Col. Wolf Vilenski, holder of the Hero of the Soviet Union Medal — the Soviet’s highest award — and other high Soviet honors, arrived in Israel with his wife yesterday. They had been trying to obtain exit visas from the Soviet Union for the past 10 years.
They received their papers last week and took the train from Vilna, where they had been living since Vilenski had served as a senior officer in the Lithuanian division in World War II, to Vienna.
The couple were met in Vienna by their daughter, Dr. Lila Singer, who had flown from her home in Israel to meet them, and by Maj. Arye Vilenski, their son who, as an officer in the IDF is continuing his father’s military career.
Col, Vilenski was among the 144 Jews who received the Hero of the Soviet Union Medal during the war, and the second of four Jews in the Lithuanian division so awarded to come to Israel. Sgt. Kalman Shorr arrived in Israel in 1979.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
