Chronology of events 1983-1985

Compiled by Yuli Kosharovsky and Enid Wurtman.

Employed Abbreviations: AA – the archive of the author; d.o.r. - Date of record (not the event); TM- a telephone message from Moscow in real time.

The sources of information are listed below. The numbers of the sources are placed in The Chronology in parentheses.

Морозов Борис, “Еврейская эмиграция в свете новых документов“, “Центр Каммингса”, “Тель Авивский Университет”, “ЦХСД”, 1998.
Энн Шенкарь, Бюллетень “Комитета действия” (англ.).
“Википедия“, http://ru.wikipedia.org .
“Еврейская электронная энциклопедия” http://www.eleven.co.il .
Краткая Еврейская Энциклопедия, том.8, “Общество по исследованию еврейских общин”, “Еврейский университет в Иерусалиме”, Иерусалим, 1996.
Jewish Encyclopedia, CD-Rom Edition
Friedman, Murray and Chernin, Albert, Editors, “A Second Exodus, The American Movement to Free Soviet Jews“, Hanover, Brandeis University Press, 1999.
Gilbert, Martin, “Shcharansky, Hero of Our Time“, London, Macmillan London Limited, 1986.
Levin, Nora, “The Jews in the Soviet Union since 1917, Paradox of Survival“, Volume I, Volume II, New York and London, New York University Press, 1988.
Prital David, “Jews of the FSU in Israel and Diaspora“.
Soviet Jewish Affairs, Chronicle of Events, Sources are Western Press reports, unless specifically stated.
Rosenfeld Nancy “Unfinished Journey”.
Eizen, Wendy, “Count Us In, The Struggle to Free Soviet Jews”, A Canadian Perspective, Toronto, Burgher Books, 1995.
Washington Post.
Wurtman Enid, Articles in “Jerusalem Post” and audiocassettes of telephone talks with refuseniks in Russia.
Schroeter, Leonard, “The Last Exodus“, Jerusalem, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Jerusalem, 1974.
Insight, 70 Years of Soviet Union.
Нехемия Леванон, Код Натив, Ам овед, 1995, иврит.
Юлий Кошаровский, “Мы снова евреи“, том 1, 2007.
“Антиеврейские процессы в Советском Союзе 1969-1971 годов“, Издание Еврейского университета в Иерусалиме и Центра исследований восточноевропейского еврейства 1979 год.
Пинкус Вениамин, “Национальное возрождение“, Центр наследия Бен-Гуриона, 1993, иврит.
Интервью автору.
“Сборник писем, петиций и обращений“, “Центр по изучению восточноевропейского еврейства”.
Shindler, Colin, “Exit Visa, Détente, Human Rights and the Jewish Emigration Movement in the USSR“, London, Bachman and Turner, 1978.
Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry. Newsletter.
Gilbert, Martin, “The Jews of Hope, The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today“, London, Macmillan London Limited, 1984.
Файн Вениамин, “Вера и разум“, Маханаим, Иерусалим 2007.
Bulleten UCSJ “Alert“.
Lerner, Alexander, “Change of Heart“, Minneapolis, Lerner Publication Company, Rehovot, Balaban Publishers, 1992.
Lein, Evgeny “Lest we forget“.
Israel Public Council for Soviet Jewry, Israel, Profile.
Gilbert, Martin, “The Jews of Hope, The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today” London, Macmillian London Limited, 1984.
Joel L. Lebowitz, James S.Langer, William I. Glaberson, Editors, “Fourth International conference on collective fenomena“, Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences, Published by The New York Academy of Science, ANYAA9 337, 1-223, 1980.
Loel L. Lebowitz, Editor, “Fourth International conference on collective fenomena“, Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences, Published by The New York Academy of Science, ANYAA9 373, 1-233, 1981.
Давид Зильберман, “Голодная демонстрация советских евреев в Москве 10-11 марта 1971 года, Дневник демонстранта, Сказание об исходе из России, Нацрат Элит, Израиль, 1971 год.
Инна Аксельрод-Рубина “Жизнь как жизнь, воспоминания“, Иерусалим 2006.
Информационный бюллетень по вопросам репатриации и еврейской культуры, еврейский информационный центр в Москве.
Jerusalem post, Soviet Jewry, Jewish World by Enid Wurtman.
Александр Парицкий, “Молитва”, Иерусалим 2006, Verba Pablishers, Jerusalem.
Evgeny Lein, Lest we forget, The Refuseniks struggle and World Jewish Solidarity, The Jerusalem publishing cebter, Jerusalem, 1997.
Anatoly Adamishin and Richard Schifter, Human Rights, Perestroika, and The End of The Cold War, United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, 2009
Baruch Gur, Open Gates, The Inside Story of the Mass Aliya from the Soviet Union and its Successor States, Jewish Agence for Israel, printet by Graphit, Jerusalem 1996.
Lois Rosenblum interviews: Rosenblum Oral History Project: Involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement, interviews with Louis Rosenblum, 1996-1999, Louis Rosenblum Papers, MS 4926, Jewish Archives of the Western Reserve Historical Society.
Jerry Goodman, Jews in the Soviet Union and the American Soviet Jewry Movement – A Time Line of Historic Events, 1917-1991.
Pam Cohen, Time Line of the Soviet Jewry movement.

Date	Event
00-00-1983	The famous British historian and biographer of Winston Churchill, Martin Gilbert has released the sixth volume of the Churchill biography and dedicated the book to refuseniks Aba Taratuta and Yuli Kosharovsky.
01-01-1983	2,692 Jews emigrated from the USSR in 1982 as opposed to 9,447 in 1981. 176 Jews left the USSR in December. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.101).
04-01-1983	An Experts Conference on Soviet Jewry Today is held at The London School of Economics and Political Science under the auspices of the Institute of Jewish Affairs and the Israel-Diapora Institute of Tel Aviv University. The 40 participants include prominent scholars and experts on Soviet affairs from US, Canada, West Germany, France and Great Britain. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.101).
08-01-1983	A documentary “Zionism Before the Tribunal of History” is shown on Soviet television. Among the issues it deals with are the US Jewish lobby and the war in Lebanon. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.101).
10-01-1983	Kerch refusenik Simon Shnirman, a 25 year metallurgical technician, who has already served a two and a half years’ prison sentence for draft evasion, is re-arrested on the same charge. (See November 29^th 1980) (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.101).
