Ida Nudel’s home was very near my in-laws’ apartment. Thus, my father-in-law had witnessed her solitary protest. He recounted it to us: “At about six this evening I went out on the balcony, and noticed a crowd of people near Ida’s building. I went downstairs and outside to a scene which filled me with terror. Ida stood on her balcony guarding a banner bearing this message: ‘KGB GIVE ME MY VISA.’ People in civilian dress stood on neighboring balconies waving metal pipes trying to tear it down. I was afraid they would hit Ida! The crowd was allowed to remain there while a few suspicious looking citizens shouted loudly about Jews rebelling, and getting Stalin and Hitler on them. Around 8:00 p.m. an agent swung a rope with a heavy object attached and broke Ida’s window. As if the sound of breaking glass were a cue, all the plainclothes men left the area, and Ida went inside. Several times I tried to reach her, but the police stopped me.”

Despite the hour, Edward and I rushed over to Ida’s. We rang, and after checking the peep hole, she opened the door to admit us. She showed us the broken glass on the kitchen floor, and we could feel the wind blowing in. Edward’s father came a little later and offered to clean up, but Ida declined, saying they made the mess, so let them clean it up.

We stayed with her, and shared events of the day. Ida completed my father-in-law’s account, telling us that she had not been allowed to leave the house all day. Since she had not signed the letter pertaining to the aborted Lenin Library demonstration, she knew of no reason for her house arrest. Throughout the day plainclothes men sat talking and smoking on an adjacent balcony, and when she went out on her balcony, they just looked at her in defiance. Incensed by their behavior, and knowing that she was surrounded, she abandoned all caution, and answered the situation with that fateful banner. When an agent broke Ida’s window she responded by shouting at them and trying to shame them. In order to drown out her voice the KGB turned on the engine of a bulldozer sat nearby. How ironic that so much official power should be pitted against a single frail women trying to defend her honor.

In hindsight, many still ask why Ida chose to take such a risk, rather than restrain herself. I thought that if danger was the sole choice that she had, at least it was hers. To understand her mental state at that time requires that one have either direct experience or extreme empathy. Sometimes even the most negative of options can be grasped if one considers dignity as being the only (or last) act that a person can control. Long before this episode of harassment, the Soviet authorities had created an atmosphere of terror around Ida. She was constantly followed by plainclothes men or uniformed agents, on the street, in the subway, on a stroll through the woods. They even had swimmers monitoring the pool that she used. Black Volgas were permanently stationed at her building, watching and waiting. Private conversations could never take place in her flat. Her telephone had been disconnected long ago; mail, of course, was censored. On Soviet holidays, or even more so, on Jewish holidays, the KGB became particularly zealous. Ida’s life was bereft of any freedom anyway, so on Thursday, June 1st, at 6:00 p.m., she went out on her balcony and unfurled her anger.

The very next day, Ida covered her empty kitchen window with a sheet of plywood which she had decorated with a yellow Star of David. When a policeman came to remove it, she asked him if he would remove a cross from around his mother’s neck. When he admitted that he could never do that, she reminded him that by removing her window star he was, in effect, committing such an act.

The second meeting place, prior to our planned June first demonstration was Galina Tsirlina’s apartment. Eight of our women assembled there, also could not set out for the Lenin Library because they were promptly put under house arrest In defiance they closed the windows and hung their signs on the inside. The KGB simply poured whitewash all over the outside of the windows.

Everyone who had signed the letter informing the authorities about the June first demonstration was put under house arrest that day.

House arrest as a form of persecution sometimes had some effect, but as detention, it frequently failed or backfired. Natasha Khasina was stranded by the KGB in her own apartment when her baby suddenly fell ill. Luckily, she lived on the first floor, so that she could actually drag the baby carriage out through the window, and was able to get to a doctor. Still, agents followed her all the way to the doctor’s office. House arrest was enforced regardless of personal hardship. In the case of Izolda Tufeld, whose father lay dying in the hospital, neither she or her husband was permitted to visit him.

On this day Masha Slepak tried to get into Natasha Rosenstein’s apartment. She was somehow able to leave her house and make it to the steps of Natasha’s building. However, she was denied access to the stairs by KGB agents. At that point she returned to her apartment and, with her husband Volodya, unfurled a banner on their balcony. From above them, KGB agents poured scalding water onto Volodya’s head. His subsequent burns were quite serious.

While Galina Kremen was with us on Butler Street, her husband, Misha, and their youngest son were put under house arrest. Misha needed to buy some food for his son, but the KGB would not let him out. Upset, he turned on his stereo and amplifier, setting the speakers to face the street, and broadcast the story of his visa refusals. He hung out a banner which read, ‘Long Live Israel,’ and played Jewish songs on the tape recorder.

A woman neighbor, who was later called in as an official witness, said that she had heard songs with words like ‘Israel,’ and ‘Pharaoh,’ and ‘Let my people go,’ over and over. She was particularly upset that the songs were not in Russian!

Later in the afternoon, Misha and his son were taken to the police station, and then to court, but it was difficult to get a judge to hear the complaints. The district attorney took Misha to see another judge, and he, too, refused to listen to the complaints. Finally, the senior judge agreed to hear the complaints, but the testimony of the witnesses was so confusing, he told them to go and prepare themselves better. Misha was issued a summons to appear the following Monday, June 5.

And so … on June 1 several individual protests took place in various sections of Moscow. Ida had a sense of foreboding about individual protests. These demonstrations were provoked by the KGB. As a result, some of the participants in these demonstrations, despite the fact that they were the victims of provocation, suffered immensely. Those who had demonstrated in groups were not arrested. Those who protested independently: Ida Nudel and Volodya Slepak were sentenced to several years of exile and prison respectively. Misha Kremen received 15 days in jail.