To Live with Conviction: A Conversation with Natan Sharansky

What does it mean to live with conviction when the cost is prison, isolation, and the full weight of a totalitarian regime? 

On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, I have the profound honor of speaking with Natan Sharansky, former Soviet dissident, Prisoner of Zion, Israeli statesman, and one of the great moral voices of our time.

Born in Donetsk in the former Soviet Union, Sharansky became a leading spokesman for the human rights movement and the struggle of Soviet Jews to immigrate to Israel. After applying to make aliyah, he was arrested on fabricated charges of treason and espionage and sentenced to years in the Gulag, including long stretches in brutal punishment cells. His eventual release in 1986, following international pressure from Israel, world Jewry, and leaders of the free world,  became a defining moment in the history of the Cold War and the Jewish freedom movement.

But Sharansky’s story did not end with freedom. In Israel, he went on to found political movements to help Soviet olim integrate into Israeli society, served in multiple Israeli governments, and became a global advocate for democracy, Jewish identity, and the fight against antisemitism.

In our conversation, we go back to the beginning: What drew a young mathematician into the underground Zionist movement? What did it mean to organize Jews under a regime that criminalized Jewish nationalism? How did Soviet Jews, and even many non-Jews, understand with clarity that antizionism was simply another word for hostility to Jews, and why do Jews in America lack this clarity? We conclude by finding out who Natan Sharansky's heroes are. You don't want to miss this candid conversation.

Clarifying the complex. Step into my classroom.