13-01-1983	The European Parliament adopts a resolution calling upon the new Soviet leadership to resume the liberalization policy on Jewish emigration initiated at the beginning of the 1970’s. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.101).
13-01-1983	Dr. Victor Brailovsky is informed by the authorities that his request for a reduction of his sentence for good behavior is rejected. (d.o.r.), (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.101).
19-01-1983	Boris Kanevsky, who fought against discrimination against Jews for admission to universities, is sentenced by the Moscow City Court to five years’ internal exile on charges of “defaming the Soviet state and social system”. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
19-01-1983	Ilya Geltzer is given a three years’ suspended sentence. (see July 22^nd 1982), (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
20-01-1983	French Communist Party leader Georges Marchais receives a reply from Andropov to his enquiry about Anatoly Shcharansky made on January 18th, 1983. Andropov informs Marshais that Shcharansky had recently contact with his Mother and ended his hunger strike. Andropov also mentions the possibility of early release for Shcharansky and said it is being hampered by the “noisy” campaign abroad on his behalf. (See July 6^th, September 27^th, November 16^th 1982) (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102.)
22-01-1983	Moscow police disperse a Hebrew class being held in the home of Irina Shchegolova. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
23-01-1983	Soviet Central Studio of Documentary Films has released a full length film “Neo-fascism.” Among the subjects it deals with is “Israel’s barbarous war against Lebanon and genocide towards the Palestinian people.” (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
25-01-1983	An exhibition portraying the Soviet treatment of Jews is opened at the House of Commons in London. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
25-01-1983	Soviet Central Television shows the documentary film about Israel’s military operation in Lebanon in 1982 – “Lebanon on Fire”. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
01-02-1983	In January 81 Jews emigrated from the USSR.
07-02-1983	The British Foreign Secretary Francis Pym calls in the Soviet Ambassador to Britain and appeals for the immediate release of Anatoly Shcharansky on humanitarian grounds. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
08-02-1983	The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe resumes in Madrid. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.100).
10-02-1983	The USSR withdraws from the Vienna-based World Psychiatric Association shortly before a debate on Moscow’s abuse of psychiatry for political purposes is due to be held. (d.o.r.) (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
14-02-1983	A court sentenced refusenik Simon Shnirman to imprisonment a second time for three years in a strict regime camp for draft evasion. (see January 10^th 1983), (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
17-02-1983	Felix Kochubiesky’s appeal against his sentence is rejected. (d.o.r), (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
20-02-1983	The first ever International Conference of European Women for Soviet Jews is held in Geneva February 20^th – 22nd. The conference is attended by women parliamentarians and senators from Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
21-02-1983	Ambassadors from 10 EEC countries (European Common Market) attending the Madrid CSCE review meeting assure representatives of the West European Jewish communities that Soviet Jewry will remain a primary issue at the meeting. (11, vol 13, #2, 1983, p.102).
24-02-1983	A rally in support of Iosif Begun is conducted at the Western Wall.
00-03-1983	Martin Gilbert’s first visit to the USSR.
01-03-1983	Valery Senderov, an activist fighting against the discrimination against Jews in admission to universities, was sentenced by a court to seven years imprisonment and five years of exile.
01-03-1983	Hundreds of Soviet Jews hold a solidarity hunger strike in many cities in support of imprisoned Hebrew teacher Iosif Begun. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.94).
01-03-1983	125 Jews left the USSR in February (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.93).
06-03-1983	A demonstration planned by the UK National Council for Soviet Jewry on behalf of Anatoly Shcharansky is postponed. The decision follows a recent statement by President Andropov, published in L’Humanite, that Shcharansky could be released prematurely if Western Jewry would call off large demonstrations. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.94).
15-03-1983	Over 1,000 delegates from 30 countries attend the Third World Conference on Soviet Jewry in Jerusalem. The conference will last three days through March 17^th 1983. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, P.94).
15-03-1983	23 activists sent an appeal to the Third World Conference on Soviet Jewry in Jerusalem emphasizing the plight of the refuseniks.
15-03-1983	Ida Milgram appealed to the Third World Conference on Soviet Jewry with a letter highlighting the persecution of her son, Anatoly Shcharansky.
15-03-1983	Yuri Tarnopolsky is arrested in Kharkov on charges of anti-Soviet agitation (see October 1, 1982). (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.94).
25-03-1983	The CSCE review conference in Madrid adjourns until April 19, 1983. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.92)
01-04-1983	101 Jews emigrated from the USSR in March.
01.04.1983	The central Soviet press publishes an appeal for the creation of an “Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public”. The appeal is signed by eight Soviet Jews: D.A. Dragunsky, M.I. Kabachnik, G.B. Gofman, S. L. Zivs, B.S. Sheynin, G.L. Bondarevsky, G.O. Zimanas and Yu.A. Kolesnikov. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.94).
21-04-1983	An intensive three weeks press campaign the “Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public” was created.
28-04-1983	Rabbi Yaakov Fishman, Chief Rabbi of Moscow’s Choral Synagogue, joins the “Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public”. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.94).
01-05-1983	114 Jews emigrated from the USSR in April. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.94).
12-05-1983	Moscow OVIR officials are reported to be demanding that visovs, hitherto valid for 12 months, must now be renewed after six months. (d.o.r.) (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.94).
22-05-1983	An estimated 180,000 people take part in a New York rally on the occasion of the 12^th annual Solidarity Sunday for Soviet Jewry. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.94).
25-05-1983	Refusenik Lev Elbert, a 35 year old civil engineer in Kiev, is sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in a labor camp for “evasion of military service”. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.94).
25-05-1983	Demonstrations protesting against the persecution of refuseniks were held simultaneously in New York, Washington, Paris, London and Lisbon.
25-05-1983	Members of “SSSJ” stage a demonstration in front of Aeroflot’s offices in New York in support of Yuri Tarnopolsky and Lev Elbert.
04-06-1983	Chief Rabbi of the Moscow Choral Synagogue Yakov Fishman dies from a heart attack. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.95).
06-06-1983	At a press conference of the “Anti-Zionist Committee of Soviet Public” in Moscow, the Committee’s First Deputy Chairman Samuel Zivs says that the process of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union is “basically completed”. (see April 1^st 1983), (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.95).
08-06-1983	Rabbi Adolf Shaevich became the Chief Rabbi of the Moscow Choral Synagogue after the death of Rabbi Fishman. (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.95).
