Natan Sharansky: Unbreakable Spirit of Freedom
Before he was a celebrated hero in Israel, Natan Sharansky was a young Jewish man living under the oppressive shadow of the Soviet Union.
Born in 1948 in Donetsk, Ukraine, Natan grew up in a world where practicing Judaism and openly expressing support for Israel was not only forbidden but considered a dangerous act of defiance.
As a talented young mathematician and chess prodigy, Natan had a promising career ahead of him.
He could have chosen the safe path. Kept quiet, followed the rules, avoided trouble. But in the early 1970s, as news filtered through the Iron Curtain of Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War and the inspiring wave of Soviet Jews courageously requesting permission to emigrate, Natan faced a profound moral choice.
He chose freedom, identity, and dignity.
Sharansky became actively involved in the refusenik movement, a community of Jews denied the right to leave the Soviet Union and openly persecuted for demanding this freedom.
Natan fearlessly connected with Western human rights activists, raising international awareness about the plight of Soviet Jewry.
His courageous voice became impossible for the Soviet regime to ignore.
In 1977, the Soviet authorities arrested Sharansky, accusing him of espionage and treason. He faced charges designed to intimidate and silence him. Yet, even as he stood before the Soviet court, Sharansky was anything but silent. He famously declared:
“I have no regrets about my activities. My only crime is wanting to go to Israel. If you punish me, it will be for this crime alone.”
Sharansky was sentenced to thirteen grueling years in forced labor camps. The Soviet authorities intended to break him physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But Sharansky’s spirit was unbreakable.
Confined in harsh conditions, often isolated in solitary confinement, he refused to surrender his dignity or his hope.
He famously kept himself mentally sharp by playing imaginary chess matches in his mind. His wife, Avital, tirelessly campaigned for his freedom from Israel, traveling around the world and making sure his plight was never forgotten.
After nine long years, Sharansky was finally released in a historic prisoner exchange on February 11, 1986.
As he crossed Berlin’s Glienicke Bridge, the Bridge of Spies, from East Germany into the West, he took his first steps as a free man. Soviet guards instructed him to walk straight ahead without turning back. Defiant to the last moment, Sharansky walked to freedom in a zigzag, symbolically reclaiming control over his life and destiny.
Arriving in Israel, he continued to serve his people, becoming an influential leader, a minister in the Israeli government, and a global advocate for human rights and democracy.
As Sharansky himself wrote: “Freedom begins within. When you know your identity and hold tight to it, no prison walls can hold you.”