List Of Jews Born In The Former Russian Empire
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:''This List of Jews contains individuals who, in accordance with Wikipedia's
verifiability Verify or verification may refer to: General * Verification and validation, in engineering or quality management systems, is the act of reviewing, inspecting or testing, in order to establish and document that a product, service or system meets ...
and
no original research No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles: English language * Yes and no, ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses) * A English determiners, determiner in noun phrases Alphanumeric symbols * No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese s ...
policies, have been identified as Jews by reliable sources.'' The following is a list of Jews born in the territory of the former
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. It is geographically defined, so it also includes people born after the
dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...
of the Russian Empire in 1922 and its successor the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in 1991. A few years before
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, the Jewish population of the Soviet Union (excluding
Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...
and the
Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
that were not part of the Soviet Union then) stood at over 5 million, most of whom were
Ashkenazic Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
as opposed to
Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
, with some Karaite minorities. It is estimated that more than half died directly as a result of the Holocaust.


Politics and military


Politicians

*
Georgy Arbatov Georgy Arkadyevich Arbatov (russian: Гео́ргий Арка́дьевич Арба́тов, 19 May 1923, Kherson – 1 October 2010, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian political scientist who served as an adviser to five General Secretaries of th ...
, Soviet politician, academic and political advisor * Aizik Aronchik, attempted to assassinate the
Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
Alexander II Aronchik, Aizik Borisovich on Brokhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia in 16 volumes, Moscow 1908-1913 * Dimitri Bogrov, Soviet politician *
Anatoly Chubais Anatoly Borisovich Chubais (russian: Анатолий Борисович Чубайс; born 16 June 1955) is a Russian politician and economist who was responsible for privatization in Russia as an influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administ ...
, Deputy Prime Minister, now Chairman of UES *
Mikhail Fradkov Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov ( rus, Михаи́л Ефи́мович Фрадко́в, p=mʲɪxɐˈil jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ frɐtˈkof; born 1 September 1950) is a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 2004 to 2007. An In ...
, Prime Minister (half-Jewish) *
Volodymyr Groysman Volodymyr Borysovych Groysman, sometimes transliterated as Volodymyr Borysovych Hroisman ( uk, Володи́мир Бори́сович Гро́йсман; born 20 January 1978), is a Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukrain ...
, Prime Minister of Ukraine (2016-2019) *
Adolph Joffe Adolph Abramovich Joffe (russian: Адо́льф Абра́мович Ио́ффе, alternative transliterations Adol'f Ioffe or, rarely, Yoffe) (10 October 1883 in Simferopol – 16 November 1927 in Moscow) was a Russian revolutionary, a Bo ...
, Bolshevik diplomat *
Lazar Kaganovich Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich, also Kahanovich (russian: Ла́зарь Моисе́евич Кагано́вич, Lázar' Moiséyevich Kaganóvich; – 25 July 1991), was a Soviet politician and administrator, and one of the main associates of ...
,
First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union The First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union was the deputy head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); despite the title, the office was not necessarily held by a single individual. The office had three different names ...
and one of the principal architects of the
Ukrainian famine The Holodomor ( uk, Голодомо́р, Holodomor, ; derived from uk, морити голодом, lit=to kill by starvation, translit=moryty holodom, label=none), also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, was a man-made famin ...
. *
Lev Kamenev Lev Borisovich Kamenev. (''né'' Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. Born in Moscow to parents who were both involved in revolutionary politics, Kamenev attended Imperial Moscow Uni ...
, Bolshevik leader (Jewish father) *
Maxim Litvinov Maxim Maximovich Litvinov (; born Meir Henoch Wallach; 17 July 1876 – 31 December 1951) was a Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet statesman and diplomat. A strong advocate of diplomatic agreements leading towards disarmament, Litvinov wa ...
, Soviet ambassador and Minister of Foreign Affairs *
Julius Martov Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов; born Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum; 24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923) was a politician and revolutionary who became the leader of the Mensheviks in early 20th-century Russia. He was arguably the closes ...
, Menshevik leader *
Mikhail Mishustin Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin ( rus, links=no, Михаил Владимирович Мишустин, , mixɐˈil vlɐˈdʲimʲirəvʲitɕ miˈʂusʲtʲɪn; born 3 March 1966) is a Russian politician and economist serving as the prime minist ...
, incumbent Prime Minister *
Boris Nemtsov Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov ( rus, Бори́с Ефи́мович Немцо́в, p=bɐˈrʲis jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ nʲɪmˈtsof; 9 October 195927 February 2015) was a Russian physicist and liberal politician. He was involved in the introduction ...
, Deputy Prime Minister *
Yevgeny Primakov Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov (29 October 1929 – 26 June 2015) was a Russian politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1998 to 1999. During his long career, he also served as Foreign Minister, Speaker of the Supreme ...
, Russian politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1998 to 1999. *
Karl Radek Karl Berngardovich Radek (russian: Карл Бернгардович Радек; 31 October 1885 – 19 May 1939) was a Russian revolutionary and a Marxist active in the Polish and German social democratic movements before World War I and a C ...
, Soviet politician *
Yevgeny Roizman Yevgeny Vadimovich Roizman (Russian: Евге́ний Вади́мович Ро́йзман; born 14 September 1962) is a Russian opposition politician who served as the mayor of Yekaterinburg from 2013 to 2018. He campaigned against corrupt po ...
, deputy of the Russian State Duma, mayor of Yekaterinburg (Jewish father) *
Grigory Sokolnikov Grigori Yakovlevich Sokolnikov (born Hirsch Brilliant or Girsh Yankelevich Brilliant; 1888–1939) was a Russian Old Bolshevik revolutionary, economist, and Soviet politician. Early career Grigori Sokolnikov was born Girsh Yankelevich Brillian ...
, Bolshevik politician *
Yakov Sverdlov Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (russian: Яков Михайлович Свердлов; 3 June Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O._S._22_May.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S ...
, Bolshevik leader, the first head of state of the
Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
*
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
, Bolshevik politician, the founder of the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
*
Moisei Uritsky Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky ( ua, Мойсей Соломонович Урицький; russian: Моисей Соломонович Урицкий; – 30 August 1918) was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader in Russia. After the October Revol ...
, Soviet politician * Leonid Volkov, Russian opposition leader.
Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, Russian opposition ...
's campaign manager and technical director *
Genrikh Yagoda Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda ( rus, Ге́нрих Григо́рьевич Яго́да, Genrikh Grigor'yevich Yagoda, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda; 7 November 1891 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet secret police official who served as director ...
, head of Secret Police in the Stalin era (1934–1936) *
Yakov Yurovsky Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (; Unless otherwise noted, all dates used in this article are of the Gregorian Calendar, as opposed to the Julian Calendar which was used in Russia prior to . – 2 August 1938) was a Russian Old Bolshevik, revo ...
, Bolshevik commander, was in charge of imprisonment and execution of Tsar Nicolas II of Russia and his family (under
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
's orders) *
Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...
, incumbent President of Ukraine *
Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev, . Transliterated ''Grigorii Evseevich Zinov'ev'' according to the Library of Congress system. (born Hirsch Apfelbaum, – 25 August 1936), known also under the name Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky (russian: Ов ...
, Soviet politician *
Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) f ...
, Russian politician; leader of the
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia ) , abbreviation = LDPR (English)ЛДПР (Russian) , native_name = , newspaper = ''For the Russian People'' , youth_wing = , seats1_title = Seats in the Federation Council , seats1 = , seats2_title ...
(LDPR); Vice-chairman of the State Duma; member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe"Zhirinovsky admits Jewish roots
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...


Israeli politicians

*
Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. B ...
, Israeli Prime Minister, Nobel Prize (1978) *
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Yitzhak Ben-Zvi ( he, יִצְחָק בֶּן־צְבִי‎ ''Yitshak Ben-Tsvi''; 24 November 188423 April 1963) was a historian, Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist leader and the longest-serving President of Israel. Biography Born in Poltava in the ...
, second President of Israel (1952–63) *
Shmuel Dayan Shmuel Dayan ( he, שמואל דיין; 8 August 1891 – 11 August 1968) was a Zionist activist during the British Mandate of Palestine and an Israeli politician who served in the first three Knessets. Biography Born in the town of Zhashkiv in th ...
, Zionist activist, Israeli politician *
Levi Eshkol Levi Eshkol ( he, לֵוִי אֶשְׁכּוֹל ;‎ 25 October 1895 – 26 February 1969), born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik ( he, לוי יצחק שקולניק, links=no), was an Israeli statesman who served as the third Prime Minister of Israe ...
, Israeli Prime Minister (1963–69) *
Ephraim Katzir Ephraim Katzir ( he, אפרים קציר, translit=Efrayim Katsir; – 30 May 2009) was an Israeli biophysics, biophysicist and Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party politician. He was the List of Presidents of Israel, fourth President of Israel fro ...
, fourth President of Israel (1973–78) *
Avigdor Lieberman Avigdor Lieberman (, ; russian: Эве́т Льво́вич Ли́берман, Evet Lvovich Liberman, ; born 5 June 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli politician serving as Minister of Finance since 2021, having previously served twice as Deputy ...
, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs (2006–2008) *
Golda Meir Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and ''kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1 ...
, Israeli Prime Minister (1969–74) *
Yitzhak Shamir Yitzhak Shamir ( he, יצחק שמיר, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms, 1983–1984 and 1986–1992. Before the establishment ...
, Israeli Prime Minister (1983–84, 1986–92) *
Natan Sharansky Natan Sharansky ( he, נתן שרנסקי; russian: Ната́н Щара́нский; uk, Натан Щаранський, born Anatoly Borisovich Shcharansky on 20 January 1948); uk, Анатолій Борисович Щаранський, ...
, Israeli politician *
Moshe Sharett Moshe Sharett ( he, משה שרת, born Moshe Chertok (Hebrew: )‎ 15 October 1894 – 7 July 1965) was a Russian-born Israeli politician who served as Israel's second prime minister from 1954 to 1955. A member of Mapai, Sharett's term was b ...
, Israeli Prime Minister (1954–55) *
Zalman Shazar Zalman Shazar ( he, זלמן שז"ר; born Shneur Zalman Rubashov; be, Шнэер За́льман Рубашо́ў; russian: Шне́ер За́лмен Рубашо́в; November 24, 1889 – October 5, 1974) was an Israeli politician, author ...
, third President of Israel (1963–73) *
Chaim Weizmann Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( he, חיים עזריאל ויצמן ', russian: Хаим Евзорович Вейцман, ''Khaim Evzorovich Veytsman''; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader and Israel ...
, first President of Israel (1949–52)


Israeli military persons

*
Yaakov Dori Yaakov Dori (; October 8, 1899 – January 22, 1973), born Yaakov Dostrovsky, was the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He was also the President of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Biography Yaakov Dostr ...
, first Chief of Staff of the
Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
(IDF) (1948–1949); President of Technion. *
Ze'ev Jabotinsky Ze'ev Jabotinsky ( he, זְאֵב זַ׳בּוֹטִינְסְקִי, ''Ze'ev Zhabotinski'';, ''Wolf Zhabotinski'' 17 October 1880  – 3 August 1940), born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky, was a Russian Jewish Revisionist Zionist leade ...
, founder of British Jewish Legion *
Haim Laskov Haim Laskov ( he, חיים לסקוב; born 1919, Barysaw, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic – 8 December 1982) was an Israeli public figure and the fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Biography Haim Laskov was born in Bary ...
, fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1958–1961) *
Yitzhak Sadeh Yitzhak Sadeh ( he, יצחק שדה, born Izaak Landoberg, August 10, 1890 – August 20, 1952), was the commander of the Palmach and one of the founders of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel. ...
,
Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...
commander and one of the
IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...
founders *
Joseph Trumpeldor Joseph Vladimirovich (Volfovich) Trumpeldor (21 November 1880 – 1 March 1920, he, יוֹסֵף טְרוּמְפֶּלְדוֹר , russian: Иосиф Владимирович (Вольфович) Трумпельдор ) was an early Zionist a ...
, founder of British Jewish Legion and early pioneer-settler in Israel (born in
Pyatigorsk Pyatigorsk (russian: Пятиго́рск; Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody where there is an international airport and about ...
) *
Tzvi Tzur Tzvi Tzur ( he, צבי צור, also transliterated Zvi Tsur, 1923 – 28 December 2004) was an Israeli officer who served as the IDF's 6th Chief of Staff (1961–1963). Biography Early life Tzur was born in the Zaslav in the Soviet Union (now ...
, sixth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1961–1964)