16-06-1983	The Kiev High Court rejects Lev Elbert’s appeal against his 12 month sentence. (See May 25^th 1983) (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.95).
30-06-1983	Yuri Tarnopolsky, Kharkov, is given the maximum sentence of three years in a labor camp for alleged anti-Soviet activities. (See March 15^th 1983), (11, vol 13, #3, 1983, p.95).
01-07-1983	102 Jews left the USSR in June 1983.
05-07-1983	Iosif Begun receives the 1983 award of the British All Party Parliamentary Committee for the Release of Soviet Jewry. (see June 22^nd and November 6^th 1982), (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.101).
14-07-1983	An Israeli delegation visits the Soviet Union from July 14th to 25^th at the invitation of the Soviet Peace Council. The delegation comprises Labor MKs Shulamit Aloni and Aharon Harel; Matityahu Peled of the Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace; Uzi Burshtein and Nimr Murkos of RAKAH (Communist party); and Benny Barabash of “Peace Now”. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.100).
15-07-1983	Moscow police broke up a Jewish prayer meeting in a private apartment and arrest four of the participants. The Jews are told that they have no right to pray in groups outside the synagogue. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.101).
23-07-1983	Leningrad refusenik Evgeny Lein and his wife Irina send a statement to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet about their wish to renounce their Soviet citizenship. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.101).
01-08-1983	167 Jews left the USSR in July 1983. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.101).
23-08-1983	“The Soviet Public Commission for the Investigation of the Crimes of the Israeli Aggressors in Lebanon” meets in Moscow. The Commission, created shortly after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, is headed by the Director of the “Institute of State and Law” Vladimir Kudryavtsev. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.100).
06-09-1983	Moscow hosts “The Fourth International Book Fair.” The Fair will run until September 12th. Soviet censors prevent 49 books, most of them concerning Jewish history, from being exhibited by the New York Association of Jewish Book Publishers. Three Russian language publications are banned from the Israeli pavilion. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.101). At the head of the Israeli delegation is Yaakov Levinger. The delegation includes well-known Israeli singer Sarhele Sharon. (22, Dita Gurevich).
09-09-1983	The Madrid CSCE review conference, which began on November 11th, 1980, concluded. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.100.)
25-09-1983	Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel Wolf Vilensky, Vilnius, arrives in Israel after 11 years in refusal. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.101).
01-10-1983	135 Jews have left the USSR in September. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.102).
12-10-1983	The third trial of Iosif Begun is held in Vladimir on October 12th- 14th. Iosif Begun is sentenced to seven years’ strict regime imprisonment followed by five years’ exile in Siberia. (See November 6^th 1982), (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.102).
14-10-1983	400 Israeli students organize a demonstration in support of Iosif Begun at the Western Wall.
14-10-1983	A public appeal is launched by Israeli professors in support of Iosif Begun.
30-10-1983	The Presidium of the World Conference on Soviet Jewry meets in London for two days. (11, vol 14, #1, 1984, p.102).
01-11-1983	91 Jews have left the USSR in October (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98).
10-11-1983	TASS publishes an “Open Letter” to US Jewry from 53 prominent Soviet Jews. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98).
17-11-1983	A series of broadcasts entitled “Zionism in the Service of Imperialism” is scheduled twice monthly on Lvov regional television. The main items of these programs are letters said to have been written by disenchanted Soviet Jewish immigrants in Israel. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98).
00-12-1983	Son and wife of Iosif Begun are denied the right to visit him in the Vladimir prison.
00-12-1983	Sharansky in a letter to his mother complains of sharp pains in his heart.
01-12-1983	“The Sixth International Conference on Collective Phenomena” is held on December 1st-2nd in Stockholm. These conferences originated in the seminars organized by Soviet Jewish refusenik scientists. Three such unofficial conferences were held in Moscow (the first and fifth were suppressed by the authorities). Papers by refusenik scientists Dr. Victor Brailovsky, Professors Yakov Alpert, Naum Meiman and Alexander Lerner are read in absentia. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98).
01-12-1983	58 Jews left the USSR in November. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98).
15-12-1983	Vladimir Albrecht, the Moscow mathematician and prominent human rights activist, who was arrested in early April 1983, is sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for anti-Soviet agitation. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98).
18-12-1983	After 13 years waiting for permission to emigrate, Vilnius refusenik Eitan Finkelstein arrives in Israes. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98) .
19-12-1983	Former Moscow yeshiva student, refusenik Moshe Abramov, 28, is arrested for teaching Torah to minors. Formal charge – malicious hooliganism. Abramov refused to serve as an official rabbi in Samarkand.. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98).
23-12-1983	Leningrad refusenik Nadezhda Fradkova, 37, begins another hunger strike protesting against the authorities’ refusal to allow her to emigrate to Israel. Fradkova, who has been campaigning for six years for an exit visa, held a 43 day hunger strike last spring. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98).
00-00-1984	More than 400,000 invitations are in the hands of Soviet Jews.
01-01-1984	97 Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union in December 1983. The total number of Jewish immigrants for 1983 was 1315, the lowest annual figure since 1970. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.98-99).
04-01-1984	Nadezhda Fradkova is forcibly removed from her home to the Re-Animation Ward of Leningrad 9th City Hospital, where she is reported to be undergoing force feeding. (see December 23^rd 1983), (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.99).
19-01-1984	The RSFSR Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Iosif Begun against the sentence imposed by the Vladimir District Court. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.99).
24-01-1984	Moshe Abramov is sentenced in Samarkand to three years’ imprisonment in a labor camp for “malicious hooliganism”. (see December 19^th 1983), (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.99).
28-01-1984	An anti-emigration documentary “They Saw Light Again” has been produced by the Moldovan Film Studio. (d.o.r.), (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.99).
01-02-1984	Leningrad refusenik Leonid Kleynman begins a hunger strike in protest against the authorities’ refusal to grant him permission to emigrate. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.99).
01-02-1984	88 Jews left the USSR in January 1984. (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.99).
09-02-1984	Communist Party General Secretary Yuri Andropov died. His replacement will be Konstantin Chernenko.
17-02-1984	Thirty two Leningrad refuseniks address a letter to Chernenko protesting against Nadezhda Fradkova’s forcible detention in hospital. (see January 4^th 1984), (11, vol 14, #2, 1984, p.99).
01-03-1984	90 Jews left the Soviet Union in February 1984. (11, vol 14, #3, 1984, p.95).
