Ulman Misha Yakovlevich (1945)

Ulman Misha Yakovlevich (14 March 1945, Vilnius) — radio technician.

Misha Ulman was born to Yakov Shigris (1922, Bucharest) and Beylya Movshovna Ulman (née Sperling) (1918, Mtsensk). His parents’ marriage, concluded in the Vilnius synagogue, was not officially registered. In 1945, his father, a civilian foreign national, emigrated to Romania, and contact between his parents was interrupted until the late 1960s.

In 1963–1964, Ulman worked as a laborer and electrician at the “Männiku” building materials plant in Tallinn. In 1968, he worked as a radio equipment assembler and technician at the Tallinn Design Bureau of Radio Electronics. From 1968 to 1971, he was employed as a radio technician at the A. S. Popov Radio Factory in Riga. From 1971, he worked as an inspector and radio mechanic at the Latvian Directorate of Household Technical Services (LDPTS).

In 1968, he graduated from the Tallinn Polytechnic Institute with a specialization in radio engineering. In 1971, Ulman and his mother applied for permission to emigrate to Israel. His mother received a positive decision, but his own emigration was deemed inexpedient for security reasons. He was, however, promised permission to leave three years after graduation.

Ulman repeatedly petitioned the authorities for permission to emigrate, but was consistently refused. His work at the Tallinn Design Bureau of Electronics, where he had completed his pre-diploma training, was classified as sensitive. In 1972, he appealed to the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, arguing that the classified status of the enterprise should not constitute a legal restriction on his civil rights and noting that he had not been warned of such consequences during his training.

In 1973, three letters addressed to Alexei Kosygin were sent by a group of Amnesty International (led by M. Mendell, USA, Pennsylvania), signed by more than thirty members, including scholars, demanding that the promised exit visa be granted to the young specialist. In August 1973, eight months after the registration of these letters, Ulman was granted permission to emigrate.

Family:

Bela Movshovna Ulman (née Sperling) (1918, Mtsensk) — mother
Yakov Shigris (1922, Bucharest) — father
Shlomo Sperling (1912, Minsk) — maternal uncle