Vladimir Semyonovich Slepak (; 29 October 1927 – 24 April 2015) was a Soviet dissident, refusenik, member of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Along with his wife Mariya Slepak (née Rashkovskaya) and sons Alexander and Leonid he fought for the right of Jews to emigrate from the Soviet Union.Людмила Алексеева, Юрий Орлов, Виталий Рубин, Анатолий Щаранский. Документы МХГ (1976—1982) О разделённых семьях Документ № 4 17 июня 1976 г.
He participated in the compilation of about 70 documents, appeals by Moscow Helsinki Group.Каталог Самиздата
He graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute as a radio engineer.
He lived and worked in Moscow as the head of the laboratory at the Research Institute of television in Golyanovo District and trust "Spetsgeofizika."
Slepak and his wife were arrested by Soviet authorities on June 1, 1978, after displaying a banner from their Moscow apartment reading: "Let us go to our son in Israel.""Mrs. Slepak Tells of Questioning by Moscow Police," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 5, 1978. On June 21, they were sentenced to "internal exile" for "malicious hooliganism"."Slepak Sentenced to 5 Years, Nudel 4 Years of Internal Exile," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 22, 1978.ИМЕННОЙ УКАЗАТЕЛЬ к книге Е. Печуро Реквием по ушедшей эпохе Slepak was sent to the village of Tsokto-Khangil, Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug in the Chita Oblast, where he lived in a shack and worked as a stoker in temperatures reaching -50 degrees Celsius.Zeev Ben-Shlomo, "A Portrait of the Man [Slepak]," London Jewish Chronicle News and Feature Service (March 12, 1982), p. 4. "Nobody knows" what will happen after his sentence is completed, he wrote in English to a Canadian supporter. "Let's be more optimistic. Let's hope for a 'happy end' of this too long story."Letter dated Aug. 7, 1981, Slepak to Rena Cohen, reproduced as "From Exile in Siberia," Calgary Jewish Star (Oct. 23, 1981), 2. Slepak returned to Moscow from exile in Siberia on December 4, 1982."Refusenik Slepak freed," Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle (Dec. 17, 1982), 1.
On Oct. 14, 1987, months after finishing a 17-day protest fast,"Slepaks, on 13th Day of Hunger Strike in Moscow, Say They Are Achieving Their Purpose," Jewish Telegraphic Agency (April 9, 1987). Soviet authorities announced they would allow the Slepaks to leave the country.Philip Taubman, "Soviet to Let Key Jewish Dissident Leave," New York Times (Oct. 15, 1987), 3. Previously, Slepak told Natan Sharansky, the KGB had told him that he couldn't leave the Soviet Union "because you know state secrets." When Slepak questioned the assertion, because "Where I worked, we were ten years behind the West," the KGB officer responded: "Aha, that's the secret." "But that secret is known by every schoolboy," Slepak protested. "But you know it better," he was told.Natan Sharansky, Fear No Evil (New York: Random House, 1988), 61.
The Slepaks emigrated to Israel on October 26, 1987,"Slepaks Arrive in Israel with Delight and a Warning," Jewish Telegraphic Agency (Oct. 28, 1987). 17 years after he first applied to the Soviet Visa Office to leave.Михаэль Бейзер. Евреи борьбы. Еврейское национальное движение в СССР (1967—1989 гг.) He immediately lived with his family in Kfar Saba, Israel.Владимир и Мария Слепак, село Цокто-Хангил, 1980 г.
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