June 27 1971 – 4 Tammuz 5731

Kishinev

The fourth trial of those involved in Operation Wedding, a hijacking attempt by Zionist activists led by Mark Dymshits and Edward Kuzentsov, began. Nine members of the Zionist Council in Leningrad were convicted of treason and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences. The defendants were arrested in the airport before takeoff, but their subsequent show trials in Leningrad, Riga, and Kishinev publicized the plight of Russian Jewry as never before. The resulting wave of Western protests against the Communist regime lifted the Iron Curtain briefly, allowing over 300,000 Jews to leave the USSR. More than half immigrated to Israel.

PROTEST RALLY AGAINST THE LENINGRAD SENTENCES AT KIKAR MALCHEI ISRAEL IN TEL AVIV. Protest rally in Kiker Malchei Yisrael in Tel-Aviv agains the Leningrad sentences, 1971. Photo: Moshe Milner, LAAM
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