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Refusenik (Russian: отказник, romanized: otkaznik, from отказ (otkaz) 'refusal'; alternatively spelled refusnik) was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authorities of the Soviet Union and other countries of the Soviet ...
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A refusenik is someone who was denied permission to emigrate by the Soviet Union. It can also mean someone who refuses to comply with a rule etc. Refusenik or refusnik may also refer to: An Israeli conscientious objector; see Refusal to serve in the Israel Defense Forces; Refusenik, 2007 documentary by Laura Bialis
Some distinguish between refusal to serve in the military because of a pacifist worldview that rejects any manifestation of violence and encompasses a refusal to submit to compulsory military service in any form, and partial refusal to serve, such as the Courage to Refuse group who "do their reserve duty wherever and whenever they are summoned, but refuse to serve in the occupied territories."
In the United States, a number of Jewish organizations became involved in the struggle for Soviet Jewish emigration. Jewish establishment organizations such as the American Jewish Committee and the World Jewish Congress coordinated their efforts in the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry (AJCSJ), later renamed to the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ).
Yosef Mendelevitch Yosef Mendelevitch with President Reagan, Vice President Bush and Avital Sharansky in the White House, May 28, 1981.. Yosef Mendelevitch (or Mendelovitch) (b. 1947 in Riga) is a refusenik from the former Soviet Union, also known as a "Prisoner of Zion" and now a politically unaffiliated rabbi [1] [2] living in Jerusalem who gained fame for his adherence to Judaism and public ...
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The refusenik cause gathered considerable attention in the West. Citizens of German origin who lived in the Baltic states prior to their annexation in 1940 and descendants of the eighteenth-century Volga German settlers also formed a movement to leave the Soviet Union.