International Association of Former Soviet Political Prisoners and Victims of the Communist Regime (IASPPV)
Address of Headquarters:
IASPPV, Attn: A. Bolonkin
1310 Avenue R, Suite 6-F,
Brooklyn, NY 11229, USA
Tel: 718-339-4563, Fax 718-339-4563
E-mail: Mail to IASPPV
BolonkinA@aol.com
Contenst:
1. INFORMATION
about the International Association of Former Soviet Political Prisoners and Victims of the Communist Regime (IASPPV)
The IASPPV was created through the meeting of the former Soviet political prisoners on August 27, 1989.
This is an International non-profit, charity, tax-exempt organization registered with the Internal Revenue Service (Film # 920616000447, EIN 11-3125288). The purpose of the Association is to organize assistance and to defend Rights of former Soviet political prisoners and victims of the Communist regime and their families. Everybody who was a former Soviet political prisoner or victim of the Communist regime or their relatives may be members of this organization. Member’s annual fee is $15 for non-working and $35 for working people. The organization publishes journal “Vestnik IASPPV” (2 issues in year, price is $3.5 + mailing). The IASPPV comprises the Associations of Russia, Ukrraine, Belorussia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bashkirstan, USA, etc.
IASPPV (Russian Abbreviation "MACII") has the following branches and affiliated organizations:
- American Branch of the IASPPV in New York City,
- American Branch of the IASPPV in Los Angeles, California,
- Moscow Association of Victims of Unlawful Repression (Russia), (10,000 members),
- St.-Petersburg's Foundation of Victims of Repression (Russia),
- Stavropol’s Association of victims of the Repression (Russia), (about 900 members),
- Perm’s “Memorial” (Russia),
- Ukraine "Memorial" (Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine),(more than 1000 members),
- Ukraine Association of victims of Unlawful Repression (Kramatorsk, Ukraine),
- Byelorussian Association of Victims of Unlawful Repression Byelorussia),
(more than 12,000 members),
- Riga's "Memorial" (Latvia), (2000 members),
- Riga's' Association of Victims of Unlawful Repression (Latvia), (more than 1100 members),
- Lithuania’s Union of Fighters for Freedom (Lithuania),
- Association of Victims of Unlawful Repression (Republic Bashcorstan in Russia),
and others.
IASPPV has about 30,000 members (1996 year). That has Board of Directors, President Office and Editorial of Journal “Vestnik IASPPV”. The Chairmen of branches and affiliated organizations which have more than 1000 members are automatically becoming the members of Board of Directors. The President of IASPPV is Dr. Alexander Bolonkin (1997). Every branch and affiliated organization have a separate budget.
2. Board of Directors:
E. Lel, USA3. President Office
Alexander Bolonkin, Ph.D. President IASPPV4. Editorial of Russian - English Journal “Vestnik-Documents”
E. Lel5. INFORMATION
about American Breach of IASPPV
The purpose of the Association is to organize assistance to former Soviet political prisoners and victims of the communist regime and their families in USA and the former USSR.
There are about 80,000 the victims of the Communist regime and former Soviet political prisoners in New York City. They arrived as refugees in the USA, do not know English, or American laws and need help and assistance. Part of them are old and unhealthy people.
We try help victims of the Communist regime. We advise and help them to study English, to get a job, to study American culture and take an active part in life of NYC and their new motherland - the USA. For those of them who over 65 years old and ill we write the requests, application about SSI, welfare, food stamps, subsidized housing, write the applications in Supreme Court of the CIS (Russia, Ukraine, Baltic countries, etc.) about their rehabilitate, compensation, etc.
We would like to improve our service for these people, inform them about American laws and history, to attract them to participate actively in life of NYC and the USA, to advice how and where to educate their children. We want to publish our “Vestnik IASPPV” wider.
