Professor Lev Korenblit was born in Bessarabia (Romania) on the 13th of June, 1922. At the age of 10 he became an active member of the Zionist organization Gordonia, involved in Zionist propaganda. In 1940, after the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia, he went underground, organizing groups which studied Hebrew and Jewish history. During WWII he served in the Red Army. In the 1960s he became a Zionist activist in Leningrad and was elected to the Committee of the underground Zionist organization of Leningrad. In 1969-1970 he was an editor of the "samizdat" journal. He provided ideological support for the Dymshitz group, which planned to hijack an aircraft in Leningrad. In 1970 he was arrested, together with the other members of the group, and in May 1971 at the 2nd Leningrad trial, he was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment in Mordovian camps. Released in 1973, he left for Israel within several weeks. Remember & Save website
