He was born in 1939, in Leningrad, in an assimilated family, but grew up in the atmosphere of deep respect for the Jewish history and traditions. Applied for the exit visa in July, 1978, but in August was refused with the formulation: “It is unprofitable for the USSR to deliver qualified personnel to the hostile states”. After the refusal, he started his fight for the right of free emigration to Israel for Soviet Jews: he took part in supplying letters of protests to the authorities, worked in the seminar of refusenik scientists. He studied Hebrew, made photocopies of Hebrew textbooks, offered his apartment for celebrations of the Jewish holidays and for lectures on history and traditions of the Jewish people. He was arrested on May 17th, 1981, on the false charge of giving to a police officer “a blow which not caused any damage to health”. The real reason for his arrest was his research work “Statistics of the Leningrad Refusal”, and his attempt to organize a wide celebration of the Israel Independence Day one week prior to arrest. He used his right for self-defending and the last word on the trial for the public protest against prosecutions of the Jews, who wanted to repatriate themselves and their families to Israel. He was sentenced to 2 years in exile and to forced labor on a factory producing hazardous materials. After six months of confinement in the ill-famous Leningrad jail “Kresty” and 45 days of transport through different transit prisons of Sverdlovsk and Achinsk he was finally was delivered to the place of forced labor—a small town of Chernogorsk in Hakassia, near the border with Manchuria. But as a result of support from the Committee of Concerned Scientists he was released on probation ahead of schedule (“conditionally-ahead of schedule”). In 1988 he took part in the meeting of refuseniks with President Ronald Reagan in Moscow. He received his exit visa in 1989 and left for Israel, where he taught mathematics at the Jerusalem University. Today Dr. Evgeny Lein, his wife the Dr. Irina Lein, their children and six grandsons live in Maale-Adumim.
The information was provided by Evgeny Lein.
