For nine years (1977-86), Anatoly Shcharansky (born 1948) personified the desperate plight of many Soviet Jews. Caught in the vice of great power politics, Shcharansky suffered a prolonged and difficult imprisonment because of his wish to emigrate to Israel and his prominence in the Helsinki Watch Group. After his release he was welcomed in Israel as a conquering hero.

Anatoly Borisovich Shcharansky, now known as Natan Sharansky, was born on January 20, 1948, in Donetsk, Ukraine, where his father was a journalist for a Communist Party newspaper. A good student, he was admitted to the Moscow Physical Technical Institute, where he studied mathematics and computer science. Upon graduation in 1972 he took a position as a computer scientist at the Oil and Gas Research Institute. Shortly afterwards he and his future wife Natalia Stieglitz (Avital) decided to emigrate to Israel and requested exit visas.

Avital's request was approved, but Shcharansky was denied...