WASHINGTON, D.C., August 26, 2015 - The National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry (formerly NCSJ) mourns the passing on August 25 of Mark Dymshits, a refusenik, former Prisoner of Zion and hero of the Soviet Jewry movement.
Mark Dymshits was one of sixteen accused plotters (and the intended pilot) in a 1970 failed attempt by nine Soviet Jews to flee to Israel.
Their plans to steal a plane on the ground were foiled at the outset by the KGB, and Dymshits faced the death penalty for the crime of "high treason."
The Leningrad trial and harsh sentences meted out to the sixteen plotters helped galvanize the worldwide Soviet Jewry movement, drawing attention to the stark realities of anti-Semitism and discrimination faced by Jews in the Soviet Union.
After years of imprisonment, Dymshits was released in 1979 in a prisoner exchange for Soviet spies, and made aliyah.
NCSEJ Chairman Stephen Greenberg called Dymshits "a man who had a profound impact on the movement."
NCSEJ President Sasha Smukler said of Dymshits, "he and Eduard Kuznetsov, when we learned about their case, recruited people like me to the movement."
"Thousands of young Jews decided to struggle for immigration because of them. Their success was not hijacking a plane but letting the world know about the attempt of Jews to break through the Iron Curtain."
"He was a true hero," Smukler said, "and it's an incredible life story."
Reached by phone, former NCSJ Executive Director Jerry Goodman recalled the plot.
"This was an act of desperation," he said. "They knew the stakes were high. If they failed, they wanted this act to bring world attention to their plight and the plight of thousands of Soviet Jews."
"They failed in their attempt to escape, and paid a heavy price, but succeeded in spirit. They brought attention to their cause."
On behalf of the NCSEJ Board of Governors, our condolences go out to his family and the entire community of Israel. May his memory be for a blessing.
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