Soviet soldiers and revolutionaries

*
Osip Aptekman Osip Vasilyevich Aptekman () (March 18(30), 1849, Pavlohrad – July 8, 1926) was a Russian revolutionary, member of the Land and Liberty, and one of the founders of the Black Repartition. Biography Born in Ukraine to an upper class Jewish f ...
, revolutionary *
Pavel Axelrod Pavel Borisovich Axelrod (russian: Па́вел Бори́сович Аксельро́д; 25 August 1850 – 16 April 1928) was an early Russian Marxist revolutionary. Along with Georgi Plekhanov, Vera Zasulich, and Leo Deutsch, he was one ...
, Menshevik, Marxist revolutionary *
Yevno Azef Yevno Fishelevich Azef (russian: Евгений Филиппович (Евно Фишелевич) Азеф, also transliterated as ''Evno'' Azef, 1869–1918) was a Russian socialist revolutionary who also operated as a double agent and agent ...
, revolutionary *
Tuvia Bielski Tuvia Bielski (May 8, 1906 – June 12, 1987) was a Belarusian Jewish militant who was leader of the Bielski group, a group of Jewish partisans who set up refugee camps for Jews fleeing the Holocaust during World War II. Their camp was situated ...
, Belarusian partisan * Yakov Blumkin, Soviet spy *
Ivan Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky (russian: Ива́н Дани́лович Черняхо́вский; – 18 February 1945) was the youngest-ever Soviet General of the army. For his leadership during World War II he was awarded t ...
, Soviet Front Commander, WWII *
Fedor Dan Fyodor Ilyich Dan (surname at birth: Gurvich) (died 22 January 1947) was a political activist and journalist who helped found the Menshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Background Fyodor Dan was born to a Jewish family ...
, revolutionary *
Leo Deutsch Lev Grigorievich Deutsch, also known as Leo Deutsch (russian: Лев Григо́рьевич Дейч) (September 26, 1855 – August 5, 1941) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and one of four founding members of Russia's Marxist Organisation, ...
, revolutionary *
David Dragunsky David Abramovich Dragunsky (russian: Давид Абрамович Драгунский; – 12 October 1992) was a tank officer in World War II who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Early life Dragunsky was born on to a ...
, Soviet tank brigade commander, WWII * Raya Dunayevskaya, founder of
Marxist humanism Marxist humanism is an international body of thought and political action rooted in an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx. It is an investigation into "what human nature consists of and what sort of society would be most conducive to huma ...
in the U.S. * Hesya Helfman, revolutionary *
Grigory Gershuni Grigory Andreyevich Gershuni (russian: Григорий Андреевич Гершуни; – ) was a Russian revolutionary and one of the founders of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. Early life Gershuni was born in Kaunas, in the Kovno Go ...
, revolutionary * Moshe Gildenman, known as Dyadya ("Uncle") Misha, partisan commander *
Grigory Goldenberg Grigory Goldenberg (also referred to as Gregory Goldenberg or "Grigorii Goldenberg"; 1855–1880) was a Russian revolutionary and member of the «Narodnaya Volya» (People's Will) organisation. Revolutionary life Born at Berdichev, son of a Jewi ...
, revolutionary *
Olga Kameneva Olga Davidovna Kameneva (russian: Ольга Давыдовна Каменева, uk, Ольга Давидiвна Каменева; 1883 – 11 September 1941) (née Bronstein — Бронште́йн) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and ...
, Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician (sister of
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
) * Walter Krivitsky, Soviet spy * Semyon Krivoshein, Soviet mechanized corps commander, WWII * Rodion Malinovsky, Soviet front commander, WWII, Minister of Defence (Jewish origin is disputed) * Mark Natanson, revolutionary * Alexander Parvus, revolutionary * Sidney Reilly (born Shlomo Rosenblum), Ukrainian-born adventurer and Secret Intelligence Service agent *
Theodore Rothstein Theodore Rothstein (russian: Фёдор Аронович Ротштейн, ''Fyodor Aronovich Rotshteyn''; 14 February 1871 30 August 1953) was a Soviet politician, journalist, writer and communist. He served as a Soviet ambassador in the 1920s. ...
, Russian-British communist *
Pinhas Rutenberg Pinhas Rutenberg (russian: Пётр Моисеевич Рутенберг, Pyotr Moiseyevich Rutenberg; he, פנחס רוטנברג: 5 February 1879 – 3 January 1942) was a Russian Jewish engineer, businessman, and political activist. He pla ...
, Zionist, Social revolutionary *
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and
Manya Shochat Manya Shochat (1880–1961) was a Russian-Jewish politician and the "mother" of the collective settlement in Palestine, the forerunner of the kibbutz movement. Biography Manya Wilbushewitch (also Mania, Wilbuszewicz/Wilbushewitz; later Shochat) ...
, founders of the Hashomer movement *
Moisei Uritsky Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky ( ua, Мойсей Соломонович Урицький; russian: Моисей Соломонович Урицкий; – 30 August 1918) was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader in Russia. After the October Revol ...
, communist revolutionary * Volin (Vsevolod Eikhenbaum), leading Russian Anarchist. Senior member of
Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno, The surname "Makhno" ( uk, Махно́) was itself a corruption of Nestor's father's surname "Mikhnenko" ( uk, Міхненко). ( 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ("Father Makhno"),; According to ...
's movement (1918-1921) *
V. Volodarsky V. Volodarsky (russian: В. Володарский; December 11, 1891 – June 20, 1918) (born: Moisey Markovich Goldstein) was a Marxist revolutionary and Soviet politician. He was assassinated in 1918. Biography Early years V. Volodarsky ...
, communist revolutionary * Iona Yakir, Red Army commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I and World War II


Others

*
Murray Bookchin Murray Bookchin (January 14, 1921 – July 30, 2006) was an American social theorist, author, orator, historian, and political philosopher. A pioneer in the environmental movement, Bookchin formulated and developed the theory of social ec ...
, important American anarchist *
Michael Dorfman Michael Dorfman ( uk, Мiхаель Дорфман, russian: link=no, Михаэль Дорфман he, מיכאל דורפמן) (born 17 September 1954) is a writer, essayist, journalist, human rights activist and activist of the Yiddish cultu ...
, Russian-Israeli essayist and human rights activist * David Dubinsky, American labor leader *
Yisroel ben Eliezer (The Baal Shem Tov) Israel ben Eliezer (1698 – 22 May 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov ( he, בעל שם טוב, ) or as the Besht, was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. "Besht" is the acronym for Baal Shem Tov, which ...
, rabbi, founder of
Hasidic Judaism Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Judaism, Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory ...
*
Natasha Epstein Natasha (russian: Наташа) is a name of Slavic languages, Slavic origin. The Slavic name is the diminutive form of Natalia (given name), Natalia. Notable people * Natasha, the subject of ''Natasha's Story'', a 1994 nonfiction book * Natasha ...
, beauty queen; graduate of Harvard University * Shlomo Ganzfried, rabbi *
Fanny Kaplan Fanny Efimovna Kaplan (russian: Фа́нни Ефи́мовна Капла́н, links=no; real name Feiga Haimovna Roytblat, ; February 10, 1890 – September 3, 1918) was a Ukrainian Jewish woman, Socialist-Revolutionary, and early Soviet dissi ...
, would-be assassin of Lenin *
Menachem Mendel Schneerson Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Modern Hebrew: מנחם מענדל שניאורסון; old-fashioned spelling: מנחם מענדל שניאורסאהן; April 5, 1902 OS – June 12, 1994; AM 11 Nissan 5662 – 3 Tammuz 5754), known to man ...
,
Rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritua ...
of the
Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...
-Lubavitch branch of
Hasidic Judaism Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Judaism, Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory ...
* Dov Sudak, rabbi of Krijopol before the war * Boris Volynov, Soviet astronaut; the first Jew in space (Jewish mother)


Business figures

* Roman Abramovich, businessman, owner of
Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. Th ...
*
Pyotr Aven Petr Olegovich Aven (also transliterated Pyotr Aven; russian: Пëтр Олегович Авен; Latvian: Pjotrs Avens; born 16 March 1955) is a Russian oligarch, businessman, economist and politician who also holds Latvian citizenship. Until M ...
, businessman * Leon Bagrit, pioneer of automation * Bernhard Baron, cigarette maker and philanthropist * Boris Berezovsky, businessman, politician * Zino Davidoff (born Sussele-Meier Davidoff), former tobacco manufacturer, known as "King of Cigars" *
Bernard Delfont Bernard Delfont, Baron Delfont (born Boris Winogradsky; 5 September 1909 – 28 July 1994) was a leading Russian-born British theatrical impresario. Life and career Delfont was born in Tokmak, Berdyansky Uyezd, Taurida Governorate, Russian ...
, impresario *
Mikhail Fridman Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; russian: Михаил Маратович Фридман; he, מיכאיל פרידמן; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli businessman, billionaire, and ...
, businessman * Arcadi Gaydamak, owner of
Portsmouth F.C. Portsmouth Football Club is a professional football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, which compete in . They are also known as ''Pompey'', a local nickname used by both HMNB Portsmouth and the city of Portsmouth; the ''Pompey'' nick ...
, AJ Auxerre, and
Bnei Sakhnin F.C. Bnei Sakhnin F.C. ( ar, اتحاد أبناء سخنين, he, איחוד בני סכנין, ''Ihud Bnei Sakhnin''; ''Ittihad Abna Sakhnin'', ) is an Israeli football club based at the Doha Stadium in Sakhnin. They are the most successful club ...
* Leslie Grade, executive *
Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...
, impresario, Chairman of
ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * AT ...
from 1962 * Vladimir Gusinsky, exile, former media tycoon * Boris Khait, businessman and vice-president of the Russian Jewish Congress *
German Khan German Borisovich Khan (russian: Герман Борисович Хан; born 24 October 1961) is a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch, billionaire, and businessman. After graduating from university in 1988 he worked in a wholesale business selling c ...
, businessman *
Mikhail Khodorkovsky Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (russian: link=no, Михаил Борисович Ходорковский, ; born 26 June 1963), sometimes known by his initials MBK, is an exiled Russian businessman and opposition activist, now residing in L ...
, businessman, politician (Jewish father) * Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Ukrainian businessman * Max Levchin (born Maksymilian Levchin), co-founder of PayPal *
Morris Markin Morris Markin (russian: Морис Маркин) (July 15, 1893 – July 8, 1970) was a Russian-born American businessman who founded the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company (which would later become the Checker Motors Corporation). Early years B ...
, founder of
Checker Cab Checker Taxi was a dominant taxicab company and national franchisor that was based in Chicago, Illinois. Checker Motors was an American vehicle manufacturer based in Kalamazoo, Michigan that built the iconic Checker Taxicab, sold commercially ...
*
Michael Marks Michael Marks ( yi, מיכאל מארקס Polish: ''Michał Marks''; 1859? – 31 December 1907) was a businessman and entrepreneur, who with Thomas Spencer co-founded the British retail chain Marks & Spencer. Biography Marks was born into a ...
, co-founder of
Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
*
Alexander Mashkevitch Alexander Antonovich Mashkevich ( he, אלכסנדר משקביץ; also transliterated Alexandr Mashkevic; russian: Александр Антонович Машкевич; born 23 February 1954) is an Israeli-Kazakh businessman and investor who ha ...
, businessman * Louis B. Mayer, co-founder of
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
(MGM) *
Leonid Mikhelson Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson (russian: Леони́д Ви́кторович Михельсо́н; born 11 August 1955) is a Russian billionaire businessman, CEO, chairman and major shareholder of the Russian gas company Novatek. After the collap ...
, businessman, CEO, chairman and major shareholder of the Russian gas company Novatek * Yuri Milner, entrepreneur, venture capitalist * Boris Mints, co-founder of Otkritie FC Bank *
Vadim Moshkovich Vadim Moshkovich (Russian: Вадим Николаевич Мошкович, born 1967 in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian billionaire businessman. His business interests include major investments in agriculture and real estate development. In 2014, ...
, businessman, founder of
Rusagro Rusagro (russian: Русагро) is one of Russia's largest agricultural companies, and a major producer of pork, fats and sugar. It was established in 1995 as a sugar producer. Maxim Basov is the company's Chief Executive Officer. History In 20 ...
* Leonid Nevzlin, businessman *
Mikhail Prokhorov Mikhail Dmitrievich Prokhorov ( rus, Михаил Дмитриевич Прохоров, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈproxərəf; born 3 May 1965) is a Russian-Israeli oligarch, politician, and former owner of the Brooklyn Nets. I ...
, businessman *
Ida Rosenthal Ida Rosenthal (née Kaganovich; January 9, 1886 – March 29, 1973) was a Belarusian-born American dressmaker and businesswoman who co-founded Maidenform. Biography She was born to a Jewish family in Rakaŭ, near Minsk, then part of the Russ ...
, founder of
Maidenform Maidenform Brands is a manufacturer of women's underwear, founded in 1922 by seamstress Ida Rosenthal; Enid Bissett, who owned the shop that employed her; and Ida's husband, William Rosenthal. They rebelled against the flat-chested designs of ...
Brassieres * Arkady Rotenberg, businessman,
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
's childhoods friend * Boris Rotenberg, businessman,
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
's childhood friend *
David Sarnoff David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was an American businessman and pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career, he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly afte ...
(born Schwirnofsky), former head of RCA * Viktor Vekselberg, businessman (Jewish father) *
Leo Wainstein Leo Wainstein (4 January 1883 – 13 March 1978) was a Ukrainian Jewish jurist and businessman who lived most part of his life in Finland. Wainstein was born in Yalta to a Jewish peasant family. He graduated as a jurist in Odessa University in ...
, textile industrialist * Harry,
Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert ...
,
Sam Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...
, and Jack Warner, founders of Warner Bros.


