Gershuni Vladimir Lvovich

Gershuni Vladimir Lvovich

Genus. in 1930 in Moscow; Jew; secondary education; Student. Lived in Moscow. Arrested in 1949 for participation in an anti-Stalin youth group. Sentenced by the USSR Ministry of State Security under Art. 58-10 by 10 years in labor camp. He served his sentence in Steplag, where he met A. Solzhenitsyn (later he helped him in his work on “The Gulag Archipelago”). Released in 1955. In December 1965, he took part in the “glasnost rally” in defense of the arrested writers A. Sinyavsky and Y. Daniel.
In 1969, he signed a number of human rights documents, including supporting the first letter of the Initiative Group for the Protection of Human Rights in the USSR (05/20/1969).
Arrested 10/18/1969. Sentenced by the Moscow City Court on March 13, 1970 under Art. 190-1 to compulsory treatment. He was kept in Oryol St. Petersburg (Orel) (December 1970 - April 1974) Then transferred to psychiatric hospital No. 13 (Moscow), from where he was discharged in October 1974. He worked at a fat plant, in construction organizations, and as a watchman. He participated in the work of the youth literary club “Resurrections”, led by V. Abramkin. In 1976-1982 published under the pseudonym V. Lvov more than 200 materials in Moscow newspapers and magazines (articles and notes on folklore, linguistics, bibliology, witticisms and puns). From the beginning of 1978, he participated in collecting materials for the samizdat literary and journalistic magazine “Poiski”, and from issue No. 3 (October 1978) joined its editorial board. He ran a literary section in the magazine, published his avant-garde poems and journalism.
Since 1978 - member of the Free Interprofessional Association of Workers (SMOT), in 1980-1982. - Member of the editorial board of the SMOT newsletter. In July 1981, he joined the Soviet section of the Amnesty International organization.
He was constantly subjected to extrajudicial persecution (house arrests, interrogations, preventive conversations). During the Moscow Olympics (July - August 1980) he was placed in a psychiatric hospital. Arrested on June 17, 1982, he was accused of participating in the publication of the SMOT newsletter. Sentenced by the Moscow City Court on April 12, 1983 under Art. 190-1 to compulsory treatment. He was kept in a special mental hospital in Blagoveshchensk, then in the city of Talgar, Alma-Ata region (until December 1987).
After liberation, he was engaged in restoring the memory of forgotten and repressed writers and poets. He was a regular contributor to the Express-Chronicle newspaper, participated in the literary life of Moscow, and studied linguistics (prepared the anthology “Russian Mat”).
Died in 1994. Buried at Vostryakovsky cemetery.