02-03-1984	Boris Begun, son of Prisoner of Zion Iosif Begun held a hunger strike to protest the persecution of his father. The hunger strike lasted 44 days.
04-03-1984	Deportation of Alexander Balter from Moscow to Riga after a demonstration in front of the Bolshoi Theatre.
04-03-1984	Eight Jews were elected to the USSR Supreme Soviet – two more than in the 1979 election. The number of Jewish deputies in the Union Chamber rises from two to three, and that in the Chamber of Nationalities – from four to five. (11, vol 14, #3, 1984, p.95).
05-03-1984	Riga refusenik Zahar Zunshain, a 33 year old physicist, is arrested in Moscow after a demonstration at the Bolshoi Theatre on charges of defaming the Soviet state and social system. (11, vol 14, #3, 1984, p.95).
07-03-1984	Nadezhda Fradkova, who was subjected to force feeding in the hospital, ends her hunger strike, which began on December 23^rd. (see January 5^th 1984), (d.o.r.), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.95).
11-03-1984	Konstantin Chernenko became General Secretary of the Communist Party and the leader of the Soviet Union. (11, vol 14, #3, 1984, p.93).
15-03-1984	Victor Brailovsky returns to Moscow after having served five years of exile in Kazakhstan. He is given permission to re-register in Moscow. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.95).
16-03-1984	Nadezhda Fradkova is allowed to return home from the hospital. (see March 7^th 1984), (11, vol 14, #3, 1984, p.95).
21-03-1984	KGB officers raid and search the homes in Odessa of observant Jews, David Schechter, Yacov Levin and Valery Lemelman. Religious objects, including a mezuzahs, books on Judaism and Jewish history and culture, were confiscated. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.95).
22-03-1984	Vladimir Kislik returns to Kiev on completion of his three year sentence for “malicious hooliganism”(see May 27 1981). (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.95).
27-03-1984	The police organize surveillance of Tanya Zunshain and the Balter family in Riga.
00-04-1984	A book by Martin Gilbert “The Jews of Hope” is published.
01-04-1984	Alexander Panarev sentenced in 1983 to one year’s imprisonment for evasion of military service, is released. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
01-04-1984	51 Jews left the USSR in March 1984. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
02-04-1984	The International Conference of Parliamentary Spouses for Soviet Jewry takes place in Washington. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
02-04-1984	A new Russian-Yiddish dictionary is published in Moscow with a circulation of 20,000 copies. (d.o.r.), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
09-04-1984	KGB raided the apartment of David Goldfarb, 65, the eminent Soviet Jewish microbiologist. During the search, his personal archives and a collection of strains of bacteria are seized. Goldfarb is told that exit visas for him and his family have been suspended. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
10-04-1984,	Balters and Zunshains in Riga, stage a demonstration in front of the office of the Latvian Prosecutor General.
16-04-1984	Boris Begun finished a 44 day hunger strike protesting against the persecution of his father Iosif Begun, who is serving his third term of imprisonment .
17-04-1984	The central event of the celebrations of the 125^th anniversary of the birth of Sholom Aleichem, a literary and theatrical soiree is held in the in the Moscow Central Writers’ House. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
18-04-1984	Abe Stolyar is proposed by the authorities to leave the Soviet Union without his wife, and threatened with persecution if he does not agree to these terms.
26-04-1984	Kiev refusenik Alexander Chernyak, a 34 year old communications engineer, is sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for embezzlement and forgery of documents. (d.o.r.), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
26-04-1984	Valery Pilnikov of Kiev, who was arrested at May 18th, 1980 and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, is released early on remission for good behavior and returns to Kiev. (see June 20^th 1980) (d.o.r.), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
26-04-1984	The Sixteenth Latin American Conference on Soviet Jewry takes place in Mexico City. The conference is convened for three days. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
27-04-1984	According to Carmi Elbert, 13 activists were beaten up in Kiev.
01-05-1984	75 Jews left the Soviet Union in April. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
02-05-1984	Academician Andrei Sakharov begins a hunger strike in protest against the authorities’ refusal to grant his wife, Elena Bonner a visa for medical treatment abroad. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
08-05-1984	The Soviet Union withdraws from this summer’s Olympics Games in Los Angeles. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.93).
08-05-1984	The Conference on confidence-building between nations and disarmament in Europe has resumed work in Stockholm. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.93).
10-05-1984	Iosif Begun, who is serving a third term of imprisonment, is awarded in absentia the title of Professor of Philosophy at the University of Haifa. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
15-05-1984	The Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public holds a press conference in Moscow. Spokesman of the Committee attack Western Zionist centers and their emissaries for claiming Soviet Jews are victims of repression, and President Reagan for personally supporting the campaign for Soviet Jewry. They also claim that emigration is “decisively rejected by an absolute majority of Soviet Jews… the process of reunification of divided families is practically complete”. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
17-05-1984	Moscow refusenik Natalia Volshonok is arrested outside the French Embassy while trying to deliver a plea for assistance in immigrating to Israel. She is placed in a mental hospital. (see June 14^th 1984), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
17-05-1984	The European Convention of Soviet Jewry National Councils and Communities Leaders takes place in Paris. The congress is convened for two days. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96).
25-05-1984	The USSR Supreme Soviet adopts a decree on the administrative accountability of officials and other citizens for infringing the rules of stay in and the passage through the territory of the USSR of foreign citizens and stateless persons. The law, which is effective from July 1^st 1984 reinforces existing laws designed to discourage unofficial contacts with foreigners. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.96-97).
26-05-1984	The International Parliamentary Group for Human Rights in the Soviet Union holds its first meeting in Paris. The meeting is convened for two days. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97).
30-05-1984	Vladimir Zukerman and Osip Lokshin are released on completion of their sentences. (see September 22^nd – 23^rd 1981), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97).
31-05-1984	Fifteen papers by Soviet refusenik scientists are read on May 31st and June 1^st at the 1984 International Scientific Seminar on Collective Phenomena at Tel-Aviv University. Some 100 scientists from Israel and abroad participate in the Seminar. (see December 1^st and 2^nd 1983) (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97).
01-06-1984	109 Jews left the USSR in May 1984.
07-06-1984	Boris Klotz and Victor Fulmakht at a press conference in Moscow reject the Kremlin’s assertions about the natural termination of emigration.
14-06-1984	Natalia Volshonok is released. (see May 17^th 1984), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97).