Scientists


Natural scientists

*
Anatole Abragam Anatole Abragam (15 December 1914 – 8 June 2011) was a French physicist who wrote ''The Principles of Nuclear Magnetism'' and made significant contributions to the field of nuclear magnetic resonance. Originally from Griva, Courland Govern ...
, physicist * Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, physicist,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
(2003) * Zhores Alferov, physicist, Nobel Prize (2000) *
Aleksander Akhiezer Aleksandr Ilyich Akhiezer ( ua, Олекса́ндр Іллі́ч Ахіє́зер, russian: Алекса́ндр Ильи́ч Ахие́зер; October 18, 1911 – May 4, 2000) was a Soviet and Ukrainian theoretical physicist, known for contri ...
, physicist * Semen Altshuler, physicist * Lev Artsimovich, physicist (Jewish mother) *
Gersh Budker Gersh Itskovich Budker (Герш Ицкович Будкер), also named Andrey Mikhailovich Budker (1 May 1918 – 4 July 1977), was a Soviet physicist, specialized in nuclear physics and accelerator physics. Biography He was elected a Correspo ...
, nuclear physicist *
Matvei Bronstein Matvei Petrovich Bronstein (russian: Матве́й Петро́вич Бронште́йн, , Vinnytsia – February 18, 1938) was a Soviet theoretical physicist, a pioneer of quantum gravity, author of works in astrophysics, semiconductors, qua ...
, theoretical physicist *
Ilya Frank Ilya Mikhailovich Frank (russian: Илья́ Миха́йлович Франк; 23 October 1908 – 22 June 1990) was a Soviet winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1958 jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Igor Y. Tamm, also of the ...
, physicist,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
(1958) * Yakov Frenkel, physicist * Vitaly Ginzburg, physicist,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
(2003) * Emanuel Goldberg (1881–1970), pioneered Microdots and microfilm retrieval technology *
Alexander Gorodnitsky Alexander Moiseevich Gorodnitsky ( rus, Алекса́ндр Моисе́евич Городни́цкий, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr məɪˈsʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ɡərɐˈdʲnʲitskʲɪj, a=Alyeksandr Moisyeyevich Gorodniczky.ru.vorb.oga; born March 20, 1933) ...
, geologist and oceanographer, Soviet and Russian bard and poet *
Vladimir Gribov Vladimir Naumovich Gribov (Russian Влади́мир Нау́мович Гри́бов; March 25, 1930, LeningradAugust 13, 1997, Budapest) was a prominent Russian theoretical physicist, who worked on high-energy physics, quantum field theory an ...
, physicist * Mikhail Gurevich, co-founder of the Mikoyan Gurevich (MiG) aircraft design bureauThe Jewish Quarterly
*
Waldemar Haffkine Waldemar Mordechai Wolff Haffkine ( uk, Володимир Мордехай-Вольф Хавкін; russian: Мордехай-Вольф Хавкин; 15 March 1860 Odessa – 26 October 1930 Lausanne) was a Ukrainian-French bacteriologist kno ...
, biologist, vaccine against cholera and plague * Boris Hessen, physicist *
Naum Idelson Naum Ilyich Idelson (''Наум Ильич Идельсон'' in Russian language, Russian) (March 1(13), 1885, Saint Petersburg - July 14, 1951, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad) was a Soviet Union, Soviet Theoretical astrophysics, theoretical astronom ...
, astronomer *
Abram Ioffe Abram Fedorovich Ioffe ( rus, Абра́м Фёдорович Ио́ффе, p=ɐˈbram ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ ɪˈofɛ; – 14 October 1960) was a prominent Russian/Soviet physicist. He received the Stalin Prize (1942), the Lenin Prize (1960) (po ...
, nuclear scientist * Vladimir Keilis-Borok, physicist *
Isaak Khalatnikov Isaak Markovych Khalatnykov ( uk, Ісаа́к Ма́ркович Хала́тников; 17 October 1919 – 9 January 2021) was a leading Soviet theoretical physicist who has made significant contributions to many areas of theoretical physics, ...
, physicist *
Yuli Khariton Yulii Borisovich Khariton (Russian: Юлий Борисович Харитон, 27 February 1904 – 19 December 1996), also known as YuB, , was a Russian physicist who was a leading scientist in the former Soviet Union's program of nuclear wea ...
, physicist *
Semyon Kosberg Semyon Ariyevich Kosberg (''Семён А́риевич Ко́сберг'' in Russian language, Russian) (October 1(14), 1903, Slutsk - January 3, 1965, Voronezh) was a Soviet Union, Soviet engineer, expert in the field of aircraft engine, aircra ...
, engineer * Lev Landau, physicist,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
(1962) * Grigory Landsberg, physicist * Semyon Lavochkin, engineer *
Veniamin Levich Veniamin Grigorievich (Benjamin) Levich (russian: Вениами́н Григо́рьевич Ле́вич; 30 March 1917 in Kharkiv, Ukraine – 19 January 1987 in Englewood, New Jersey, United States) was a Soviet dissident, internationally pro ...
, electrochemist * Evgeny Lifshitz, physicist *
Leonid Mandelstam Leonid Isaakovich Mandelstam or Mandelshtam ( be, Леанід Ісаакавіч Мандэльштам; rus, Леонид Исаакович Мандельштам, p=lʲɪɐˈnʲit ɨsɐˈakəvʲɪtɕ mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam, a=Ru-Leonid_Mande ...
, physicist * Alexander Migdal, physicist * Arkady Migdal, physicist *
Lev Pitaevskii Lev Petrovich Pitaevskii (russian: Лев Петро́вич Пита́евский ; 18 January 1933 – 23 August 2022) was a Russian theoretical physicist, who made contributions to the theory of quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, low-temper ...
, physicist * Boris Podolsky, physicist * Alexander Polyakov, physicist *
Isaak Pomeranchuk Isaak Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk (russian: Исаа́к Я́ковлевич Померанчу́к (Polish spelling: Isaak Jakowliewicz Pomieranczuk); 20 May 1913, Warsaw, Russian Empire – 14 December 1966, Moscow, USSR) was a Soviet Union, Sov ...
, physicist * Grigory Abramovich Shajn, astronomer * Mikhail Shifman, physicist * Iosif Shklovsky, astrophysicist, astronomer, biologist * Alexander Tropsha, chemist *
Vladimir Veksler Vladimir Iosifovich Veksler (russian: Владимир Иосифович Векслер; ; March 4, 1907 – September 22, 1966) was a prominent Soviet experimental physicist. Biography Veksler was born in Zhitomir on March 4, 1907 in the ...
, physicist * Alexander Vilenkin, cosmologist * Selman Waksman, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1952) *
Sorojon Yusufova Sorojon Mikhailovna Yusufova ( tg, Сороҷон Михайловна Юсуфова) (5 May 1910 – 15 May 1966) was a Tajik geologist and academic of the Soviet era. Biography Born in Bukhara, Emirate of Bukhara, Russian Empire the daughter ...
, geologist *
Yakov Zel'dovich Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich ( be, Я́каў Бары́савіч Зяльдо́віч, russian: Я́ков Бори́сович Зельдо́вич; 8 March 1914 – 2 December 1987), also known as YaB, was a leading Soviet physicist of Bel ...
, astrophysicist


Mathematicians

* Georgy Adelson-Velsky, mathematician * Naum Akhiezer, mathematician * Vladimir Arnold, mathematician * Grigory Barenblatt, mathematician *
Joseph Bernstein Joseph Bernstein (sometimes spelled I. N. Bernshtein; he, יוס(י)ף נאומוביץ ברנשטיין; russian: Иосиф Наумович Бернштейн; born 18 April 1945) is a Soviet-born Israeli mathematician working at Tel Aviv Univ ...
, mathematician *
Alexander Brudno Alexander L'vovich Brudno (russian: Александр Львович Брудно) (10 January 1918 – 1 December 2009)Chudnovsky brothers, amateur mathematicians * Vladimir Drinfeld, mathematician,
Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
(1990) * Eugene Dynkin, mathematician *
Paul Sophus Epstein Paul Sophus Epstein (; Warsaw, Vistula Land, Russian Empire, March 20, 1883 – Pasadena, California, United States, February 8, 1966) was a Russian-American mathematical physicist. He was known for his contributions to the development of q ...
, mathematician * Felix Gantmacher, mathematician * Israel Gelfand, mathematician * Alexander Gelfond, mathematician *
Semyon Aranovich Gershgorin Semyon Aronovich Gershgorin (August 24, 1901 – May 30, 1933) was a Soviet (born in Pruzhany, Belarus, Russian Empire) mathematician. He began as a student at the Petrograd Technological Institute in 1923, became a Professor in 1930, and was give ...
, mathematician *
Victor Kac Victor Gershevich (Grigorievich) Kac (russian: link=no, Виктор Гершевич (Григорьевич) Кац; born 19 December 1943) is a Soviet and American mathematician at MIT, known for his work in representation theory. He co-disco ...
, mathematician *
David Kazhdan David Kazhdan ( he, דוד קשדן), born Dmitry Aleksandrovich Kazhdan (russian: Дми́трий Александро́вич Кажда́н), is a Soviet and Israeli mathematician known for work in representation theory. Kazhdan is a 1990 Ma ...
, mathematician *
Aleksandr Khinchin Aleksandr Yakovlevich Khinchin (russian: Алекса́ндр Я́ковлевич Хи́нчин, french: Alexandre Khintchine; July 19, 1894 – November 18, 1959) was a Soviet mathematician and one of the most significant contributors to th ...
, mathematician * Mark Krasnoselsky, mathematician * Mark Krein, mathematician, * Alexander Kronrod, mathematician * Yevgeniy Landis, mathematician * Solomon Lefschetz, mathematician *
Vladimir Levenshtein Vladimir Iosifovich Levenshtein ( rus, Влади́мир Ио́сифович Левенште́йн, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr ɨˈosʲɪfəvʲɪtɕ lʲɪvʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, a=Ru-Vladimir Iosifovich Levenstein.oga; 20 May 1935 – 6 September 2017) was a ...
, mathematician * Leonid Levin, mathematician, computational complexity theory *
Jacob Levitzki Jacob Levitzki, also known as Yaakov Levitsky ( he, יעקב לויצקי) (17 August 1904 - 25 February 1956) was an Israeli mathematician. Biography Levitzki was born in 1904 in the Russian Empire and emigrated to then Ottoman-ruled Palestine ...
, Ukrainian-Israeli mathematician *
Grigory Margulis Grigory Aleksandrovich Margulis (russian: Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Маргу́лис, first name often given as Gregory, Grigori or Gregori; born February 24, 1946) is a Russian-American mathematician known for his work on ...
, mathematician,
Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
(1978) *
David Milman David Pinhusovich Milman (russian: Дави́д Пи́нхусович Ми́льман; 15 January 1912, Chechelnyk near Vinnytsia – 12 July 1982, Tel Aviv) was a Soviet and later Israeli mathematician specializing in functional analysis. He wa ...
, mathematician *
Hermann Minkowski Hermann Minkowski (; ; 22 June 1864 – 12 January 1909) was a German mathematician and professor at Königsberg, Zürich and Göttingen. He created and developed the geometry of numbers and used geometrical methods to solve problems in number t ...
, mathematician *
Mark Naimark Mark Aronovich Naimark (russian: Марк Ароно́вич Наймарк) (5 December 1909 – 30 December 1978) was a Soviet mathematician who made important contributions to functional analysis and mathematical physics. Life Naimark was b ...
, mathematician * Grigori Perelman, mathematician * Vladimir Rokhlin, mathematician *
Jakob Rosanes Jakob Rosanes (also Jacob; 16 August 1842 – 6 January 1922) was a German mathematician who worked on algebraic geometry and invariant theory. He was also a chess master. Rosanes studied at University of Berlin and the University of Breslau. H ...
, mathematician *
Lev Schnirelmann Lev Genrikhovich Schnirelmann (also Shnirelman, Shnirel'man; ; 2 January 1905 – 24 September 1938) was a Soviet mathematician who worked on number theory, topology and differential geometry. Work Schnirelmann sought to prove Goldbach's conjec ...
, mathematician *
Zvi Hermann Schapira Zvi Hermann Schapira ( he, צבי הרמן שפירא; 1840-1898), or Hermann Hirsch Schapira, was a Lithuanian rabbi, mathematician at the University of Heidelberg, and Zionism, Zionist. He was the first to suggest founding a Jewish National Fu ...
, mathematician * Moses Schönfinkel, logician *
Samuil Shatunovsky Samuil Osipovich Shatunovsky (russian: Самуил Осипович Шатуновский; 25 March 1859 – 27 March 1929) was a Russian mathematician. He was born in Velyka Znamianka, Ukraine in a poor Jewish family as the 9th child. He compl ...
, mathematician *
Yakov G. Sinai Yakov Grigorevich Sinai (russian: link=no, Я́ков Григо́рьевич Сина́й; born September 21, 1935) is a Russian-American mathematician known for his work on dynamical systems. He contributed to the modern metric theory of dy ...
, applied mathematician *
Alexander Tetelbaum Alexander Y. Tetelbaum (russian: Алеκсандр Яковлевич Тетельбаум, uk, Олеκсандр Якович Тетельбаум; born 1948 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR) is an educator, inventor, scientist, academician, and entrep ...
, applied mathematician *
Boris Tsirelson Boris Semyonovich Tsirelson (May 4, 1950 – January 21, 2020) ( he, בוריס סמיונוביץ' צירלסון, russian: Борис Семёнович Цирельсон) was a Russian–Israeli mathematician and Professor of Mathematics ...
, mathematician *
Pavel Urysohn Pavel Samuilovich Urysohn () (February 3, 1898 – August 17, 1924) was a Soviet mathematician who is best known for his contributions in dimension theory, and for developing Urysohn's metrization theorem and Urysohn's lemma, both of which are f ...
, mathematician *
Boris Weisfeiler Boris Weisfeiler (born 19 April 1941 – disappeared 4-5 January 1985) was a Soviet-born mathematician and professor at Penn State University who lived in the United States before disappearing in Chile in 1985. Declassified US documents sugges ...
, mathematician *
Victor Zalgaller Victor (Viktor) Abramovich Zalgaller ( he, ויקטור אבּרמוביץ' זלגלר; russian: Виктор Абрамович Залгаллер; 25 December 1920 – 2 October 2020) was a Russian-Israeli mathematician in the fields of ge ...
, mathematician * Oscar Zariski, mathematician * Efim Zelmanov, mathematician,
Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
(1994)


