With the support of the EAJC, a book about Moscow refuseniks has been published

With the support of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC), American publishing house Liberty Publishing House has released "V Otkaze" (In Refusal) by David Markish, an Israeli prose writer, literary scholar, and translator. The author chronicles the Jewish national movement in the USSR during the 1970s, focusing on the history of the "refuseniks"—Jews who were denied permission to emigrate to Israel by the Soviet authorities. David Markish himself was among them.

The book "V Otkaze" is a collection of short stories depicting the lives of Moscow refuseniks, unified by their resourceful and perilous struggle against the Soviet regime. Markish provides a detailed account of the prolonged period of "refusal," which spanned anywhere from two to seventeen years. He asserts that the book "reveals to the uninitiated reader why the years spent on the Red Pharaoh's leash are still regarded by some refuseniks as the finest years of their lives."

"Being in refusal and actively participating in the Zionist movement proved to be the most reliable way for me to overcome my inner fear..." remarked one of the book's protagonists, Pavel Abramovich, a refusenik of 17 years.