OBITUARY: Dr. Mikhail Stern, Jewish refusenik (09/04/05)

OBITUARY

Dr. Mikhail Stern, Jewish refusenik

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Mikhail Stern, a physician and former Jewish refusenik from Ukraine who called the USSR "a prison of nations," died in Amsterdam in June, two months after he was attacked at his home by burglars.

He was born and reared in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, and graduated from medical school in 1944. In 1952 he was dismissed from the Vinnytsia Endocrinological Center during the era of the fabricated "Doctor's Plot," in which Stalin alleged a conspiracy of Jewish doctors plotting to poison Soviet leaders. He was reinstated after Stalin's death in 1954.

In 1961 Dr. Stern led a campaign against anti-Semitism and, in retaliation, was falsely accused of killing a Vinnytsia girl, who in fact was alive and thankful for the medical treatment he had given her.

In 1974 Dr. Stern was interrogated about his two sons' application for emigration to Israel. His patients were interrogated by the authorities as they searched for "evidence" the he had taken bribes and sold medicines at inflated prices. Many of the patients refused to testify against their doctor, rejecting prepared testimonies and courageously defying the prosecution. Nonetheless, Dr. Stern was sentenced to eight years' hard labor on trumped up charges of swindling and bribery.

His sons were allowed to leave several months after Dr. Stern was sentenced, and they mounted an international campaign for their father's release.

Dr. Stern was freed from labor camp in 1977 and ultimately settled in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam.

Also in 1977, Dr. Stern visited the United States, where he was welcomed by the Ukrainian American community as a staunch defender of human rights. He addressed many Ukrainian communities, underlining that "The Ukrainian people are not an anti-Semitic people." He also noted that "2,000 Ukrainians refused to testify against me and saved me."

He also urged the United States to remain firm in its defense of human rights, arguing that "the stronger the Untied States demands on behalf of human rights, the better it will be."

Dr. Stern's story was told in the 1977 book "The USSR vs. Dr. Mikhail Stern," billed as "the only tape recording of a trial smuggled out of the Soviet Union."

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