Social scientists and philosophers

* Urie Bronfenbrenner, developmental psychologist * Solomon Buber, Hebraist * Ariel Durant, historian *
Boris Eichenbaum Boris Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum ( rus, Борис Михайлович Эйхенбаум, p=ɨjxʲɪnˈbaʊm; 16 October 1886 – 2 November 1959) was a Russian Empire and Soviet literary scholar and historian of Russian literature. He is a repres ...
, historian *
Mikhail Epstein Mikhail Naumovich Epstein (also transliterated Epshtein; russian: Михаи́л Нау́мович Эпште́йн; born 21 April 1950) is a Russian-American literary scholar and essayist who is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Cultural Theo ...
, literary theorist *
Moshe Feldenkrais Moses ( el, Μωϋσῆς),from Latin and Greek Moishe ( yi, משה),from Yiddish Moshe ( he, מֹשֶׁה),from Modern Hebrew or Movses (Armenian: Մովսես) from Armenian is a male given name, after the biblical figure Moses. According to ...
, inventor of the Feldenkrais method * Alexander Gerschenkron, economic historian *
Jean Gottmann (Ivan) Jean Gottmann (10 October 1915, in Kharkov – 28 February 1994, in Oxford) was a French geographer who was best known for his seminal study on the urban region of the Northeast megalopolis. His main contributions to human geography were ...
, geographer * Lazar Gulkowitsch, Jewish Studies scholar *
Abraham Harkavy Abraham (Albert) Harkavy (, russian: Авраа́м Я́ковлевич Гарка́ви, translit=Avraám Yákovlevich Garkávi; 17 October 1835 – 15 March 1919) was a Russian historian and orientalist. Biography Harkavy was born in 1835 ...
, historian *
Zellig Harris Zellig Sabbettai Harris (; October 23, 1909 – May 22, 1992) was an influential American linguist, mathematical syntactician, and methodologist of science. Originally a Semiticist, he is best known for his work in structural linguistics and dis ...
, linguist * Roman Jakobson, Russian/American linguist *
Naum Krasner Naum Krasner (21 February 1924 – 5 March 1999) was a Russian mathematician and economist. A former colonel in the Soviet Army, he joined Voronezh State University as a student in 1957 and, on graduating in 1961, joined the faculty there. In ...
, economist *
Leonid Hurwicz Leonid Hurwicz (; August 21, 1917 – June 24, 2008) was a Polish-American economist and mathematician, known for his work in game theory and mechanism design. He originated the concept of incentive compatibility, and showed how desired outcomes ...
, economist, Nobel Prize (2007) *
Simon Kuznets Simon Smith Kuznets (; rus, Семён Абра́мович Кузне́ц, p=sʲɪˈmʲɵn ɐˈbraməvʲɪtɕ kʊzʲˈnʲɛts; April 30, 1901 – July 8, 1985) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1971 Nobel Memorial Pr ...
, economist, Nobel Prize (1971) * Juri Lotman, prominent semiotician and historian of culture * Seymour Lubetzky, cataloging theorist *
Jacob Marschak Jacob Marschak (23 July 1898 – 27 July 1977) was an American economist. Life Born in a Jewish family of Kyiv, Jacob Marschak (until 1933 Jakob) was the son of a jeweler. During his studies he joined the social democratic Menshevik Party, ...
, economist *
Alexander Luria Alexander Romanovich Luria (russian: Алекса́ндр Рома́нович Лу́рия, p=ˈlurʲɪjə; 16 July 1902 – 14 August 1977) was a Soviet neuropsychologist, often credited as a father of modern neuropsychology. He develope ...
, neuropsychologist *
Alexander Nove Alexander Nove, FRSE, FBA (born Aleksandr Yakovlevich Novakovsky; russian: Алекса́ндр Я́ковлевич Новако́вский; also published under Alec Nove; 24 November 1915 – 15 May 1994) was a Professor of Economics at the ...
, economist *
Jacob Rabinow Jacob Rabinow (January 8, 1910 – September 11, 1999) was an engineer and inventor. He earned a total of 229 U.S. patents on a variety of mechanical, optical and electrical devices. Biography Rabinow was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on January 8, 1 ...
, inventor *
Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
, philosopher * Anatol Rapoport, game theorist * Dietmar Rosenthal, linguist *
Leonid Roshal Leonid Mikhailovich Roshal (born April 27, 1933 in Livny) is a noted pediatrician from Moscow, Russia, expert for the World Health Organization, and chairman of International Charity Fund to Help Children in Disasters and Wars. Biography Roshal ...
, pediatrician, negotiator *
Isaak Russman Isaak Borisovich Russman (russian: Исаак Борисович Руссман; 7 March 1938 – 11 July 2005) was a Russian mathematician and economist. He studied and worked at Voronezh State University. Isaak Borisovich Russman was born ...
, historian * Max Seligsohn, Orientalist *
Lev Shestov Lev Isaakovich Shestov (russian: Лев Исаа́кович Шесто́в; 31 January .S. 13 February 1866 – 19 November 1938), born Yehuda Leib Shvartsman (russian: Иегуда Лейб Шварцман), was a Russian existentialist and ...
, philosopher *
Elye Spivak Eliyahu "Elye" Spivak (, ; 10 December 1890 – 4 April 1950) was a Soviet Jewish linguist, philologist, and pedagogue. Biography Spivak was born to a religious Jewish family in Vasilkov, Kiev Governorate in the Russian Empire. He survived the ...
, linguist


Medical scientists and physicians

* Isaac Andreyevich Chatzkin, physician * Yevsey Gindes, pediatrician *
Gavriil Ilizarov Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov (russian: Гавриил Абрамович Илизаров; 15 June 1921 – 24 July 1992) was a Soviet physician, known for inventing the Ilizarov apparatus for lengthening limb bones and for the method of surgery n ...
, orthopaedic surgeon *
Isaac Trachtenberg Isaac Mykhailovych Trachtenberg (11 November 1923 – 27 January 2023) was a Ukrainian hygienist, Professor, MD, a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (1992), academician of the Bogomolets National Medical Unive ...
, hygienist


Cultural figures


Fine artists

* Michael Matusevitch (1929–2007), painter * Eugene Abeshaus, painter *
Meer Akselrod Meer Moiseevich Akselrod, also Meyer Axelrod (1902–1970) (Russified form of the first name Mark) was a Belarusian Painting, painter best known for his watercolor paintings of Jewish life in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Life Akse ...
, painter *
Benish Mininberg Benish Mininberg (1902–1996) was an Israeli painter. Life Benish was one of seven siblings of Yehuda and Leba Mininberg. His parents were members of the First Aliyah, having migrated in 1900 to the small village of Neve Shalom, near the town ...
, painter *
Nathan Altman Nathan Isaiovych Altman (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: , transliterated: ''Natan Isaiovych Altman''; – December 12, 1970) was a Russian, Soviet and Ukrainian artist, Cubist Painting, painter, stage designer and book illustrator. Early life ...
, painter and stage designer from
Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; uk, Вінниця, ; yi, װיניצע) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast and the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. A ...
* Boris Anisfeld, painter, theatre *
Mark Antokolsky Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky (russian: Марк Матве́евич Антоко́льский; 2 November 18409 July 1902) was a Russian Imperial sculptor of Lithuanian Jewish descent. Biography Mordukh Matysovich Antokolsky''Boris Schatz: The ...
, sculptor *
Boris Aronson Boris Aronson (October 15, 1898 – November 16, 1980) was an American scenic designer for Broadway and Yiddish theatre. He won the Tony Award for Scenic Design six times in his career. Biography The son of a Rabbi, Aronson was born in Kiev, ...
, painter and designer *
Isaak Asknaziy Isaak L'vovich Asknaziy (russian: Исаак Львович Аскназий; 16 January 1856, in Drissa – 1902, in Moscow) was a Jewish Russian painter in the Academic style, known primarily for his historical and Biblical scenes. Biography ...
, painter *
Mordechai Avniel Mordechai Avniel (1900–1989), variant name Mordecai Avniel, was an Israeli painter, sculptor and lawyer. Biography Mordecai Dickstein (later Avniel) was born in 1900 in Parychy, in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Be ...
, painter *
Léon Bakst Léon Bakst (russian: Леон (Лев) Николаевич Бакст, Leon (Lev) Nikolaevich Bakst) – born as Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich (later Samoylovich) Rosenberg, Лейб-Хаим Израилевич (Самойлович) Розенбе ...
, painter and costume designer *
Abraham Berline Abraham Joseph Berline (5 October 1893 in Nishyn – 1942) was a Ukrainian artist who lived in Paris and died during World War II. Abraham Joseph Berline was born on October 6, 1893, in Nizhyn in the Russian Empire (today in Chernihiv Oblast ...
, painter *
Eugène Berman Eugène Berman (russian: Евгений Густавович Берман, links=no; 4 November 1899, Saint Petersburg, Russia – 14 December 1972, Rome) and his brother Leonid Berman (1896 – 1976) were Russian Neo-romantic painters and the ...
, painter *
Leonid Berman Eugène Berman (russian: Евгений Густавович Берман, links=no; 4 November 1899, Saint Petersburg, Russia – 14 December 1972, Rome) and his brother Leonid Berman (1896 – 1976) were Russian Neo-romantic painters and the ...
, painter * Mikhail Bernshtein, painter * Isaak Brodskiy, painter *
Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...
, painter from Vitebsk *
Bella Chagall Bella Rosenfeld Chagall (russian: link=no, Бэлла Розенфельд-Шагал, 15 November 1895, Vitebsk – 2 September 1944, New York State) was a Jewish Belarusian writer and the first wife of painter Marc Chagall. She was the subject o ...
, wife of
Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...
*
Joseph Chaikov Joseph Moisevich Chaikov ( rus, Иосиф Моисеевич Чайков, also spelled, among other spellings, Tshaykov, Tchaikov, and Tchaikovsky; 1888 – 1979) was a Russian Imperial and Soviet Russian sculptor, graphic designer and teacher of ...
, sculptor *
Ilya Chashnik Ilya Grigorevich Chashnik (1902, Lucyn, Russian Empire, currently Ludza, Latvia - 1929, Leningrad) was a suprematist artist, a pupil of Kazimir Malevich and a founding member of the UNOVIS school. Biography Chashnik was born to a Jewish family ...
, painter *
Nudie Cohn Nuta Kotlyarenko ( uk, Нута Котляренко; December 15, 1902 – May 9, 1984), known professionally as Nudie Cohn, was an American tailor who designed decorative rhinestone-covered suits, known popularly as "Nudie Suits", and other ela ...
, fashion designer *
Sonia Delaunay Sonia Delaunay (13 November 1885 – 5 December 1979) was a French artist, who spent most of her working life in Paris. She was born in Odessa (then part of Russian Empire), and formally trained in Russian Empire and Germany before moving to Fr ...
, painter * Robert Falk, painter * Naum Gabo, sculptor *
Moisei Ginzburg Moisei Yakovlevich Ginzburg ( be, Майсей Якаўлевіч Гінзбург, russian: Моисей Яковлевич Гинзбург; , Minsk – 7 January 1946, Moscow) was a Soviet constructivist architect, best known for his 1929 ...
, architect *
Michail Grobman Michail Grobman (russian: Михаил Гробман, he, מיכאיל גרובמן, born 1939) is an artist and a poet working in Israel and Russia. He is father to Hollywood producer Lati Grobman and Israeli architect Yasha Jacob Grobman. Bi ...
, painter *
Michel Kikoine Michel Kikoïne ( be, Міхаіл Кікоін; russian: Михаил Кико́ин, ''Michail Kikóin''; 31 May 1892 – 4 November 1968) was a Lithuanian Jewish-French painter. Life Kikoine was born in Rechytsa, present-day Belarus. The ...
, painter *
Boris Iofan Boris Mikhailovich Iofan ( rus, Борис Михайлович Иофан, p=ɪɐˈfan; April 28, 1891 – March 11, 1976) was a Soviet architect of Jewish origin, known for his Stalinist architecture buildings like 1931 House on the Embankment ...
, architect * Ilya Kabakov, conceptual artist (Jewish father) *
Komar and Melamid Komar and Melamid (pronunciation: ''Kómar and Melamíd'') is a tandem team of Russian-born American conceptualist artists Vitaly Komar (born 1943) and Alexander Melamid (born 1945). In an artists' statement they said that "even if only one of us ...
, art-duo *
Jacob Kramer Jacob Kramer (26 December 1892 – 4 February 1962)''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' was a Russian Empire-born painter who spent all of his working life in England. Early life Jacob Kramer was born in the small town of Klintsy, then ...
, painter *
Pinchus Kremegne Pinchus Krémègne, aka Pinchus Kremegne ( he, פנחס קרמין; russian: Пинхус Кремень; 28 July 1890 – 5 April 1981), was a Lithuanian Jewish-French artist, primarily known as a sculptor, painter and lithographer. He was ...
, painter * , painter *
Morris Lapidus Morris Lapidus (November 25, 1902 – January 18, 2001) was an architect, primarily known for his Neo-baroque "Miami Modern" hotels constructed in the 1950s and 60s, which have since come to define that era's resort-hotel style, synonymous w ...
, architect *
Felix Lembersky Felix Samoilovich Lembersky (russian: link=no, Феликс Самойлович Лемберский) (November 11, 1913 – December 2, 1970) was a Ukrainian/Soviet painter, artist, teacher, theater stage designer and an organizer of artis ...
painter * Isaac Levitan, painter *
El Lissitzky Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Ла́зарь Ма́ркович Лиси́цкий, ; – 30 December 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Эль Лиси́цкий; yi, על ליסיצקי), was a Russian artist ...
, designer * Louise Nevelson, sculptor * Ernst Neizvestny, sculptor * Solomon Nikritin, painter * Jules Olitski, painter *
Leonid Pasternak Leonid Osipovich Pasternak (born ''Yitzhok-Leib'', or ''Isaak Iosifovich, Pasternak''; russian: Леони́д О́сипович Пастерна́к, 3 April 1862 ( N.S.) – 31 May 1945) was a Russian post-impressionist painter. He was the ...
, painter * Antoine Pevsner, sculptor * Issachar Rybak, painter from
Yelizavetgrad Kropyvnytskyi ( uk, Кропивницький, Kropyvnytskyi ) is a city in central Ukraine on the Inhul river with a population of . It is an administrative center of the Kirovohrad Oblast. Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name ...
*
Semion Rotnitsky Semion Aronovich Rotnitsky (russian: Семён Аронович Ротницкий; December 28, 1915 — 2004) was a Soviet Russian painter, Honored Art worker of Tatar Republic, a member of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artists (before 1992 ...
, painter * David Shterenberg, painter from Zhitomir *
Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a Belarusian painter who made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by classic painting in the European tradition, exemplified by the ...
, painter from
Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
* Raphael Soyer, American painter *
Alexander Tetelbaum Alexander Y. Tetelbaum (russian: Алеκсандр Яковлевич Тетельбаум, uk, Олеκсандр Якович Тетельбаум; born 1948 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR) is an educator, inventor, scientist, academician, and entrep ...
, Russian-American painter *
Israel Tsvaygenbaum Israel Tsvaygenbaum (russian: link=no, Исраил Иосифович Цвайгенбаум; he, ישראל צווייגנבאום; born February 1, 1961), is a Russian-American artist of Jewish descent. A number of his works are in the Museu ...
, Russian-American painter * Joseph Tepper, painter *
Vladimir Weisberg Vladimir Grigoryevich Weisberg (, 7 June 1924 – 1 January 1985) was a Jewish Russian painter and art theorist. Weisberg argued that the problems of colourism the way they existed after Cézanne have been exhausted and that the color unsat ...
, painter * Josephinne Yaroshevich, painter *
Lazar Yazgur Lazar Semionovich Yazgur (russian: Ла́зарь Семё́нович Язгу́р; June 7, 1928, Leningrad, USSR – 2000, Israel) was a Soviet, Russian Jewish realist painter, who lived and worked in Leningrad, a member of the Saint Peter ...
, painter *
Valentin Yudashkin Valentin Abramovich Yudashkin (russian: Валентин Абрамович Юдашкин; born October 14, 1963) is a Russian fashion designer. Career Born in Moscow Oblast, Yudashkin came to prominence during the 1980s, dressing Raisa Gorbac ...
, fashion designer * Ossip Zadkine, sculptor (Jewish father) * Saveliy Moiseyevich Zeydenberg, painter