18-06-1984	Moscow refusenik Alexander Yakir, 28, is arrested in connection with his alleged failure to report for military service in 1981. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97).
21-06-1984	Alexey Murzhenko, sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment during the First Leningrad Trial in 1970, is released from prison. (d.o.r.),(11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97).
21-06-1984	Lev Elbert returns to his home in Kiev after completing his one-year sentence in a labor camp. (see May 25^th 1983). (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97).
21-06-1984	A group of young religious Jews are reported to be helping repair and restore the synagogue in the Moscow suburb of Marina Roshcha. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97).
25-06-1984	Refuseniks appeal to the international community to bring an end to persecution against three generations of the Yakir family.
28-06-1984	Zachar Zunshain is sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by the Riga district court on charges of defaming the Soviet state and social system. (see March 5^th1984), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97).Zunshain declares a hunger strike in the courthouse.
29-06-1984	Shcharansky is denied a semi-annual meeting with his mother.
30-06-1984	The RSFSR Supreme Soviet adopts the RSFSR Code of Administrative Violations of the Law which amalgamates the separate normative acts on administrative accountability presently in force, effective January 1st, 1985. (d.o.r.), (11, p.vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.97-98).
00-07-1984	The Reagan Administration extends the Agreement on trade with the USSR.
00-07-1984	Iosif Begun, imprisoned in the Perm Gulag region, is hospitalized after a hunger strike.
01-07-1984	After attempting to visit Jews in Leningrad, former Israeli President, Professor Ephraim Katzir, a participant in the 26^th Conference of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies in Moscow, is interrogated for one and a half hours by KGB agents.
01-07-1984	72 Jews left the USSR in June 1984. 484 Jews left the Soviet Union during the first six months of 1984, the lowest half yearly figure since 1971. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
03-07-1984	The third biennial meeting of the European Inter-Parliamentary Conference of solidarity with Soviet Jewry was held in London. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
03-07-1984	The joint winners of the 1984 award of the British All-Party Parliamentary Committee for the Release of Soviet Jewry are the British historian Martin Gilbert and two refuseniks, Yuli Kosharovsky from Moscow and Aba Taratuta from Leningrad “for their outstanding roles in the struggle for freedom of Soviet Jewry”. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
04-07-1984	On July 4^th four Israelis who are attending the European Biochemical Conference are expelled from the USSR, apparently for meeting Jewish activists in Moscow. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
06-07-1984	The USSR and Egypt announce that they are resuming full diplomatic relations. Alexander Byelonogov is appointed Soviet Ambassador to Egypt July 7^th. The USSR had no ambassador to Egypt since September 1981. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.94).
06-07-1984	A conference of leaders of law enforcement organs meets in Moscow to consider ways of stepping up measures against an “anti-social parasitic way of life”. Those taking part in the conference include A.M. Rekunkov, USSR Procurator General; V.V Fedorchuk, USSR Minister of Internal Affairs; V.I. Terebilov, Chairman of the USSR Supreme Court; and B. V. Kravtsov, USSR Minister of Justice. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
06-07-1984	Iosif Begun, who is serving his sentence in a Perm labor camp, is sentenced to six months confinement in the internal jail (BUR – strict security hut) for “violation of the camp regime”. (d.o.r.), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
19-07-1984	Nadezhda Fradkova is again taken to a Leningrad psychiatric hospital (see March 16th, 1984). (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
24-07-1984	Zachar Zunshain’s appeal against his sentence of three years is dismissed. (d.o.r.), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
25-07-1984	Moscow refusenik and Hebrew teacher Alexander Kholmiansky, arrested while on holiday in Estonia, is summarily sentenced to ten days’ detention on a charge of “petty hooliganism” under Article 195 of the Estonian Criminal Code. (See August 9^th 1984) (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
31-07-1984	U.S. Congress adopted Joint resolution, calling on the Kremlin to abide by the Declaration of Human Rights.
01-08-1984	85 Jews left the USSR in July 1984. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
07-08-1984	Academician Andrei Sakharov is reported to have ended his hunger strike in protest against the refusal of the authorities to let his wife undergo treatment abroad. (see May 2^nd 1984), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
07-08-1984	Alexander Kholmiansky, who is still detained in prison in Estonia, is to go on trial on charges of hooliganism. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
10-08-1984	Moscow refusenik Alexander Yakir, 28, is sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for draft evasion. (see June 18^th 1984), (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
10-08-1984	Odessa refusenik Yacov Levin is arrested on charges of defaming the Soviet state and social system. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.98).
24-08-1984	Police searching the home of Moscow refusenik and Hebrew teacher Yuli Edelstein claim they have found drugs. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.99).
25-08-1984	Nadezhda Fradkova, Leningrad, is arrested and charged with conducting a parasitic lifestyle.
28-08-1984	Police searching the home of Hebrew teacher and refusenik Alexander Kholmiansky, claim that a gun and cartridges were found. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.99).
28-08-1984	Alexander Paritsky is released from labor camp after completing his full term of imprisonment. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.99).
31-08-1984	Leningrad refusenik Yacov Gorodetsky is summarily tried in a civil court and sentenced to two months corrective labor for deliberate failure to cooperate with militia (police authorities). (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.99).
01-09-1984	18 activists appealed to the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Konstantin Chernenko to stop persecution of those who want to leave the USSR.
01-09-1984	83 Jews left the USSR in August 1984.
04-09-1984	Moscow refusenik Yuli Edelstein, 26, an aliya activist and a Hebrew teacher, is arrested.
07-09-1984	Yuli Edelshtein was formally charged with drug possession according to Article 224 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.92).
10-09-1984	In an open letter to General Secretary of the Communist Party Chernenko twenty refuseniks from Moscow, Leningrad, Odessa and Riga appeal to the Soviet leader and urge him to end acts of reprisal by the KGB against Jews wishing to emigrate. (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.92).
13-09-1984	Yuli Edelstein begins a hunger strike in protest against the confiscation by the prison authorities of his tefillin (phylacteries). (see September 4^th 1984), (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.92).
13-09-1984	Alexander Kholmiansky begins a hunger strike in prison.
19-09-1984	The International Council of the World Conference on Soviet Jewry meets in London on September 19th-21st. (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.92).