But our organization is very poor. We lack money, don’t have an office, staff, lack postage, money for printing our “Vestnik”, etc. We have only volunteers. Unfortunately the most of them is very poor. We can not even pay our volunteers the bus (train) fare and lunch fee.
We need your help now. We have never asked for help before. We appreciate any help you can offer. We will welcome any contributions toward our Association’s activities.
6. STATEMENT
of the International Association of Former Soviet political Prisoners and Victims of the Communist Regime to Foundations, Corporations, and all people of good will
History has already shown that dictatorships and totalitarian regimes are the most dangerous and menacing types of governments. A few examples: Hitler (occupation of Western Europe), Stalin (occupation of Eastern Europe), Mao Dze-Dung (occupation of Tibet, aggression during the Korean and Vietnam wars) and so on.
Dictators who possess nuclear weapons are the most dangerous of all. The pushing of the nucleus button depends on only one person - the dictator himself. Brezhnev, who suffered from debilitating senility at the end of his life, or Andropov, who was tied to a medical apparatus, could have taken all of humanity to the grave together with themselves.
The Soviet Union accumulated three times as many nuclear weapons and means of delivery as all the rest of the world combined including the USA. The country was a grave danger to our environment and to humanity itself.
Dictatorships which possess nuclear weapons can not be destroyed by outside forces. However, while in pre - death agony, a dictator can push the nuclear button with ease bringing down most of the rest of the worlds with it.
A dictatorship can be transformed from within by peaceful means, as a result a long-term resistance and the daily struggle of its own citizens. Such an internal peaceful revolution can spare humanity and nature from nuclear disaster.
Such an event happened in the Soviet Union. Sixty million Soviet citizens were killed by the communist government in its struggle to control its own people. Only a few tens of thousands of the imprisoned opposition have survived. However, thanks to these people, this horrible dictatorship, which threatened to poison and destroy life on earth through radio-active contamination, was brought down. These people did what neither the US government, spending thousands of billions of dollars, or the large environmental organizations were able to achieve. They saved the Planet. These resisters to communism sacrificed their well-being, careers and health for the sake of humanity. They spent 10, 15, 25 years in horrible conditions in Soviet concentration camps. Only by a miracle did they survive. Now most of them are old and sick, without family, shelter, or means of existence. They are hated by the hangmen-communists who are still in power, only under a new label as the “democrats”. These people received from the Russian government the pitiful compensation of 1-3$ for every month they spent in the torture of the Soviet concentration camps. Their monthly pension equals 30-45 dollars in Russia and 10-15 dollars in Ukraine.
We owe these people an enormous debt of gratitude. Yet the free world has turned away from them with indifference, having believed that the transformation of the Soviet Union was the doing of Gorbachev and not the courageous resistance of the Soviet political prisoners. No dictators voluntarily gives up his power. The Soviet Communist party - and Chairman Gorbachev - was no exception. Only pressure from the opposition and resistance to Soviet rule by these people brought about the end of the Soviet dictatorship.
Those who surfed political genocide and helped destroy this terrible regime, saving the world from nuclear disaster, are now the poorest, most miserable part of the population of today’s Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics. They have been abandoned by everyone.
The West is spending of billions of dollars to support the current regimes in the former USSR, not recognizing that the same communists are still in power. The leaders of these countries will toss away their pretty speeches about democracy as soon as they have reaped the financial benefits from the West. But while the West pours billions of dollars into these regimes it refuses to spend a cent on those who gave up everything in order to save the world. The former political prisoners of Soviet Union are the ones who stood up in opposition and risked their lives. They said ‘no’. And when enough had done so, the regime fell. Now most of them are old and sick. Thanks to these people the USA can decrease the USA military budget by some tens of billions of dollars.
We appeal to ordinary people of good will, Corporations, and charitable funds to help these former, and now destitute, Soviet political prisoners with money, medicines, used clothes and food.
All contributions are tax-deductible.
