Avital Sharansky Avital Sharansky Avital Sharansky (born Natalia Stieglitz (, ) in Ukraine, 1950; married name also Shcharansky) is a former activist and public figure in the Soviet Jewry Movement who fought for the release of her husband, Natan Sharansky, from Soviet imprisonment. Avital and Nathan Sharansky met in October 1973. Shortly after meeting, Nathan Sharansky's exit visa was denied, and he became an active refusenik. Avital applied for a visa to Israel, and the couple began to discuss marriage. They married in 1974, one day and a half before Avital's exit visa expired. The day after their wedding, Avital left for
Natan Rakhlin Natan Rakhlin Natan Grigoryevich Rakhlin (Russian: Натан Григорьевич Рахлин, Ukrainian: Натан Григорович Рахлін; in Snowsk near Chernihiv − June 28, 1979 in Kazan) was a Soviet conductor. Natan Grigorievich Rakhlin was born 10 January 1906 (in the Gregorian calendar, i.e. December 28, 1905 Julian calendar). He served as Artistic Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine from 1937 to 1962 and was the musical director of a number of Soviet films. In 1941 he succeeded Alexander Gauk as director of the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR. Under his direction the orchestra premiered Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 on 30