Musicians

*
Sophia Agranovich Sophia Agranovich (Russian: София Агранович; Ukrainian: Софія Агранович) is a Soviet-born American classical concert pianist, Centaur Records recording artist, music educator and artistic director. She holds Bachelor a ...
, pianist *
Leonid Agutin Leonid Nikolayevich Agutin (russian: link=no, Леонид Николаевич Агутин; born July 16, 1968) is a Russian pop musician and songwriter, Meritorious Artist of Russia (2008). He has been active since the 1990s. He has released te ...
, singer-songwriter *
Joseph Achron Joseph Yulyevich Achron, also seen as Akhron (Russian: Иосиф Юльевич Ахрон, Hebrew: יוסף אחרון) (May 1, 1886April 29, 1943) was a Russian-born Jewish composer and violinist, who settled in the United States. His preoccu ...
, composer * Modest Altschuler, cellist, conductor, and composer * Lera Auerbach, composer/pianist *
Vladimir Ashkenazi Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...
, pianist (Jewish father) *
Nina Brodskaya Nina Brodskaya (russian: Ни́на Алекса́ндровна Бро́дская; born 11 December 1947 or 1949, Moscow) is a Soviet singer (soprano), popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Biography After graduating from the Music College of the Mo ...
, singer * Yefim Bronfman, pianist *
Simon Barere Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
, pianist *
Rudolf Barshai Rudolf Borisovich Barshai (russian: Рудольф Борисович Баршай, link=no, September 28, 1924November 2, 2010) was a Soviet and Russian conductor and violist. Life Barshai was born on September 28, 1924, in Stanitsa Labinskay ...
, conductor *
Dimitri Bashkirow Dmitri Aleksandrovich Bashkirov (russian: Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Башки́ров; November 1, 1931 – March 7, 2021) was a Russian pianist and academic teacher. Trained in his hometown Tbilisi and Moscow, he began an in ...
, pianist * Yuri Bashmet, violist * Irving Berlin composer and lyricist *
Lazar Berman Lazar Naumovich Berman (russian: Ла́зарь Нау́мович Бе́рман, ''Lazarʹ Naumovič Berman''; February 26, 1930February 6, 2005) was a Soviet Russian classical pianist, Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1988). He was hailed for a h ...
, pianist *
Mark Bernes Mark Naumovich Bernes (russian: link=no, Ма́рк Нау́мович Берне́с) (,This date: – is a mistake found in the '' Great Soviet Encyclopaedia''. True date: – was engraved on the Bernes's gravestone at Novodevichy Cemeter ...
, singer and actor * Matvei Blanter, composer, author of Katyusha * Shura Cherkassky, pianist *
Vladimir Dashkevich Vladimir Sergeevich Dashkevich (russian: Владимир Серге́евич Дашкевич) (born 20 January 1934) is a Russian composer, known mainly for his film music. Originally, he studied chemical technology at Moscow State University o ...
, composer, wrote music for
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson ''Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson'' (russian: link=no, italics=yes, Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон) is a 1979 Soviet film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's novels about Sherlock Holmes. Directed by Igor Maslennikov, it is th ...
*
Bella Davidovich Bella Mikhaylovna Davidovich (Бэлла Миха́йловна Давидо́вич; born July 16, 1928) is a Soviet-born American pianist. Biography Davidovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, into a Jewish family of musicians and began studyi ...
, pianist *
Issay Dobrowen Issay Alexandrovich Dobrowen (russian: Исай Александрович Добровейн; in Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire9 December 1953, Oslo, Norway), born Itschok Zorachovitch Barabeitchik, was a Russian/Soviet-Norwegian pianist, com ...
, pianist and composer * Larisa Dolina, singer *
Isaak Dunayevsky Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky (russian: Исаак Осипович Дунаевский ; also transliterated as Dunaevski or Dunaevskiy; 25 July 1955) was a Soviet film composer and conductor of the 1930s and 1940s, who composed music for operett ...
, composer *
Mischa Elman Mischa (Mikhail Saulovich) Elman (russian: Михаил Саулович Эльман; January 20, 1891April 5, 1967) was a Russian-born American violinist famed for his passionate style, beautiful tone, and impeccable artistry and musicality. E ...
, violinist *
Mark Ermler Mark Fridrikhovich Ermler (russian: Марк Фридрихович Эрмлер; 5 May 193214 April 2002) was a Russian conductor. Biography Mark Ermler was born in Leningrad in 1932. His parents were Vera Bakun, a film set designer, and Fridrik ...
, conductor m I *
Anthony Fedorov Anatoliy Vladimirovich "Anthony" Fedorov (russian: link=no, Анатолий Владимирович Фёдоров; born May 4, 1985) is an American singer and actor who is former lead singer for the Chicago band 7th Heaven. He rose to fame as ...
, singer, ''
American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'' finalist * Samuil Feinberg, composer *
Mikhaïl Faerman Mikhail Faerman (born 29 April 1955 in Bălți, Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union) is a Russian-Belgian classical pianist. Career Faerman started to study the piano at the age of three. In 1962, he was sent to sit f ...
, pianist *
Vladimir Feltsman Vladimir Oskarovich Feltsman (russian: Владимир Оскарович Фельцман, ''Vladimir Oskarovič Feltsman'' (born 8 January 1952) is a Russian-American classical pianist of Lithuanian Jewish descent particularly noted for his devo ...
, pianist *
Veniamin Fleishman Veniamin Iosifovich Fleishman, (russian: Вениами́н Ио́сифович Фле́йшман, July 20, 1913 in Bezhetsk, Tver Governorate – September 14, 1941 in Krasnoye Selo, Leningrad Oblast) was a Soviet composer. ''Rothschild's Viol ...
, composer * Yakov Flier, pianist *
Yan Frenkel Yan Abramovich Frenkel (russian: link=no, Ян Абрамович Френкель) (November 21, 1920, Kyiv – August 25, 1989, Riga, USSR) was a popular Soviet Ukrainian composer and performer of Jewish descent. Biography Yan Frenkel was a ...
, composer *
Grigory Frid Grigory Samuilovich Frid also known as Grigori Fried (russian: Григо́рий Самуи́лович Фри́д, 22 September N.S. 1915 – 22 September 2012) was a Russian composer of music written in many different genres, including chamber ...
, songwriter *
Artur Friedheim Arthur Friedheim (russian: Артур Фридхайм, 14/26 October 1859  – 19 October 1932) was a Russian-born concert pianist and composer who was one of Franz Liszt's foremost pupils. One of Friedheim's students was Rildia Bee O'Bryan ...
, composer *
Kirill Gerstein Kirill Gerstein (russian: Кирилл Герштейн) (born 23 October 1979) is a Russian-American concert pianist. He is the sixth recipient of the Gilmore Artist Award. Born in the former Soviet Union, Gerstein is an American citizen based i ...
, pianist *
Josef Gingold Josef Gingold (; January 11, 1995) was a Russian-born American classical violinist and teacher who lived most of his life in the United States. At the time of his death he was considered one of the most influential violin masters in the United St ...
(1909–1995) violinist *
Grigory Ginsburg Grigory Romanovich Ginzburg (russian: Григо́рий Рома́нович Ги́нзбург; 29 May 1904 in Nizhny Novgorod – 5 December 1961 in Moscow) was a Soviet pianist. Biography Ginzburg first studied with his mother before being a ...
, pianist *
Emil Gilels Emil Grigoryevich Gilels (Russian: Эми́ль Григо́рьевич Ги́лельс; 19 October 1916 – 14 October 1985) was a Russian pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. Early life and educatio ...
, pianist * Grigory Ginzburg, conductor *
Mark Gorenstein Mark Borisovich Gorenstein (russian: Марк Борисович Горенштейн, born 16 September 1946) is a Russian conductor. He grew up in Odessa and studied at the conservatory in Kishinev. He later played violin in the Bolshoi Thea ...
, conductor *
Riva Gorohovskaya Riva may refer to: People * Riva (surname) * Riva Castleman (1930–2014), American art historian, art curator and author * Riva Ganguly Das (born 1961), Indian diplomat * Riva (footballer), Brazilian former footballer Rivadávio Alves Pereira ...
, pianist *
Emil Gorovets Rahmil "Emil" Yacovlevich Gorovets (in Russian Рахмиль Яковлевич Горовец; 10 June 1923, in Haisyn, Ukraine – 17 August 2001, in New York) was a famous Soviet Ukrainian singer of Jewish origin, Gorovets standing for Horovi ...
, singer * Maria Grinberg, pianist *
Natalia Gutman Natalia Grigoryevna Gutman (russian: Наталья Григорьевна Гутман) (born 14 November 1942 in Kazan), PAU, is a Russian cellist. She began to study cello at the Moscow Music School with R. Sapozhnikov. She was later admitted t ...
, cellist *
Tamara Gverdtsiteli Tamara Mikhailovna Gverdtsiteli ( ka, თამარ გვერდწითელი}, russian: Тамара Михайловна Гвердцители; born 18 January 1962) is a Georgian-Russian singer and actress. Early life and educati ...
, singer * Jascha Heifetz, violinist * Mordechai Hershman, chazzan *
Jascha Horenstein Jascha Horenstein (russian: Яша Горенштейн;  – 2 April 1973) was an American conductor. Biography Horenstein was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), into a well-to-do Jewish family; his mother (Marie Ettinger) came fr ...
, conductor * Vladimir Horowitz, pianist *
Aleksey Igudesman Aleksey Mikhailovich Igudesman (russian: Алексей Михайлович Игу́десман, link=no; born 22 February 1973) is a Russian-German violinist, composer, conductor, comedian and actor. He performs in the comedy-musical duo Igude ...
, violinist *
Oleg Kagan Oleg Moiseyevich Kagan (Russian: Оле́г Моисе́евич Кага́н; 22 November 1946 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russian SFSR – 15 July 1990, Munich, West Germany) was a Soviet violinist, known for his chamber collaborations with such musicia ...
, violinist * Ilya Kaler, violinist * Tina Karol, singer *
Boris Khaykin Boris Emmanuilovich Khaikin (russian: Борис Эммануилович Хайкин; be, Барыс Эмануілавіч Хайкін; – 10 May 1978) was a Soviet and Russian conductor who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 19 ...
