Zalmanson Silva Iosifovna (1944)

Zalmanson (Salmansohn) Silva Iosifovna (b. 25 October 1944, Repyovo village, Novosibirsk Region) — engineer, artist, and public figure.

Silva Zalmanson was born into a family of Latvian natives. From 1961 to 1967 she studied at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, graduating as a design engineer, after which she worked in Riga. She made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain permission to emigrate to Israel. In Riga she engaged in Zionist activities: contributing to the samizdat journal Iton and printing underground Zionist literature.

She took part in organising the attempted escape of Soviet Jews to Israel by hijacking an aircraft — an action intended to draw international attention to the struggle of Soviet Jews for the right to emigrate to Israel (Operation Wedding). Silva Zalmanson, the only woman among the 16 participants, was arrested on 15 June 1970. The trial took place in December 1970 (the first Leningrad “airplane” trial). She was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in a strict-regime labour camp.

Her husband, Eduard Kuznetsov, together with the pilot Mark Dymshits, was sentenced to death; under pressure from Western public opinion, the sentence was commuted to 15 years in a labour camp. Two of Zalmanson’s brothers, Vulf and Israel, also took part in the operation and were sentenced to ten and eight years’ imprisonment respectively.

Zalmanson remained in prison from 1970 until 1974, when she was released in a prisoner exchange. The same year she moved to Israel and settled down in Gan Yavne, where she worked as an engineer. She spoke at rallies in Israel, Paris, New York and other cities around the world in defence of Prisoners of Zion.

Over the years, artistic creativity took an increasingly important place in her life. In painting she prefered the complex genre of portraiture, creating psychological portraits full of light and shade, using oil, pencil, charcoal and sanguine. She was a member of the Association of Painters and Sculptors of Israel and has participated in many art exhibitions in Israel and the USA. Her solo exhibitions were held in prestigious galleries in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and New York.

Literature:

Antievreiskie protsessy v Sovetskom Soyuze: Dokumenty i yuridicheskie kommentarii: (1969–1971). Jerusalem, 1979, vol. 2.

Kuznetsov, E. Mordovskii marafon. Moscow; Jerusalem, 2002.

Drachman, E. Challenging the Kremlin: The Soviet Jewish Movement for Freedom, 1967–1990. New York, 1991.