillance by the KGB, she resisted attempts to recruit her as an informant. Facing potential persecution, she emigrated to the United States in 1979. There, she graduated from the New York Institute of Finance and worked as a bookkeeper until her retirement. In 2019, at the age of 92, she received a U.S. patent for inventing a hassle-free corset with Velcro fastenings. She currently resides in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Early Life Yelena Olshansky was born on April 12, 1928, in Leningrad (Soviet Union). Her childhood was spent on Vasilyevsky Island and on the Griboyedov Canal, where her father worked as a curator in the Russian Museum. Yelena survived the Siege of Leningrad during World War II, losing many relatives, and many of her family members were arrested and sent to the Gulag during Stalin's terror. Family Life and Education In 1945, after World War II, Yelena married Moisei Olshansky, an officer in the Air Force, and had two sons, Vladimir and Yury. In Baku, where her husband was transferred, Yelena graduated from a music college with a degree as a choir conductor and a teacher of solfeggio, music history, and theory. In 1963, she divorced and returned to Leningrad, where she started working at a music school in Pushkino. Participation in the Leningrad Nonconformist Art Movement In the 1970s, Yelena actively participated in the nonconformist artist movement, organizing one of the first nonconformist exhibitions in her apartment at 19 Khalturina Street. She befriended many artists who participated in the exhibition, such as Belkin, V. Volodin, and Maslov, as well as poet and critic Konstantin Kuzminsky and Valery Valran. She also befriended foreign diplomats invited to the exhibition, including U.S. Consul General Tom R. Buchanan and his wife Nancy, as well as the French Consul General. During the exhibition, Yelena's apartment was under constant surveillance by the KGB, who unsuccessfully tried to recruit her as an informant. Her dissident activities made her a prominent supporter of the nonconformist movement, which opposed official Soviet art, and it became evident that her activities could lead to persecution.

Immigration to the United States In 1979, Yelena emigrated to the United States, where she graduated from the New York Institute of Finance and worked as a bookkeeper at Lord and Taylor department store until her retirement. In 2019, at the age of 92, Yelena received a U.S. patent for the invention of a new model of a hassle-free corset with Velcro fastenings. She currently resides in Jersey City, New Jersey.