The Voice of Silence: The Story of the Jewish Underground in the USSR - Paperback

by Kholmyansky (Author)

While trying to revive Jewish national life by teaching Hebrew and Judaism in the Soviet Union, Ephraim Kholmyansky is arrested and threatened with long years of imprisonment and exile. In response, he declares a hunger strike. Supporters throughout the world rally to pressure the Soviet government to release him. A race against time begins...

Ephraim Kholmyansky was born in Moscow in 1950. In 1979, he initiated an underground network for dissemination of Hebrew, Jewish tradition and Zionist values ​​throughout the peripheral cities of the USSR. He was arrested in 1984 when the KGB planted weapons in his apartment in order to stage a show trial and intimidate Jewish activists. Kholmyansky held a prolonged hunger strike while kept in prison. Thanks to his hunger strike and major international solidarity campaign, he received a relatively short sentence. This is an exceedingly rare case of victory over the KGB. This book documents this trying episode of his life and provides a unique perspective from inside the USSR.

Author Biography

Ephraim Kholmyansky was born in Moscow in 1950. He is a Jewish activist and was a Prisoner of Zion in the USSR. In Israel Ephraim worked in the Ministry of Education, was an emissary of the Jewish Agency, and filled a number of senior positions at Givot Olam Oil Exploration and start-up companies.