20-09-1984	Former Prisoners of Zion V. Tsukerman, O. Lokshin and I. Nudel appeal to the UN Committee for Human Rights to intervene in defense of Alexander Kholmiansky, Yakov Levin and all Prisoners of Zion. (d.o.r.), (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
01-10-1984	“The Birobidzhan Jewish People’s Theatre” stages the play of the anti-Zionist writer Tsezar Solodar “The Scales”, which depicts problems experienced by Soviet Jewish families in Israel. (d.o.r.), (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
01-10-1984	69 Jews left the USSR in September. (11, p.93).
12-10-1984	A press conference by the Anti-Zionist Committee is devoted to the theme of alleged Zionist collaboration with Nazism and fascism. The press conference is held in the context of the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II. (see May 9, 1985), (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
12-10-1984	Odessa refusenik Mark Nepomniashchy, a 53 year old electrical engineer, is arrested in Moscow on charges of defaming the Soviet state. (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
14-10-1984	63 activists from 10 cities appeal to the Helsinki Commission in connection with the ongoing arrests, extra-judicial persecution and declining terms of emigration.
19-10-1984	Jewish activist and dissident Iosif Zissels, Chernovtsi, is arrested.
21-10-1984	Some 200 Soviet Jews in 11 Soviet cities take part in a hunger strike from October 21st to December 11th, 1984 in protest against the imprisonment of Hebrew teachers Alexander Kholmiansky, Yuli Edelshtein and other Jewish activists. (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
26-10-1984	65 Soviet Jews appeal to the heads of state who signed the Helsinki Accords, to help in ending the persecution of Jewish activists in the USSR. (d.o.r.), (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
01-11-1984	29 Jews – an all time monthly low – left the USSR in October. (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
12-11-1984	Leningrad television broadcasts during prime time a two-part program “Hirelings and Accomplices”. The program accuses “international, mainly American Zionist centers” of using the Leningrad refuseniks for anti-Soviet purposes. Many Leningrad refuseniks are named and their photographs shown in the program. (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
12-11-1984	Kiev refusenik and Hebrew teacher Yosef Bernstein, 1937, is arrested in Novograd-Volynsky on charges of “resisting the police in the execution of their duty”. (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
19-11-1984	Yakov Levin, a Hebrew teacher from Odessa, is sentenced to three years in a labor camp on charges of “defaming the Soviet state and social system”. (see April 10^th 1984), (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.93).
20-11-1984	32 activists appeal to the Attorney General to protest against the arrest of Alexander Kholmiansky and Yuli Edelstein.
25-11-1984	92 Soviet Jews appeal to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet with a request to grant them permission to emigrate. Another 200 Jews from various cities of the USSR appeal to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet to include the issue of Jewish emigration on the agenda of its session. (11, vol. 15, #1, 1985, p.94).
27-11-1984	180 Jews gathered in the waiting room of the Supreme Soviet to appeal for the end of persecution of Jewish activists and for open emigration.
01-12-1984	55 Jews left the USSR in November. (11, vol. 15, #2, 1985, p.94).
07-12-1984	65 refuseniks from 5 cities appeal to the international community to stop the persecution of Hebrew teachers.
10-12-1984	Yosef Berenstein, a Hebrew teacher from Kiev, is sentenced to 4 years imprisonment on charges of “resisting the police in the execution of their duty.” (11, vol. 15, #2, 1985, p.94).
10-12-1984	Seven refuseniks present a petition signed by 35 other refuseniks to the Supreme Soviet Presidium in Moscow. They demand setting up and creating a special commission to investigate the persecution of Soviet Jewish emigration activists. (11, vol. 15, #2, 1985, p.94).
10-12-1984	Demonstrations protesting the deplorable situation of Jews in the USSR are held on Human Rights Day in Moscow, New York and Tel Aviv.
12-12-1984	Leningrad refusenik Nadezhda Fradkova, is charged with “parasitism” and transferred to prison from a psychiatric hospital, where she was again interned on August 25th, 1984. (see July 19^th 1984), (11, vol. 15, #2, 1985, p.94).
13-12-1984	Odessa refusenik Valery Lemelman, is described in the Odessa television program as a “Zionist emissary.”
15-12-1984	Trial of Hebrew teacher Yacov Levin, Odessa, is held on December 15th-19th.
18-12 -1984	Nadezhda Fradkova is sentenced in Leningrad to two years imprisonment for “parasitism”. (11, vol. 15, #2, 1985, p.94).
19-12-1984	Yuli Edelstein is sentenced in Moscow to three years deprivation of freedom on charges of “illegal drug trafficking”. (see September 13^th 1984), (11, vol. 15, #2, 1985, p.94).
23-12-1984	Numerous refuseniks from Moscow, Leningrad, Odessa and Riga sign an appeal to Jews in the West with a call to intensify the campaign in their behalf. (11, vol. 15, #2, 1985, p.94).
01.01.1985	91 Jews left the USSR in December 1984 bringing the annual figure for 1984 to 896, the lowest figure since 1969. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 94).
05.01.1985	Leonid Schreier is sentenced in Chernovtsi to three years deprivation of freedom for deliberately spreading false and slanderous fabrications. (see October 19^th 1984), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 94).
07.01.1985	Yosef Bernstein’s appeal against his sentence is rejected. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 94).
08. 01.1985	Nadezhda Fradkova’s appeal against her sentence is rejected. Her internment in a psychiatric hospital is to be counted as part of the term already served. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985,page 94).
10.01.1985	Yakov Levin’s appeal against his sentence is rejected. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985,page 94).
10.01.1985	Ivan Martynov, non-Jewish historian who protested against the anti-Semitic publications in the Soviet Union in 1983, is sentenced to one and a half year suspended sentence on charges of fraud. (d.o.r.), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, pp. 94-95).
15.01.1985	Riga refusenik, writer Vladimir Frenkel, 40, is arrested on charges of “defaming the Soviet state”. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 95).
22.01.1985	Moscow police raid the homes of and interrogate several Jewish activists who sent petitions and appeals to the Supreme Soviet. One of the activists, Dmitry Shapiro is detained on a charge of “defaming the Soviet state and social system”. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 95).
01.02.1985	Jewish activist Alexander Kholmiansky is sentenced in Viru, Estonia, to 18 months imprisonment in labor camp for alleged possession of a firearm and bullets. He is also fined 100 rubles for alleged mailbox tampering. (See July 25^th 1984), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 95).
01.02.1985	61 Jews left the Soviet Union in January. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 95).
