Mikhail Makarenko, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Mikhail Makarenko

Soviet dissident

Date of Birth: 04-May-1931

Place of Birth: Galați, Galați County, Romania

Date of Death: 15-Mar-2007

Profession: human rights activist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Mikhail Yanovitch Makarenko (1931 – 15 March 2007), né Moishe Hershkovich, also Gershkovich, also spelled as Michail Janovitch Makarenko, was a human rights activist, born in Romania to Orthodox Jewish parents, Yankel Hershkovich and Malka Weisman.
When he was eight years old he ran away from home to live in Russia.
During World War II, from age 10 to 13, he was a "Son of the Regiment", bringing water and food to the troops. In 1954 he married Lyudmila Makarenko and took her family name.
They had son Sergei and two daughters, Liza and Olga.
He actually married and divorced Lyudmila twice.He spent a total of eleven years in prison for what the Soviet government considered to be dissident activities.
His longest imprisonment was a result of a 1970 arrest for exhibiting the work of Russian avant-garde artists.
He moved (alone) to the United States of America in 1979 after being exiled by the Soviet government.
When asked who were the victims of communism, Makarenko is quoted as saying "Everyone who lived in the 20th century was a victim of communism." In 1982, Makarenko's testimony was published by the Republican Conference of the U.S.
Senate regarding the human cost of building a natural gas pipeline in the Soviet Union.
His testimony largely concerned the treatment of the prisoners in Soviet labor camps.