Natan “Anatoly” Altman was a former prisoner of Zion who tried to hijack a plane to escape the former Soviet Union. To be more specific he was a member of “Operation Wedding,” the name of an organized attempt by several Jews to hijack a plane at St. Petersburg airport, and fly it to Israel. In Israel they could live freely as Zionists and as Jews. Under the evil Soviet empire there were severe restrictions against being either a Zionist or a Jew.The attempt on the surface failed, but it led to a chain of events that caused the release according to one web site of 300,000 Soviet Jews. According to https://www.slideshare.net/philipspiegel/brief-history-of-the-soviet-jewry-movement the results were much greater.
35 Years After the Leningrad Trial
- Nearly 2 million Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union
1 million to Israel and half million to the U.S.A.
Emigration is virtually unrestricted
- Jews in formerly Soviet Republics are free to study and practice Judaism
- However – Anti-Semitic acts still occur in many communities of the former Soviet Union
During the trial in Leningrad, Natan “Anatoly” Altman and his comrades displayed courageous and proud defiance in front of the Russian authorities. They rejected the prosecution’s claims that they had betrayed their homeland and said: “We have not betrayed the homeland – because Israel, not Russia, is our homeland and we have not betrayed Israel.”
Shortly before the sentences were read, the defendants and their families stood in the courtroom and sang “Am Yisrael Chai” for seven minutes. They then recited Shema Yisrael.
At the order of the judge, the police intervened and stopped the singing. Anatoly Altman was asked if he had anything to say. He said, “I want to send a happy holiday to my brothers in Israel on the occasion of Hanukah.”