, conductor * Evgeny Kissin, pianist * Alexander Knaifel, composer * Joseph Kobzon, singer *
Leonid Kogan Leonid Borisovich Kogan (russian: Леони́д Бори́сович Ко́ган; uk, Леонід Борисович Коган; 14 November 1924 – 17 December 1982) was a preeminent Soviet violinist during the 20th century. Many consider ...
, violinist *
Mikhail Kopelman Mikhail Kopelman is a Russian-American violinist. He was born in 1947 in Uzhhorod and studied at the Moscow Conservatory with professors Maya Glezarova and Yuri Yankelevich. In 1973, he was awarded 2nd prize in the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competit ...
, violinist * Yakov Kreizberg, conductor *
Maya Kristalinskaya Maya Vladimirovna Kristalinskaya (russian: Ма́йя Влади́мировна Кристали́нская, links=no; 24 February 1932, Moscow – 19 June 1985, Moscow) was a Soviet-Russian singer. In 1957 she performed at the 6th World Festiv ...
, singer * Igor Krutoy, composer, pianist *
Josef Lhévinne Josef Lhévinne (13 December 18742 December 1944) was a Russian pianist and piano teacher. Lhévinne wrote a short book in 1924 that is considered a classic: ''Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing''. Asked how to say his name, he told ''The Li ...
, pianist *
Alexander Lokshin Aleksandr Lazarevich Lokshin (russian: Алекса́ндр Ла́заревич Локши́н) (1920–1987) was a Soviet composer of classical music. He was born on 19 September 1920 in the town of Biysk, in the Altai Region, Western Siberia, ...
, composer (Jewish father) * Arthur Lourié, composer * Andrey Makarevich, singer-songwriter *
Oleg Maisenberg Oleg Maisenberg (born 29 April 1945) is a Soviet-Austrian pianist and teacher. Early life and career Born to a Jewish family in Odessa, Oleg Maisenberg received his first piano lessons from his mother at the age of five. He completed his studie ...
, pianist *
Samuel Maykapar Samuel Moiseyevich Maykapar () (18 December 18678 May 1938) was a Russian romantic composer, pianist, professor of music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and author of a number of piano practice pieces. Life Childhood Samuel Maykapar was bor ...
, composer/pianist *
Nathan Milstein Nathan Mironovich Milstein ( – December 21, 1992) was a Russian-born American virtuoso violinist. Widely considered one of the finest violinists of the 20th century, Milstein was known for his interpretations of Bach's solo violin works and ...
, violinist *
Lolita Milyavskaya Lolita Markovna Milyavskaya (russian: Лоли́та Ма́рковна Миля́вская, née Горелик (Gorelik); uk, Лоліта Марківна Мілявська; born 14 November 1963) is a Russian singer, actress, TV and film d ...
, singer (Jewish father) * Shlomo Mintz, violinist * Boris Moiseev, dancer, showmaker *
Benno Moiseiwitsch Benno Moiseiwitsch CBE (22 February 18909 April 1963) was a Russian-born British pianist. Biography Moiseiwitsch was born to Jewish parents in Odessa, Russian Empire (today part of Ukraine), and began his studies at age seven with Dmitry Klimo ...
, pianist *
Larisa Mondrus Larisa Izrailevna Mondrus ( lv, Larisa Mondrusa, russian: Лари́са Изра́илевна Мо́ндрус, german: Larissa Mondrus; born 15 November 1943) is a Soviet singer (soprano), who was popular in the USSR in the 1960s. In 1973 she em ...
, singer *
Alexander Mordukhovich Alexander Mordukhovich (born March 28, 1946), is a composer and musician from Russia. See also *Music of Russia Music of Russia denotes music produced from Russia and/or by Russians. Russia is a large and culturally diverse country, with ...
, composer *
Vadim Mulerman Vadim Iosifovich Mulerman (russian: Вади́м Ио́сифович Мулерма́н; 18 August 1938 – 2 May 2018) was a Soviet, Ukrainian and American singer (baritone). He was awarded the titles of Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1978) an ...
, singer * David Oistrakh, violinist *
Igor Oistrakh Igor Davidovich Oistrakh (russian: И́горь Дави́дович О́йстрах; uk, Ігор Давидович Ойстрах 27 April 1931 – 14 August 2021) was a Soviet and Russian violinist. He was described by ''Encyclopædia Brita ...
, violinist (Jewish father) *
Leo Ornstein Leo Ornstein (born ''Лев Орнштейн'', ''Lev Ornshteyn''; – February 24, 2002) was an American experimental composer and pianist of the early twentieth century. His performances of works by avant-garde composers and his own innovative ...
, composer *
Gregor Piatigorsky Gregor Piatigorsky (, ''Grigoriy Pavlovich Pyatigorskiy''; August 6, 1976) was a Russian Empire-born American cellist. Biography Early life Gregor Piatigorsky was born in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, Ukraine) into a Jewish family. As a child, ...
, cellist *
Pokrass brothers The Pokrass brothers were Soviet composing siblings: * Dmitry Pokrass (1899–1978) * (1905–1954) — the youngest brother, Soviet musician * Samuel Pokrass (1897–1939) — the elder brother; emigrated to the United States in 1920s Dmitry wa ...
, composers * Mikhael Rauchverger, pianist and composer *
Viktor Reznikov Viktor Mikhailovich Reznikov (russian: link=no, Ви́ктор Михайлович Ре́зников; 9 May 1952 in Leningrad – 25 February 1992 in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian Soviet composer, lyricist and singer. He was mostly known ...
, composer, singer * Alexander Rosenbaum, singer-songwriter * Anton Rubinstein, pianist/composer * Nikolai Rubinstein, pianist/composer * Samuil Samosud, conductor * Alfred Schnittke, composer (Jewish father) *
Eduard Schmieder Eduard Schmieder (born 2 May 1948 in Lviv, Soviet Union) is a violinist, teacher and conductor. He is a highly regarded violin pedagogue.". He currently holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Boyer College of Music and Dan ...
, conductor * Joseph Schillinger, composer, music theorist, and composition teacher *
Vladimir Shainsky Vladimir Yakovlevich Shainsky ( rus, Владимир Яковлевич Шаинский, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr ʂɐˈinskʲɪj; 12 December 1925 – 25 December 2017) was a Soviet and Russian composer. He was a recipient of the People's Artist ...
, composer *
Daniil Shafran Daniil Borisovich Shafran (russian: Даниил Борисович Шафран, January 13, 1923February 7, 1997) was a Soviet Russian cellist. Biography Early years Daniil Shafran was born in Petrograd (later Leningrad, then Saint Petersburg ...
, cellist * Mihail Shufutinskiy, singer, music producer *
Leo Sirota Leo Gregorovich Sirota (May 4, 1885 - February 25, 1965) was a Jewish pianist born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Podolskaya Guberniya, Russian Empire, now Ukraine. Biography Leo Sirota began studying piano at the age of five. By the age of nine he w ...
, pianist * Regina Spektor, singer-songwriter and pianist * Isaac Stern, violinist *
Yevgeny Sudbin Yevgeny Olegovich Sudbin (russian: Евгений Олегович Судьбин; born 19 April 1980) is a Russian-born British concert pianist. He studied at the musical school of the Leningrad Conservatory. After his family emigrated to Berlin ...
, pianist *
Mikhail Tanich Mikhail Isaievich Tanich (Tankhilevich) (russian: Михаил Исаевич Танич) (September 15, 1923 – April 17, 2008) was a popular Russian song lyrics writer, a laureate of the Interior Ministry Award (1997), a laureate of the jubilee ...
, songwriter *
Alexander Tsfasman Alexander Naumovich Tsfasman (russian: Александр Наумович Цфасман; born December 14, 1906 - died February 20, 1971) was a Soviet Jazz pianist, composer, conductor, arranger, publisher and activist. He was an important figu ...
, jazz pianist, composer, conductor, arranger *
Sophie Tucker Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertaine ...
, singer *
Lyubov Uspenskaya Lyubov Zalmanovna Uspenskaya (Russian: Любо́вь За́лмановна Успе́нская; born Sitsker (Си́цкер); 24 February 1954) is a Soviet, Russian and American performer of Russian popular music, much of which is the s ...
, singer *
Leonid Utyosov Leonid Osipovich Utyosov or Utiosov (russian: link=no, Леонид Осипович Утёсов, uk, link=no, Леонід Йосипович Утьосов); real name Lazar (Leyzer) Iosifovich Vaysbeyn or Weissbein ()) (, Odesa – 9 March ...
, singer and actor *
Anzhelika Varum Anzhelika Varum (russian: link=no, Анжели́ка Вару́м), real name Maria Yurievna Varum (russian: link=no, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Вару́м; born 26 May 1969), is a Russian singer and actress, and an Honored Artist of the Rus ...
, singer
Aida Vedishcheva Aida Semyonovna Vedishcheva (russian: Аида Семёновна Ведищева, born Ida Solomonovna Weiss, russian: Ида Соломоновна Вайс, 10 June 1941) is a Soviet and American singer. In the 1960s, she contributed songs ...
, singer *
Maxim Vengerov Maxim Alexandrovich Vengerov (russian: Максим Александрович Венгеров, , mɐkˈsʲim ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ vʲɪnˈɡʲerəf; he, מקסים ונגרוב; born 20 August 1974) is a Russian-born Israeli violinist, v ...
, violinist *
Alexander Veprik Alexander Moiseyevich Veprik, also Weprik, (russian: Александр Моисеевич Веприк; 23 June 1899 in Balta, Odessa Oblast, Balta, Podolia Governorate, Russian Empire, now Ukraine – 13 October 1958 in Moscow) was a Russian-(Uk ...
, composer *
Maria Yudina Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...
, pianist *
Yakov Zak Yakov Izrailevich Zak ( uk, Яків Ізраїлович Зак), (russian: link=no, Яков Израилевич Зак), ''Jiakov Israilevič Sak''; Odessa, – Moscow, 28 June 1976) was a Soviet and Russian pianist and pedagogue. People's ...
, pianist *
Inna Zhvanetskaya Composer Inna Abramovna Zhvanetskaya was born in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, on 20 January 1937 or 20 January 1939. She studied composition under Nikolay Peyko at the Gnessin School where she graduated in 1964.  She taught piano and in 1965 became a ...
, composer * Efrem Zimbalist, Russian-born American violinist


