Passing of Mikhail Heifets

Mikhail Heifets (Photo: Artur Rudzitsky / Facebook)

The renowned human rights activist, dissident, historian, and writer Mikhail Heifets has passed away.

Born in Leningrad in 1934, Mikhail Ruvimovich began his career as a schoolteacher of literature and history before gradually establishing himself as a writer.

In 1974, Mikhail Heifets was arrested and sentenced to six years in labor camps and exile for writing the foreword to a samizdat edition of Joseph Brodsky’s collected works.

During his imprisonment, Mikhail Heifets authored, smuggled past the barbed wire, and published three books in Paris: "Place and Time," "The Russian Field," and "A Journey from Dubrovlag to Yermak." Upon his release in 1980, he immigrated to Israel, residing in Jerusalem and working at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

While in Israel, Mikhail Heifets authored and published "Looking from Jerusalem," "The Regicide of 1918," "A Sad Scroll of Memories," "The Trial of Jesus: Jewish Versions and Hypotheses," "Hannah Arendt Passes Judgment on the 20th Century," "The Conditions on Which Man Is Granted Life on Earth," among other works.

On behalf of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, we offer our deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Mikhail Ruvimovich Heifets.

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