Born on Dec. 25-th, 1923, in Kaunas, Lithuania, he was an active member of the organization “Zionist Youth” in this city from an early age and up to the beginning of WWII. Mobilized into the Red Army at the beginning of the war, he continued his activities underground, helping with the illegal crossing of the Polish border and aliyah to Eretz Israel. Arrested in 1947 by the organs of MGB (predecessor of KGB) on the charges of subversive Zionist activities, he was sentenced by OSO (a special MGB board) to 8 years hard labour plus 2 years in exile. His sentence was served in Gorlag, near Norilsk. Released in 1957 he was free to leave for Israel in the same year.
