Alexander Ginzburg
Encyclopedia
Alexander Ilyich Ginzburg ' onMouseout='HidePop("9049")' href="/topics/Moscow">Moscow
– July 19, 2002 Paris
), was a Russia
n journalist
, poet
, human rights
activist and dissident
.
During the Soviet
period, Ginzburg edited the samizdat
poetry almanac
Sintaksis
. Between 1961 and 1969 he was sentenced three times to labor camp
s. In 1979, Ginzburg was released and expelled to the United States
, along with four other political prisoners (Eduard Kuznetsov
, Mark Dymshits, Valentin Moroz, and Georgy Vins
) and their families, as part of a prisoner exchange.
abuses by the Soviet Union
and pressuring the government to follow its own laws. He made an effort to smuggle his writings abroad in order to increase external pressure on the Soviets.
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
– July 19, 2002 Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
), was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist and dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
.
During the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
period, Ginzburg edited the samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
poetry almanac
Almanac
An almanac is an annual publication that includes information such as weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, and tide tables, containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar etc...
Sintaksis
Sintaksis
Sintaksis: publitsistika, kritika, polemika , was a journal published in Paris in 1978-2001 with Maria Rozanova as chief editor. A total of 37 issues of the journal were published before the journal was discontinued. According to Rozanova, there are no plans to resume publication.-Publications:*...
. Between 1961 and 1969 he was sentenced three times to labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
s. In 1979, Ginzburg was released and expelled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, along with four other political prisoners (Eduard Kuznetsov
Eduard Kuznetsov
Eduard Kuznetsov is a Soviet dissident, human rights activist, and writer.In 1961, Kuznetsov was arrested for the first time and served seven years in Soviet prisons for making overtly political speeches in poetry readings at Mayakovsky Square in the centre of Moscow and for publishing samizdat...
, Mark Dymshits, Valentin Moroz, and Georgy Vins
Georgy Vins
Georgi Petrovich Vins was a Russian Baptist pastor persecuted by the Soviet authorities for his involvement in a network of independent Baptist churches. Following an agreement between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and U.S...
) and their families, as part of a prisoner exchange.
Dissident Work
Throughout his career, Ginzburg advocated non-violent resistance. He believed in exposing human rightsHuman rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
abuses by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and pressuring the government to follow its own laws. He made an effort to smuggle his writings abroad in order to increase external pressure on the Soviets.
See also
- Dymshits-Kuznetsov hijacking affairDymshits-Kuznetsov hijacking affairThe Dymshits–Kuznetsov aircraft hijacking affair was an attempt to hijack a civilian aircraft on 15 June 1970 by a group of Soviet refuseniks in order to escape to the West...
- Igor GubermanIgor GubermanIgor Guberman - Игорь Миронович Губерман is a Russian writer and poet of Jewish ancestry; since 1988 he has lived in Israel. His poetry has received a great deal of acclaim primarily because of his signature aphoristic and satiric quatrains, called "gariki" in Russian ....
- gulagGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
- Aleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
External links
- Alexander Ginzburg and the Resistance to Totalitarian Evil, Then and Now, a 2002 interview with Eduard KuznetsovEduard KuznetsovEduard Kuznetsov is a Soviet dissident, human rights activist, and writer.In 1961, Kuznetsov was arrested for the first time and served seven years in Soviet prisons for making overtly political speeches in poetry readings at Mayakovsky Square in the centre of Moscow and for publishing samizdat...
, Vladimir BukovskyVladimir BukovskyVladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky is a leading member of the dissident movement of the 1960s and 1970s, writer, neurophysiologist, and political activist....
and Yuri Yarim-Agaev