According to the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, Silva Zalmanson Kuznetsov has declared that she will go on a hunger strike tomorrow on the occasion of her 29th birthday. Dangerously ill since her arrest and trial in 1970, she has served three years of a 10-year sentence. Her husband, Edouard Kuznetsov, also in prison in the Soviet Union, has announced that he will also go on a hunger strike. In addition, her brothers Vulf and Israel Zalmanson, Iosif Mendelevich, David Chernoglaz, and Semion Grilius have stated that, as a mark of their solidarity with Silva, they too will go on a hunger strike.
Richard Maass, chairman of the NCSJ, noted that Silva will be the focus of nationwide attention on Dec. 10, which is the “Women United for Israel and Soviet Jews” event. He added: “On the occasion of Silva Zalmanson’s 29th birthday, many cards, letters and cables will be sent to her. We hope that she will receive them and that she will know that not only is she not forgotten but efforts to secure her release, as well as the release of nearly 40 other Jewish prisoners of conscience, will not cease but will be intensified during the next months.”
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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.
