Los Angeles — Leading Soviet Jewry and human rights activist Si Frumkin has died.
Frumkin, who founded the Southern California Council for Soviet Jews in 1968 and helped make it a mainstream American cause, died May 15 after battling cancer. He was 78.
At a packed funeral service on May 19, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky eulogized his close friend and fellow activist as “a one-man rapid response force for Jews in trouble.”
Citing one of many examples of Frumkin’s ingenuity, Yaroslavsky recalled that when a Soviet freighter arrived in the port of Los Angeles, the two buddies rented a motorboat and headed out to the ship. Their plan was to paint “Let the Jews Go” on the side of the ship, but when they cut their boat’s engine, it kept driftng away. Frumkin solved the problem by attaching a toilet plunger to the ship’s side and keeping hold of the handle.
Born Simas Frumkinas in Kovno (now Kaunas), Lithuania, Frumkin was 11 when he was consigned to the Kovno ghetto and 14 when he was liberated from the Dachau concentration camp.
He arrived in New York in 1949, earned a college degree, and after moving to Los Angeles became the owner of a successful downtown textile company.
When news of the plight of Jews trapped in the Soviet Union trickled out in 1968, Frumkin turned to full-time advocacy for their cause and founded the Southern California Council for Soviet Jews. In the following decade he was instrumental in moving the issue from a fringe movement to a mainstream American cause.
With the Soviet Jewry battle won, Frumkin turned to integrating the newly arrived immigrants into American life and took up the causes of Ethiopian Jewry, insurance payment for impoverished Holocaust survivors, and the fight against neo-Nazis in Skokie, Ill., and elsewhere.
Our colleague Si Frumkin was an extraordinary individual. As a Holocaust survivor from the Kovno Ghetto to Dachau, he often said he knew how it felt that the world had abandoned the Nazis' Jewish victims. With his organizational and communications skills, knowledge of Russian -- and a sharp sense of humor -- Si made sure that Soviet Jews fighting for their liberation would feel the solidarity of their brethren worldwide. When the USSR's iron walls finally fell, Si helped care for Russian Jews who arrived in Los Angeles, and fought for a greater share of Holocaust reparations to go to survivors rather than to other programs. Si published a penetrating, thought-provoking monthly bulletin, "Graffiti for Intellectuals". Si would comment that he didn't want to be known only as a businessman who sold a million yards of drapery. He won't. When the names of those who led the American battle for Russian Jews' freedom are recalled, Si's name will be up there in shining lights. - Glenn Richter Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry
The Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, the Forward requires that all commenters be appropriately respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjects of the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique are welcome; name-calling and personal invective are not. While we generally do not seek to edit or actively moderate comments, the Forward reserves the right to remove comments for any reason.