Arnold Lockshin (born February 3, 1939) is an American-born Russian scientist. After he was dismissed from a position as a cancer researcher in Houston, Texas, he and his family received

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...

and citizenship in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. The film director Michael Lockshin is his son.

Early life

Lockshin was born in San Francisco. His ancestors on his father's side were Soviet Jews who fled to escape antisemitic persecution. He attended high school in Richmond, California, and graduated in 1956. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and earned an undergraduate degree in biochemistry. He completed a doctorate in biochemistry at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

Early career

Lockshin performed cancer research at the USC School of Medicine between 1977 and 1980. From 1980 to 1986, Lockshin worked at the Stehlin Foundation, a cancer research facility associated with St. Joseph Hospital in Houston. He was terminated from that position. Leadership at the Stehlin Foundation said that he was fired because of his deteriorating work performance. Lockshin said that the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

was involved in his firing and that he and his family had been the targets of death threats and other forms of harassment. Lockshin said that he and his wife had long supported

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

and that he had previously been a Communist Party USA organizer. Dorothy Healey described his Party role as a district organizer, calling him "a rigid dogmatist". He said that the government harassment was brought on by his political beliefs.

Political asylum

The USSR leadership provided them with the requested asylum, gave Lockshin an apartment in Moscow and assisted him in securing employment. Subsequently, he and his wife Lauren gave numerous interviews and press-conferences in Moscow accusing American secret services of persecuting

dissidents A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. In 1989 they published a book, in Russian, as well as English, titled ''Silent Terror: One family's history of political persecution in the United States''.

Later life

In 1992 Lockshin received Russian citizenship by order of Russian President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

. Lockshin continued to work in the Blokhin Oncological Scientific Center in Moscow as a research biologist until the late 1990s. Subsequently, Arnold and Lauren disappeared from public view. Their current whereabouts are unknown. However, at least two of their children appear currently to live in Russia, including his daughter, Jennifer, who works at the State University – Higher School of Economics. Their son,

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

, is a Russian film director known for his film ''

The Silver Skates ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''. In an interview in 2017, Arnold Lockshin said that he had separated from his wife at some point after moving. On July 21, 2013, Arnold Lockshin appeared on a TV talk-show hosted by Igor Vittel on the Russian RBC channel and spoke in support of political asylum for Edward Snowden.

References

External links