7. Short Biography of President IASPPV Dr. Alexander Bolonkin
A. Bolonkin was born in c. Perm (Russia) on 14 March 1933. He graduated with awards from Aviation Collage, Faculty of Aviation Engines, in 1952 (B.S.); Kazan Aviation Institute, Faculty of Aircraft Design, in 1958 (M.S.); Kiev University, Faculty of Mathematics, in 1964 (M.S.); Moscow Aviation Institute, Rocket Department, in 1964, dissertation “Optimal Trajectory of Multistage Rockets” (Dr. Sci.); Leningrad Polytechnic University, Aerospace Engineering Department, in 1971, dissertation “New Methods of Optimization and their Applications” (Post -Doctoral Degree in the former USSR).
He worked in Soviet aviation, rocket and Space industries about 20 years. In particularly, in Kiev Aircraft State Construction Bureau headed by Antonov, Bolonkin took part in design of aircraft AN-8 through An-225 (Engineer - Senior Engineer - Chairman of Department); in Rocket engine Construction Bureau headed by Academician V. P. Glushko A., Bolonkin was Chairman of Reliability Department and took part in design of rocket engines for main strategic rockets of the USSR; in TsAGI (Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Research Institute) A. Bolonkin was a scientific researcher. He lectured as a professor and worked as a Project Director in Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow Aviation Technological Institute, Bauman Highest Technical University, Technological Institute. He contacted with Construction Bureaus of Tupolev, Yakovlev, Mikoyan, Ilushin, Sykhoy, with all main aviation, rocket and space research and design Centers of the USSR. He had many awards in the Soviet Union. When he was young, he had National and World records in aviation modeling and was awarded with gold and silver medals.
In the former USSR, A. Bolonkin interested also in social and political problems, Human Rights, economic growth, the promotion of democratization. He wrote a lot of articles about these problems which were published in forbidden anti-Soviet press. Part of them were republished in the Western countries. In particular, the extract from his book “Comparison of Standard of Living in Russia, the USSR and Western Countries” were republished in Germany.
The Communist Power, KGB (Soviet Secret Police) severe persecuted him, put him into prisons (1972), concentration camps and exile in Siberia. They tortured and tormented A. Bolonkin very much. For example, they kept him three years in special prison of hard regime and 400 days in small cold dirty cell without warm clothes, gave him only low quality bread of one pound per day. He was a well - known political prisoner. The Nobel Laureates Academician Andrei Sakharov, writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsiyn, Radio Station “Voice of America” fought for his discharge.
In 1988, after 15 years of the Soviet concentration camps and exiles, Alexander Bolonkin arrived as a political refuge in the USA and became American citizen in 1994. He worked as a Senior Researcher in Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University; two years as a Senior Research Associate in Wright Laboratory, Flight Dynamic Directorate (Dayton, Ohio), (it is the main Laboratory of the USA Air Force with over 20,000 scientists); two years as a Senior Researcher in NASA (DFRC); as a professor in New Jersey Institute of Technology, Computer and Information Department. For last four years alone, he published 9 scientific articles and books in the USA and a lot of articles in Russian - American press about social and political problems. He took part in three World Space Congresses (1992, 1994, 1996) and eight Federal Scientific Conferences in the USA. In particularly, he published monograph “Development of Soviet pocket engines for Strategic Missiles”, Delphic Ass., USA, 1991, 133 p., and large Chapter “Aviation, motor and Space Designs” in book “Development Technology in the Soviet Union”, Delphic Ass., USA, 1990.
In 1990, A. Bolonkin was elected as a President of the International Association of Former Soviet Political Prisoners and Victims of the Communist Regime. This organization comprises the Associations and Societies of the USA, Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bashkistan, and others republic of the former Soviet Union (more 30,000 members). He has depended Human Rights in the former USSR and published a lot of articles in press about these problems.
Alexander Bolonkin is the author of 60 scientific articles and books and 13 inventions.
by Dr. A. Blekherman
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