Performing artists

*
Jacob Adler Jacob Pavlovich Adler (Yiddish: יעקבֿ פּאַװלאָװיטש אַדלער; born Yankev P. Adler; February 12, 1855 – April 1, 1926)IMDB biography was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and ...
, actor *
Anatoly Adoskin Anatoly Mikhailovich Adoskin (russian: Анатолий Михайлович Адоскин; 23 November 1927 – 20 March 2019) was a Soviet and Russian actor of theater and cinema. People's Artist of the Russian Federation (1996). Biography A ...
, actor (Jewish father) *
Alexander Alov Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Alov (russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович А́лов) (September 26, 1923  – June 12, 1983) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter, he was granted the honorary title of People's Artis ...
, film director and screenwriter *
Lev Arnshtam Lev Oskarovich Arnshtam (russian: Лео Оскарович Арншта́м; 15 January 1905 – 26 December 1979) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed nine films between 1936 and 1967. Arnshtam was named People’s Artist o ...
, film director * Dmitry Astrakhan, film director and actor *
Abram Avdalimov Abram Borisovich Avdalimov (russian: Абрам Борисович Авдалимов; he, ;אברם אבדלימוב September 10, 1929 – January 27, 2004) was a Soviet, Russian folk singer, stage actor and theatre director. Honored Worker of C ...
, stage actor and theatre director *
Leonid Bronevoy Leonid Sergeyevich Bronevoy (russian: Леони́д Серге́евич Бронево́й; December 17, 1928 – December 9, 2017) was a Soviet and Russian actor. Though primarily a stage actor in the Lenkom Theatre, Bronevoy also made occasiona ...
, actor *
Elina Bystritskaya Elina Avraamovna Bystritskaya (4 April 1928 – 26 April 2019) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actress and theater pedagogue. She is regarded as one of the most prominent actresses in the Soviet and Russian film industry. Her career spann ...
, actress * Grigori Chukhrai, film director and screenwriter, father of
Pavel Chukhrai Pavel Grigoryevich Chukhray (russian: Па́вел Григо́рьевич Чухра́й; Bykovo, Moscow Oblast, October 14, 1946) is a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. He is the son of the prominent Russian film directo ...
*
Pavel Chukhrai Pavel Grigoryevich Chukhray (russian: Па́вел Григо́рьевич Чухра́й; Bykovo, Moscow Oblast, October 14, 1946) is a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. He is the son of the prominent Russian film directo ...
, film director and screenwriter, son of Grigori Chukhrai *
Maya Deren Maya Deren (born Eleonora Derenkowska, uk, Елеоно́ра Деренко́вська, links=no;
, filmmaker *
Lev Dodin Lev Abramovich Dodin (russian: Лев Абрамович Додин, born 1944) is a modern Russian theater director, the leader of Saint Petersburg Maly Drama Theater. Biography Lev Dodin was born in Novokuznetsk in 1944. He first experienced ...
, theater director *
Mark Donskoi Mark Semyonovich Donskoy (russian: Марк Семёнович Донско́й; – 21 March 1981) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and studio administrative head. Biography Mark Donskoy was born in Odessa in a Jewish family. Durin ...
, film director * Aleksandr Druz, longest-running contestant on the
What? Where? When? ''What? Where? When?'' (russian: Что? Где? Когда?, translit. ''Chto? Gde? Kogda?'') is an intellectual game show well known in Russian-language media and other CIS states since the mid-1970s. Today it is produced for televisio ...
game show. "Magister of the Game" *
Boris Efimov Boris Yefimovich Yefimov (russian: Бори́с Ефи́мович Ефи́мов; ,The birth record of Boris Fridlyand (Boris Yefimov) in the metric book of the Kiev rabbinate for 1900 (:c:File:Фонд 1164 Опись 1 Дело 454. Метри ...
, cartoonist *
Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenw ...
, film director (Jewish father) *
Fridrikh Ermler Fridrikh Markovich Ermler (russian: Эрмлер, Фридрих Маркович; born Vladimir Markovich Breslav; 13 May 1898 in Rēzekne – 12 July 1967 in Leningrad) was a Soviet film director, actor, and screenwriter. He was a four-tim ...
, film director, actor, and screenwriter *
Vladimir Etush Vladimir Abramovich Etush (russian: Влади́мир Абра́мович Э́туш; 6 May 1922 – 9 March 2019) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor of Jewish descent. People's Artist of the USSR (1984). Personal life Etush was ...
, actor *
Semyon Farada Semyon Lyvovich Ferdman PAR, better known by his stage name Semyon Farada (russian: Семён Львович Фердман, Семён Фарада, born December 31, 1933, Nikolskoye village of Moscow Oblast, USSR — died August 20, 2009 in ...
, actor *
Aleksandr Faintsimmer Aleksandr Mikhailovich Faintsimmer (Feinzimmer, russian: Александр Михайлович Файнциммер; 31 December 1906 – 21 March 1982) was a Soviet film director. He has been cited as a filmmaker on the forefront of Russia ...
, cinematographer * Maxim Galkin, comedian * Valentin Gaft, actor * Oleg Gazmanov, singer *
Zinovy Gerdt Zinovy Yefimovich Gerdt (russian: Зино́вий Ефи́мович Гердт, which is a pseudonym, his real name being Zalman Afroimovich Khrapinovich (За́лман Афро́имович Храпино́вич); 21 September 1916 in Sebez ...
, actor * Aleksei German, cinematographer *
Vitaliy Ginzburg Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, ForMemRS (russian: Вита́лий Ла́заревич Ги́нзбург, link=no; 4 October 1916 – 8 November 2009) was a Russian physicist who was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003, together wit ...
, director * Alexander Goldstein, director * Abraham Goldfaden (1840–1908), playwright and theatre director *
Yuli Gusman Yuli Solomonovich Gusman (russian: Юлий Соломонович Гусман) (born 8 August 1943, Baku) is a Soviet, Russian and Azerbaijani film director and actor. He is the founder and CEO of the prestigious Nika Award. Life and career Y ...
, director *
Alexander Gutman Alexander Ilyich Gutman (russian: Алекса́ндр Ильи́ч Гу́тман; 29 January 1945 – 17 February 2016), also spelt as Alexandre Goutman and Aleksandr Gutman, was a Russian film director of Jewish origin. During a 30-year ca ...
, director * Roman Izyaev, stage actor and theatre director *
Roman Abelevich Kachanov Roman Abelevich Kachanov (russian: link=no, Роман Абелевич Качанов; 25 February 19214 July 1993) was a Soviet animator who worked primarily in the stop-motion animation technique. He directed the popular series of films about ...
, animator * Aleksei Kapler, film artist *
Roman Karmen Roman Lazarevich Karmen (real name Efraim Leyzorovich Korenman) (russian: Роман Лазаревич Кармен; – 28 April 1978) was a Soviet film director, war cinematographer, documentary filmmaker, journalist, screenwriter, pedagogue and ...
, documentary filmmaker *
Roman Kartsev Roman Andreyevich Kartsev (russian: link=no, Рома́н Андре́евич Ка́рцев, born Roman Antshelevich Katz (russian: link=no, Рома́н А́ншелевич Кац); 20 May 1939 – 2 October 2018) was a Russian entertainer of ...
, comedian *
Boris Kaufman Boris Abelevich Kaufman, A.S.C. (russian: Бори́с А́белевич Ка́уфман; August 24, 1906 – June 24, 1980) was a Russian-born American cinematographer and the younger brother of Soviet filmmakers Dziga Vertov and Mikhail Ka ...
, cinematographer *
Mikhail Kaufman Mikhail Abelovich Kaufman (russian: Михаи́л А́белевич Ка́уфман; 1897 – March 11, 1980) was a Russian cinematographer and photographer. He was the younger brother of filmmaker Dziga Vertov (Denis Kaufman) and the older b ...
, cinematographer*
Yevgeny Khaldei Yevgeny Ananyevich Khaldei ( rus, Евгений Анатольевич Халдей, ukr, Євген Анатольєвич Халдей) ( – 6 October 1997) was a Soviet Red Army naval officer and photographer. He is best known f ...
, photographer *
Gennady Khazanov Gennady Viktorovich Khazanov (russian: Геннадий Викторович Хазанов; born 1 December 1945) is a Russian stand-up comedian and part-time actor. His work includes parodies of Russian and Soviet politicians, and mockery of ...
, comedian *
Iosif Kheifits Iosif Yefimovich Kheifits ( be, Іосіф Яўхімавіч Хейфіц; – 24 April 1995) was a Soviet film director, winner of two Stalin Prizes (1941, 1946), People's Artist of USSR (1964), Hero of Socialist Labor (1975). Member of t ...
, film director * Yefim Kopelyan, actor *
Mikhail Kozakov Mikhail Mikhailovich Kozakov (in Russian: Михаил Михайлович Козаков) (14 October 1934, Leningrad – 22 April 2011, Ramat Gan) was a Soviet, Russian and Israeli film and theatre director and actor. Biography Early life Mik ...
, actor *
Grigori Kozintsev Grigori Mikhailovich Kozintsev (russian: link=no, Григорий Михайлович Козинцев; 11 May 1973) was a Soviet theatre and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1964. In 1965 ...
, theater and film director *
Savely Kramarov Savely Viktorovich Kramarov (russian: Саве́лий Ви́кторович Кра́маров; 13 October 1934 – 6 June 1995) was a Soviet, Russian and American actor. He acted in at least 42 Soviet films, and later appeared in several mo ...
, actor * Mila Kunis, actress *
Yuri Levitan Yuri Borisovich Levitan (russian: Юрий Борисович Левитан, 2 October 1914 – 4 August 1983) was the primary Soviet radio announcer during and after World War II. He announced on Radio Moscow all major international events i ...
, radio announcer *
Anatole Litvak Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (russian: Анатолий Михайлович Литвак; 21 May 1902 – 15 December 1974), better known as Anatole Litvak, was a Ukrainian-born American filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in vari ...
, director *
Solomon Mikhoels Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels ( yi, שלמה מיכאעלס lso spelled שלוימע מיכאעלס during the Soviet era russian: Cоломон (Шлойме) Михоэлс, – 13 January 1948) was a Latvian born Soviet Jewish actor and the art ...
, actor and director * Lew Milinder, actor * Andrei Mironov, actor and singer, Jewish father * Alexander Mitta, film director *
Alla Nazimova Alla Nazimova (Russian: Алла Назимова; born Marem-Ides Leventon, Russian: Марем-Идес Левентон; June 3 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._May_22.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>O ...
, actress *
Vladimir Naumov Vladimir Naumovich Naumov (russian: Влади́мир Нау́мович Нау́мов; 6 December 1927 – 29 November 2021) was a Russian film director and writer. Naumov was named People’s Artist of the USSR in 1983. He was a schoolmate o ...
, director * Yuri Norstein, animator *
Klara Novikova Klara Borisovna Novikova (russian: Клаpа Бopисoвна Нoвикoва; born Herzer (russian: Ге́рцер), December 12, 1946, Kiev) is a Soviet and Russian pop artist, humorist. Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1992), People's Art ...
(born Herzer), comedian *
Maya Plisetskaya Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (russian: link=no, Майя Михайловна Плисецкая; 20 November 1925 – 2 May 2015) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she he ...
, ballerina *
Iosif Prut Iosif Leonidovich Prut russian: Прут, Иосиф Леонидович (6 November 1900 – 16 July 1996) was a Russian playwright and the first Soviet screenwriter. Prut was awarded the title of Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1983). Biography ...
, playwright * Yuli Raizman, film director and screenwriter *
Elena Ralph Elena Ralph ( he, ילנה ראלף, russian: Елена Ральф; born November 27, 1983) is an Israeli model, Miss Israel 2005, and the representative of Israel in the Miss Universe pageant the same year. Ralph was born in Donetsk, Soviet Uk ...
, model *
Faina Ranevskaya Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya (russian: Фаина Георгиевна Раневская, born Faina Girschevna Feldman, — 19 July 1984), is recognized as one of the greatest Soviet actresses in both tragedy and comedy. She was also famous for ...
, actress * Arkady Raikin, comedian *
Konstantin Raikin Konstantin Arkadyevich Raikin (russian: Константи́н Арка́дьевич Ра́йкин; July 8, 1950, Leningrad, USSR) is a Russian Federation, Russian actor and theatre director, the head of the Satyricon (theatre), Moscow Satyrico ...
, actor and theatre director * Mikhail Romm, film director, scriptwriter, and educator (Jewish father) * Abram Room, film director *
Grigori Roshal Grigori Lvovich Roshal (russian: Григорий Львович Рошаль; October 21, 1899 – January 11, 1983) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 26 films between 1926 and 1968. Biography Grigori Roshal was born on ...
, film director and screenwriter *
Hanna Rovina Hanna Rovina ( he, חנה רובינא‎; 15 September 1888 – 3 February 1980), also Robina, was an Israeli actress. She is often referred to as the "First Lady of Hebrew Theatre". Biography Hana Rovina was born in Byerazino, in the Igum ...
, actress *
Ida Rubinstein Ida Lvovna Rubinstein (russian: И́да Льво́вна Рубинште́йн; – 20 September 1960) was a Russian dancer, actress, art patron and Belle Époque figure. She performed with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes from 1909 to 1911 and ...
, dancer * Lev Shekhtman, theater director and actor * Alexander Schirwindt, actor, director and screenwriter *
Mikhail Schweitzer Mikhail (Moisei) Abramovich Schweitzer (russian: Михаил (Моисей) Абрамович Швейцер, 16 February 1920, Perm – 2 June 2000, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. People's Artist of the USSR (1 ...
, screenwriter * Yefim Shifrin, comedian *
Viktor Shenderovich Viktor Anatolyevich Shenderovich (russian: Ви́ктор Анато́льевич Шендеро́вич; born August 15, 1958) is a Russian satirist, writer, scriptwriter and radio host. Biography Shenderovich was born in Moscow into a family of ...
, humorist *
Esfir Shub Esfir Ilyinichna Shub (Russian: Эсфи́рь Ильи́нична Шуб; 16 March 1894, Surazh, Russian Empire – 21 September 1959, Moscow, Soviet Union), also referred to as Esther Il'inichna Shub, was a pioneering Soviet filmmaker and edit ...
, editor, director, and writer of documentary films *
Yakov Smirnoff Yakov Naumovich Pokhis (russian: Яков Наумович Похис; born 24 January 1951), better known as Yakov Smirnoff (russian: Яков Смирнов; ), is a Ukrainian-American comedian, actor and writer. He began his career as a stand ...
, American comedian * Lee Strasberg, acting teacher * Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-born American animation director * Leonid Trauberg, film director, scriptwriter, and educator *
Ivan Urgant Ivan Andreyevich Urgant (russian: Ива́н Андре́евич У́ргант; born 16 April 1978) is a Russian television host, presenter, actor, musician and producer. His best known roles in film are Boris in the ''Yolki'' series and as Dani ...
, actor, comedian, host of the
Evening Urgant ''Evening Urgant'' (russian: Вечерний Ургант, Vecherniy Urgant) is a Russian late-night talk show hosted by Ivan Urgant on Channel One, a show based on similarly styled American late-night shows. The first episode aired on 16 Apri ...
television show *
Dziga Vertov Dziga Vertov (russian: Дзига Вертов, born David Abelevich Kaufman, russian: Дави́д А́белевич Ка́уфман, and also known as Denis Kaufman; – 12 February 1954) was a Soviet Union, Soviet pioneer documentary f ...
, documentary film director and film theoretician *
Vladimir Vinokur Vladimir Natanovich Vinokur (born 31 March 1948 in Kursk) is a Soviet and Russian entertainer, humorist, singer and actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1989). Early life Vladimir Vinokur was born on 31 March 1948 in Kursk to Natan Vinokur (1919 ...
, comedian (Jewish father) * Leonid Yakubovich, actor, host of the Pole Chudes television show * Leonid Yarmolnik, actor *
Anton Yelchin Anton Viktorovich Yelchin ( rus, Антон Викторович Ельчин, p=ɐnˈton ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtɕɪn; March 11, 1989 – June 19, 2016) was an American actor. Born in the Soviet Union to a Russian Jewish family, he emigr ...
, Russian-born American film/television actor * Sergei Yursky, actor *
Sergei Yutkevich Sergei Iosifovich Yutkevich (russian: Серге́й Ио́сифович Ютке́вич, 28 December 1904 – 23 April 1985) was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. He was a People's Artist of the USSR (1962) and a Hero of ...
, film director and screenwriter