04.02.1985	Odessa Jewish activist Mark Nepomniashchy is sentenced to three years imprisonment on charges of “defaming the Soviet state and social system”. (See October 12^th , 1984), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 95).
19.02.1985	For the first time since 1977 the USA and the USSR hold talks on the Arab-Israeli conflict in Vienna. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 92).
19. 02.1985	Moscow Central Television broadcasts an hour long documentary “Conspiracy Against the Land of the Soviets”. The movie portrays an alleged CIA inspired plot, which includes the NTS (Union of Russian Solidarists), Ukrainian nationalists, Solzhenitsyn Fund and the Zionists. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 95).
22.02.1985	Arrest in Kiev of Moscow Jewish religious activist Anatoly Vershubsky, 24, on charges of stealing religious books from the library of the Kiev synagogue. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 95).
30.02.1985	19 scientists took part in a scientific seminar in the house of refusenik-scientist Yakov Alpert in Moscow. Papers were read by Yosef Irlin and two scientists visiting from abroad. (d.o.r.), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.2, 1985, page 95).
01.03.1985	88 Jews left the Soviet Union in February 1985. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.94).
04.03.1985	Yuli Edelstein’s appeal against his sentence of three years’ imprisonment is rejected by a Moscow court. (see December 19^th 1984), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.94).
05.03.1985	Seven women-refuseniks held a press conference in Moscow at which they appeal to women of the West to support them in their struggle to emigrate to Israel. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.94).
08.03.1985	Two hundred and fifty Congressmen address a letter to President Reagan requesting the administration to set up talks with the Soviet Union, aimed solely at allowing freer emigration of Soviet Jews, in accordance with the Helsinki accords. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.94).
09.03.1985	Felix Kochubievsky, 55, is released from labor camp upon completion of his 30 month sentence. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.94).
10.03.1985	CPSU General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko dies at the age of 73. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.92).
11. 03.1985	Mikhail Gorbachev is elected the new Secretary General of the CPSU CC. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.92).
18. 03.1985	The Anti- Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public sends a telegram to the U.S. Congress demanding an end to antisemitism in the U.S.A. (d.o.r.), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.94).
19. 03.1985	Kharkov refusenik and Hebrew teacher Evgeny Eisenberg, 33, is arrested on charges of “defaming the Soviet state and social system”. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.94).
20.03.1985	Seventy refuseniks gather in Moscow outside the Ministry of the Interior to deliver a petition to a high ranking OVIR official. The petition asks for: the time limit of “secrecy classification” to be set down in writing for each individual case and to be subject to appeal; separated families be reunited forthwith; the answers to inquiries about exit visas be given without delay. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p. 94).
01.04.1985	Vladimir Lifshitz conducts a 20 day hunger strike against blocking his correspondence by authorities.
01.04.1985	39 year old Yosef Zisels, a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki group is sentenced in Chernovtsy to three years in a labor camp on charges of “slander.” (see October 19^th 1984), (22, Yosef Zisels).
01.04.1985	98 Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union in March. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.94).
03.04.1985	Prisoner of Zion, Iosif Begun is sent to Chistopol prison following the decision of the regional court in the Perm labor camp that he should serve three years of his twelve year sentence there. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.94).
10.04.1985	The Fifth International Sakharov hearing is held in London on April 10th-11th. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.95).
11.04.1985	Mark Nepomniaschy’s appeal against his sentence is rejected by the high court in Kiev. (see February 4^th 1985), (d.o.r.), (11 Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.95).
14.04.1985	“Operation Lock Out” by SSSJ of Soviet representatives in New York. 37 demonstrators were arrested.
15.04.1985	Tatyana Zunshain appealed to President Ronald Reagan with a desperate appeal – “do not let my husband die in refusal”.(11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no. 3,1985 p.95).
17.04.1985	Fifty Leningrad Jews gather at the local cemetery to commemorate the victims of Nazism. There is no interference on the part of the authorities. ( 11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.95).
22.04.1985	A new project of the SSSJ: to send letters to the Soviet authorities, to prisons administrations, to visas authorities and express concern about refuseniks.
24.04.1985	Demonstration of the SSSJ at the building of the USSR Mission in UN. 12 students are arrested.
01.05.1985	166 Jews left the Soviet Union in April.
01.05.1985	24 refuseniks addressed the Conference on Human Rights in Ottawa with complaints on harassment by the authorities and the barriers to emigration from the USSR.
03.05.1985	Prisoner of Zion Anatoly Shcharansky is deprived for the remainder of 1985 of the right of correspondence and visits. (d.o.r.), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.95).
07.05.1985	The trial of Anatoly Vershubsky in Kiev on the charge of “appropriation of the state property”. The verdict – 2 years imprisonment.
07.05.1985	USSR Council of Ministers Resolution “On measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism” – one of the first steps of Mikhail Gorbachev’s rule.
07.05.1985	Meeting of experts on human rights on May 7-17 within Helsinki process is held in Ottawa. The meeting fails to agree on any conclusions and recommendations. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.92).
08.05.1985	For the first time since 1967, an Israeli TV correspondent is permitted to work in the Soviet Union. His first report deals with the Soviet commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. (d.o.r.), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.92).
09.05.1985	Scores of Soviet Jewish activists address a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev asking him to show magnanimity on the 40^th anniversary of the victory over Nazism by freeing all Prisoners of Zion and granting them exit visas. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985 p.96).
June 1985	14 refuseniks sent a letter to the 35 signatories of the Helsinki Accords.
01.06.1985	55 Soviet Jews left the Soviet Union in May. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985 p.96).
01.06.1985	The Hebrew University of Jerusalem awards an honorary doctorate to Moscow refusenik Professor Alexander Lerner. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.96).
06.06.1985	The State Department refused a visa to enter the U.S. to General David Dragunsky, chairman of the Anti-Zionist Committee of Soviet Public. (AZCSP).
06.06.1985	Prisoner of Zion Stanislav Zubko, released on completion of his sentence, returns to Kiev. ( see July 22^nd 1981), (d.o.r.), (11,Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.96).
06.06.1985	Evgeny Eisenberg is sentenced in Kharkov to two and a half years in a labor camp for “slandering the Soviet state and social system”. (see March 19^th 1985), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.96).

10.06.1985	Leningrad refusenik Roald Zelichonok, a 49 year old electronics engineer, is arrested on charges of “slandering the Soviet state and social system”. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.96).
