Viktor Fainberg
Soviet dissident

Viktor Fainberg

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Soviet dissident
Gender:
Male
Places:
RussiaFrance
Is:
DissidentActivistHuman rights activist
Work field:
Activism
Birth:
26 November 1931(Kharkiv, Ukraine)
Star sign:
Sagittarius
Education:
Faculty of Philology of Saint Petersburg State University
Awards:
Medal of the President of Slovak Republic
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Biography

Introduction

Viktor Isaakovich Fainberg (Russian: Ви́ктор Исаа́ковичФа́йнберг, born 26 November 1931, Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR) is a philologist, prominent figure of the dissident movement in the Soviet Union, participant of the 1968 Red Square demonstration, and the director of the Campaign Against Psychiatric Abuse.

Biography

Viktor Fainberg was born to the married couple of Isaac Fainberg and Sarah Dashevskaya. In his life as a child, while attending school during an antisemitic campaign of 1948-1952, he was subjected to harassment that, in his own words, he did not reconcile himself to, but entered the fray with an abuser. As the result of these frays, he got a referral to a psychiatrist.

In 1957, in connection with antisemitic insult, he had a fight with a policeman and for this reason was sentenced to 1 year of corrective labor.

In 1968, he graduated from the English unit of the philological department of the Leningrad University where he defended his diploma thesis about writer Salinger with distinction. In the summer of 1968, Fainberg worked as a guide for the Pavlovsk Palace.

Viktor Fainberg was one of the seven persons who participated in the 1968 Red Square demonstration against the intervention into Czechoslovakia. During the demonstration and his arrest, he lost many teeth and in this unpresentable state was never presented for trial; instead, he was placed to a psychiatric hospital.

Fainberg was examined bythe Serbsky Institute commission composed of G.V. Morozov, D.R. Lunts and Y.L. Lindau. In their act No 35 / s dated October 10, 1968, they did not mention the invasion of Czechoslovakia, which gave rise to this demonstration, the action was merely described as 'disorderly conduct at Red Square,' and Fainberg's mental condition was described as follows:

With enthusiasm and strong obsession he expresses ideas of reformism as to Marxism classics' teaching, while revealing clearly his increased self-esteem and firm belief in his rightness. At the same time, his remarks about his family, parents, and son reveal his emotional flatness... In the Institute department, one can note his unconcern, indifference to himself and others in his outwardly orderly behavior. He is occupied with gymnastics, rubdown, reading books, and studying literature in English. His insight into his condition and the emerged situation is clearly insufficient.

As a result, he was committed for compulsory treatment to the Special Psychiatric Hospital in Leningrad where he was confined from January 1969 to February 1973.

At the hospital, Fainberg went on hunger strike in protest, was subjected to forced feeding and was treated with chlorpromazine despite his hyperthyroidism that was somatic contraindication to chlorpromazine therapy.

Marina Vaykhanskaya, a psychiatrist at the hospital, assisted Fainberg by passing information about him to dissidents outside. She was dismissed for this activity which helped Fainberg be released. In 1974, they married and emigrated from the Soviet Union.

In emigration, Fainberg has initiated the formation of "Campaign Against Psychiatric Abuses" (CAPA) to fight punitive psychiatry in the USSR. In 1983, the Soviet Union was expelled from the World Psychiatric Association (WPA).

Other

On October 27, 2014, along with other 3 dissenters from summer of 1968, Viktor Fainberg was decorated by Slovak President Andrej Kiska for his show of solidarity to Czechoslovakia. He received the Medal of the President of the Slovak republic along with Vladimir Dremlyuga and Pavel Litvinov. Natalya Gorbanevskaya received the highest Slovak award, Order of the White Double Cross, in memoriam.

Renowned British playwright Tom Stoppard wrote the play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour dedicated to Vladimir Bukovsky and Viktor Fainberg.

Viktor has daughter, Sarah, who is a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Sources

Video

The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes videotaped Fainberg's spoken autobiography in Russian:

Interviews