January 6, 1987

I met Natan in Vladimir prison, but I had seen his picture earlier, since Ida Nudel sent it to me in jail with pictures of Aliyah activists from Moscow. All of the prominent people were there: Scharansky, Beilina, Taratuta.

Afterwards there was an article in *Pravda* in 1977, and everyone in the camp knew - there would be a new prisoner. But he wouldn't be just another prisoner. The prisoner: the warrior, the stubborn one, the tormented one.

I had already been years in Israel but I had not yet been freed. As long as Natan was there, I was embarrassed that I was here and he still wasn't. And the day that his release was known, I was at the Yeshiva, a place opposite Mount Herzl and Yad Vashem. I looked around at the Jerusalem hills and listened to the report from Glienicke Bridge. At that moment I began to cry. I knew that now I really am free, that now begins a new life. And every one in Israel knew that he is already out. These feelings accumulated and appeared in a special way so that I had no doubt that all of this was straight from providence.

This miracle is from heaven and this event is a spiritual phenomenon... "Raise up your heads - 0, gates and raise up your everlasting entrances, so that the King of Glory may enter..."

Joseph Mendelevitch
Soviet Jewry
Chairman

HENRY A. KISSINGER

January 28, 1987

Dear Mr. Shcharansky:

I am writing to convey my high regard and warm best wishes on the occasion of your receiving the Simon Wiesenthal Humanitarian Award. Certainly this special tribute to you is but a further manifestation of the broad and deep respect for your commitment and devotion to the cause of freedom and of human rights, and for your perseverance in pursuit of the principles for which you stand. Your clarity of purpose and the faith which has sustained you inspire the admiration of all.

Wishing you and Mrs. Shcharansky the very best now and for the future,

Mr. Anatoly Natan Shcharansky
Simon Wiesenthal Center
9760 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90035-4792

Dedicated by
Security Pacific National Bank