10.06.1985	A special International Conference of Parliamentary Spouses for Soviet Jewry meets in London on June 10^th -13^th. (see April 2^nd-4^th 1984), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.96).
11.06.1985	Nearly 50 leading Italian writers, scientists and artists appeal to the Soviet authorities to extend to imprisoned Jewish activists the amnesty granted on the 40^th anniversary of VE Day. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.96).
13.06.1985	Vladimir Frenkel is sentenced to 18 months in a labor camp on a charge of “defaming the Soviet state and social system” . (See January 15^th 1985), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.96).

17.06.1985	Arrest of a Jewish activist Vladimir Brodsky in Moscow on charges of “assaulting the police in the execution of their duty”. (22, Vladimir Brodsky).
19.06.1985	47 year old philologist, Evgenii Koifman is arrested in Dnepropetrovsk on charges of “possessing drugs”. He will be subsequently sentenced to one year probation.
25.06.1985	Moscow refusenik Leonid Volvovsky, a 43 year old computer scientist and Hebrew teacher, is arrested in Gorky on charges of “defaming the Soviet state and social system”. He is subsequently sentenced to three years imprisonment. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.96).
26.06.1985	Moscow refusenik Dan Shapiro is given a three year suspended sentence “in view of his sincere repentance”. (See January 22, 1985), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs vol. 15, no.3, 1985, p.96).
01.07.1985	36 Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union in June.
02. 07.1985	Mikhail Gorbachev becomes a member of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, Andrei Gromyko becomes Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet and is relieved of his duties as First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs; Eduard Shevardnadze becomes USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, p.94).
04.07.1985	Yuri Fedorov, one of the two non-Jews sentenced in the Leningrad hijacking trial in 1970, is released from prison after serving his sentence.( d.o.r.), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, p.96).
10.07.1985	Women from England, France, Sweden, Norway and Israel raise the issue of the families and wives of Refuseniks and Prisoners of Zion in the USSR at the World Conference to Review the Decade for Women in Nairobi from July 10^th – 27^th. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, p.96).
16.07.1985	The joint winners of the 1985 award of the British All-Party Parliamentary Committee for the Release of Soviet Jewry are the veteran Moscow refusenik, Professor Alexander Lerner, and Mrs. Nan Griefer, editor of the weekly Bulletin Jews in the USSR in England. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
26.07.1985	Jewish activist Dmitry (Dan) Shapiro reads a “confession” on Soviet television. (see June 26, 1985), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
30.07.1985	A CSCE meeting at foreign minister level takes place in Helsinki to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the signing of the CSCE Final Act. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, p.94).
01.08.1985	174 Jews left the Soviet Union in July.
01.08.1985	Isaac Shkolnik, Vinnitsa, veteran refusenik and Prisoner of Zion (released in 1979) is allowed to emigrate. He is reunited with his wife and daughter in Israel on August 18^th. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
01.08.1985	Mikhail Gorbachev became Chairman of the Defense Council. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 95).
08.08.1985	Trial of Roald Zelichonok in Leningrad. Sentenced to 3 years in a labor camp. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
15.08.1985	Trial of Vladimir Brodsky. Sentence – 3 years in a labor camp on charges of “malicious hooliganism”. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
15.08.1985	Evgeny Eisenberg’s sentence, Kharkov, is reduced on appeal to 12 months. (see June 7^th) (d.o.r), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
01.09.1985	29 Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union in August.
05.09.1985	Documentary “Conspiracy Against the Land of the Soviets“, which alleges CIA involvement in the movement for human rights in the Soviet Union, was re-broadcast on Soviet television (the first broadcast was held February 19, 1985). (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
05.09.1985	Mark Nashpits, a refusenik since 1974 and a former Prisoner of Zion, is given permission to leave the USSR for Israel. He and his family are scheduled to arrive in Israel on October 20^th. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
08. 09.1985	The International Council of the World Conference on Soviet Jewry meets in Washington on September 8^th -10^th in preparation for the November Reagan- Gorbachev Summit meeting. A delegation of the Council is received by President Reagan on September 9^th 1985. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, p 97).
08.09.1985	President of the World Jewish Congress, Edgar Bronfman arrives in Moscow on an official three-day visit at the invitation of the CPSU Central Committee. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 95).
17.09.1985	Trial of Evgeny Koifman in Donetsk on the charge of “possession of drugs”. Koifman is sentenced to two and a half years. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
17.09.1985	Alexei Murzhenko, one of two non-Jews sentenced in the Leningrad hijacking trial in 1970 and released upon completion of his sentence in 1984, is sentenced in Kiev to two years special regime camp “for malicious violation of the rules of administrative surveillance”. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 97).
01.10.1985	93 Jews left the Soviet Union in September.
02.10.1985	The Executive of the International Council of the World Conference on Soviet Jewry meets in Paris in connection with the forthcoming summit meeting between Mitterrand and Gorbachev. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 98).
03.10.1985	Roald Zelichonok’s appeal is rejected by the Moscow appeal court. (see August 8th, 1985), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 98).
05.10.1985,	Israel and Poland have agreed to open a liaison office in Tel Aviv and Warsaw. (d.o.r.), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, p.96).
22.10.1985	Moscow hosted a conference to mark the publication of the “White Book” about Zionism, prepared by the Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet public and the Soviet Bar Association. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986,page 98).
24.10.1985	Leonid Volvovsky, Gorky, is sentenced in the trial held on October 22-24^th to three years in a labor camp for “defaming the Soviet state”. (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, page 98).
25.10.1985	An unofficial seminar to commemorate the renowned Scandinavian scientist Magnus Nasiell is held in the apartment of Moscow refusenik Professor Yakov Alpert. Four Scandinavian scholars and eighteen refusenik-scientists attend the seminar. ( d.o.r.), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, p.98).
31.10.1985	22 Moscow refusenik-women send a personal plea to Nancy Reagan on the eve of the Geneva summit meeting between Gorbachev and Reagan. (d.o.r.), (11, Soviet Jewish Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, p.98).
01.11.1985	Appointment of Richard Shifter as Deputy Foreign Minister for Humanitarian Affairs.
19. 11.1985	The first summit meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev in Geneva.

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Chronology of events 1983-1985

KGB officers raid and search the homes in Odessa of observant Jews, David Schechter, Yacov Levin and Valery Lemelman. Religious objects, including a mezuzahs, books on Judaism and Jewish history and culture, were confiscated. (11, vol. 14, #3, 1984, p.95).

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