Writers and poets

* Grigory Adamov, writer *
M. Ageyev M. Ageyev (russian: М. Агеев) was the pen name of the writer of the Russian '' Novel with Cocaine''. He is believed to be Mark Lazarevich Levi (russian: Марк Ла́заревич Ле́ви; August 8, 1898August 5, 1973). Biography His ...
, novelist *
David Aizman David Yakovlevich Aizman (russian: Дави́д Я́ковлевич А́йзман; 26 March 1869 – 26 September 1922) was a Russian-Jewish novelist and playwright. Biography David Aizman was born in Nikolayev, a coastal city in what is n ...
, writer and playwright *
Vasily Aksyonov Vasily Pavlovich Aksyonov ( rus, Васи́лий Па́влович Аксёнов, p=vɐˈsʲilʲɪj ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ ɐˈksʲɵnəf; August 20, 1932 – July 6, 2009) was a Soviet and Russian novelist. He became known in the West as the autho ...
, writer (Jewish mother) * Sholom Aleichem, Yiddish-language writer * Semyon Altov (born Altshuller), writer, comedian *
Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
, science fiction writer *
Daniil Atnilov Daniil Atnilov (russian: Даниил Атнилович Атнилов, translit=; he, דניאל אטנילוב; born 1913 – 1968) was a Soviet poet of Mountain Jew origin. He wrote in a language of the Mountain Jew (Juhuri). He was a USSR ...
, poet *
Hizgil Avshalumov Hizgil Davidovich Avshalumov (russian: Авшалумов, Хизгил Давидович; 16 January 1913 – 17 September 2001) was a soviet novelist, poet and playwright. He wrote in languages of the Mountain Jews (Judeo-Tat, Juhuri) and R ...
, novelist, poet and playwright * Isaac Babel, writer * Eduard Bagritsky, poet * Grigory Baklanov, novelist *
Mishi Bakhshiev Mishi Bakhshiev (russian: Бахшиев Миши Юсупович, translit=; he, מישה בקשייב; born October 10, 1910 – 1972) was a Soviet writer and poet of Mountain Jew origin. He wrote in languages of the Mountain Jews (Juhuri) a ...
, writer and poet * Agniya Barto, writer *
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda ( he, אֱלִיעֶזֶר בֵּן־יְהוּדָה}; ; born Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman, 7 January 1858 – 16 December 1922) was a Russian–⁠Jewish linguist, grammarian, and journalist, renowned as the lexicographer of ...
, Hebrew-language writer *
Isaac Dov Berkowitz Isaac Dov Berkowitz ( he, יצחק דב ברקוביץ; 16 October 1885 – 29 March 1967), was a Hebrew and Yiddish author and translator. Biography Isaac Dov Berkowitz was born in Slutsk, Russian Empire. He immigrated to the United State ...
, writer *
Hayyim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik ( he, חיים נחמן ביאַליק; January 9, 1873 – July 4, 1934), was a Jewish poet who wrote primarily in Hebrew but also in Yiddish. Bialik was one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poetry. He was part of the vangu ...
, poet *
Rachel Bluwstein Rachel Bluwstein Sela (20 September (Julian calendar) 1890 – 16 April 1931) was a Hebrew-language poet who immigrated to Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire, in 1909. She is known by her first name, Rachel ( he, רחל ), or as Ra ...
, poet * Yosef Haim Brenner, Hebrew-language writer *
Osip Brik Osip Maksimovich Brik (russian: link=no, Óсип Макси́мович Брик) (16 January 1888 – 22 February 1945), was a Russian avant garde writer and literary critic, who was one of the most important members of the Russian formali ...
, author *
Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...
, Russian-language poet,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
(1987) *
Sasha Cherny Alexander Mikhailovich Glikberg ( rus, Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Гли́кберг, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲikbʲɪrk, a=Alyexandr Mikhaylovich Glickbyerg.ru.vorb.oga), better known as Sasha Chorny ( rus, ...
, poet * Korney Chukovsky, writer (Jewish father) *
Manuvakh Dadashev Manuvakh Dadashev (russian: Манувах Мардахаевич Дадашев, translit=; he, מנוחוב דדשב; 1913–1943) was a Soviet poet of Mountain Jews, Mountain Jew origin. He wrote in a language of the Mountain Jew (Judeo-Tat, J ...
, poet * Yuli Daniel, writer *
Michael Dorfman Michael Dorfman ( uk, Мiхаель Дорфман, russian: link=no, Михаэль Дорфман he, מיכאל דורפמן) (born 17 September 1954) is a writer, essayist, journalist, human rights activist and activist of the Yiddish cultu ...
, journalist and essayist *
Sergei Dovlatov Sergei Donatovich Dovlatov (russian: link=no, Сергей Донатович Довлатов; 1941 1990) was a Soviet journalist and writer. Internationally, he is one of the most popular Russian writers of the late 20th century. Biography ...
, journalist and writer (Jewish father) * David Edelstadt, Yiddish-language anarchist poet *
Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...
, writer *
Natan Eidelman Natan Yakovlevich Eidelman (russian: Ната́н Я́ковлевич Эйдельма́н) (1930 in Moscow – 1989 in Moscow) was a Soviet Russian author and historian. He wrote several books on about the life and work of Alexander Pushkin, Dec ...
, writer * Alter Esselin, poet, carpenter * Alexander Galich, playwright poet * Vladimir Galperin, journalist and writer, literature professor * Boris Gavrilov, poet *
Mikhail Gavrilov Mikhail Gavrilov (9 April 1893 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire - 4 April 1954), professor, religious writer, historian, teacher, Russian Catholic apostolate in exile, member of the a parishioner of the Greek Catholic Church of the Annunciation i ...
, writer and poet *
Aleksandr Gelman Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, playwright *
Asher Hirsch Ginsberg Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am ( he, אחד העם, lit. 'one of the people', Genesis 26:10), was a Hebrew essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zi ...
(Ahad Ha'Am), Hebrew-language writer * Lydia Ginzburg, writer * Yevgenia Ginzburg, writer *
Jacob Gordin Jacob Michailovitch Gordin (Yiddish: יעקב מיכאַילאָװיטש גאָרדין; May 1, 1853 – June 11, 1909) was a Russian-born American playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater. He is known for introducing realism and ...
, American playwright *
Leon Gordon Judah Leib (Ben Asher) Gordon, also known as Leon Gordon, (December 7, 1830, Vilnius, Lithuania – September 16, 1892, St. Petersburg, Russia) (Hebrew: יהודה לייב גורדון) was among the most important Hebrew poets of the Jewish E ...
, writer *
Grigori Gorin Grigori Gorin (russian: Григо́рий Го́рин), real name Grigori Israilevich Ofshtein (russian: Григо́рий Изра́илевич Офштейн; March 12, 1940, Moscow — June 15, 2000, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian playw ...
, playwright and writer * Vasily Grossman, writer * Igor Guberman, writer *
Peretz Hirshbein Peretz Hirshbein ( yi, פרץ הירשביין;7 November 1880, Melnik, Kleszczele, Grodno Governorate – 16 August 1948, Los Angeles) was a Yiddish-language playwright, novelist, journalist, travel writer, and theater director. Because ...
, playwright *
Ilya Ilf Ilya Arnoldovich Ilf (born Iehiel-Leyb Aryevich Faynzilberg, russian: Иехи́ел-Лейб Арьевич Фа́йнзильберг) ( in Odessa – 13 April 1937, Moscow), was a popular Soviet journalist and writer of Jewish origin who usu ...
, writer *
Vera Inber Vera Mikhailovna Inber (russian: link=no, Вера Михайловна Инбер), born Shpenzer (10 July 1890, Odessa11 November 1972, Moscow), was a Russian and Soviet poet and writer. Biography Her father Moshe owned a scientific publishing ...
, poet *
Sergey Izgiyayev Sergey Davidovich Izgiyayev (russian: Сергей Давидович Изгияев; he, סרגיי איזגיאייב; born 24 November 1922 – 27 July 1972) was a member of the Union of Soviet Writers, the author of nine books of poetry and f ...
, poet *
Lev Kassil Lev Abramovich Kassil (russian: Лев Абрамович Кассиль; 10 July 1905 – 21 June 1970) was a Soviet and Russian writer of juvenile and young adult literature and screenwriter, depicting Soviet life, teenagers and their world, sc ...
, writer *
Veniamin Kaverin Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin (russian: link=no, Вениами́н Алекса́ндрович Каве́рин; Вениами́н А́белевич Зи́льбер (Veniamin Abelevich Zilber); , Pskov – May 2, 1989, Moscow) was a Sovi ...
, writer (Jewish father) *
Arkady Khait Arkady Iosifovich Khait (russian: Аркадий Иосифович Хайт) (25 December 1938 – 22 February 2000) was a Russian Jewish satire, comedy, song and script writer, and a comedian in his late years.Жил-был веселый ...
, satirist and playwright () *
A.M. Klein Abraham Moses Klein (14 February 1909 – 20 August 1972) was a Canadian poet, journalist, novelist, short story writer and lawyer. He has been called "one of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture." Best known ...
, poet *
Pavel Kogan Pavel Kogan is the name of: *Pavel Kogan (poet) (1918–1942), Soviet poet *Pavel Kogan (conductor) Pavel Leonidovich Kogan (Russian: Павел Леонидович Коган; born 6 June 1952 in Moscow) is a Russian violinist and conductor wh ...
, poet * Lev Kopelev, author and dissident * Arkady Kotz, poet *
Lazar Lagin Lazar Iosifovich Lagin (russian: Ла́зарь Ио́сифович Лагин), real name Lazar Ginzburg (4 December 1903, Vitebsk – 4 June 1979, Moscow), was a Soviet and Russian author of children's and science fiction books. Lagin is be ...
, writer * Vladimir Lantsberg, writer *
H. Leivick H. Leivick (Yiddish: ה. לײװיק; pen name of Leivick Halpern, December 25, 1888 – December 23, 1962) was a Yiddish language writer, known for his 1921 "dramatic poem in eight scenes" '' The Golem''. He also wrote many highly political, r ...
, dramatist *
Clarice Lispector Clarice Lispector (born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector ( uk, Хая Пінкасівна Ліспектор); December 10, 1920December 9, 1977) was a Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer. Her innovative, idiosyncratic works exp ...
, writer that settled in Brazil fleeing from
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
Civil's War *
Benedikt Livshits Benedikt Konstantinovich Livshits (russian: Бенеди́кт Константи́нович Ли́вшиц, 24 December 1886 (Old Style)/6 January 1887 (New Style) – 21 September 1938) was a poet and writer of the Silver Age of Russian Po ...
, writer * Nadezhda Mandelstam, writer * Osip Mandelstam, poet *
Samuil Marshak Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (alternative spelling: Marchak) (russian: link=no, Самуил Яковлевич Маршак; 4 July 1964) was a Russian and Soviet writer of Jewish origin, translator and poet who wrote for both children and adults. ...
, poet * Yunna Morits, poet * Semen Nadson, poet (Jewish father) *
Seva Novgorodsev Seva Novgorodsev MBE (Russian: Се́ва Новгоро́дцев, which is a pseudonym, his real name being Vsevolod Borisovich Levenstein (Всеволод Борисович Левенштейн); born 9 July 1940) is a former radio present ...
, musician and journalist (Jewish father) *
Grigoriy Oster Grigoriy Bentsionovich Oster (born 1947) is a Russian author and screenwriter. He has written scripts for over 70 animated films, and "is considered one of the most important living Russian authors of children’s books." Biography Oster was b ...
, author and scriptwriter *
Yeremey Parnov Yeremey Iudovich Parnov (russian: link=no, Еремей Иудович Парнов; 20 October 1935 – 18 March 2009 ) was a USSR, Soviet and Jewish Russian writer and publicist. Parnov attended the Moscow Peat University and worked as a chemic ...
, writer *
Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...
, writer,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
(1958) * Yakov Perelman, writer * Elizaveta Polonskaya, translator, poet * Vladimir Posner, writer *
David Pinski David Pinski (Yiddish: דוד פּינסקי; April 5, 1872 – August 11, 1959) was a Yiddish language writer, probably best known as a playwright. At a time when Eastern Europe was only beginning to experience the industrial revolution, Pinsk ...
, writer *
Lev Razgon Lev Emmanuilovich Razgon (russian: Лев Эммануи́лович Разго́н; 1 April 1908 – 8 September 1999) was a Soviet journalist, a prisoner of the Gulag from 1938 to 1942 and again from 1950 to 1955, a Russian writer and, latterly ...
, writer,
gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
inmate for 17 years *
Yevgeny Rein Yevgeni, Yevgeny, Yevgenii or Yevgeniy (russian: Евгений), also transliterated as Evgeni, Evgeny, Evgenii or Evgeniy, is the Russian form of the masculine given name Eugene. People with the name include: :''Note: Occasionally, a person may b ...
, poet *
Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
, writer (born Alisa Rosenbaum) *
Ilya Reznik Ilya Rahmielevich Reznik (russian: Илья Pахмильeвич Peзник; born April 4, 1938) is a Russian poet and songwriter, People's Artist of Russia (2003). Honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts. People's Artist of Ukraine (2013 ...
, poet and songwriter *
Anatoli Rybakov Anatoly Naumovich Rybakov (russian: Анато́лий Нау́мович Рыбако́в; – 23 December 1998) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Ukrainian literature, Ukrainian writer, the author of the anti-Stalinism, Stalinist ''Children o ...
, writer *
David Samoylov David Samoylov (russian: Давид Самойлов), pseudonym of David Samuilovich Kaufman (russian: Давид Самуилович Кауфман; 1 June 1920 — 23 February 1990) was one of the most notable representatives of the War gener ...
, poet * Genrikh Sapgir, poet *
Natalya Sats Natalya Il'inichna Sats (sometimes spelled Natalia Satz; russian: Наталия Ильинична Сац; 27 August Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._14_August.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki> O.S._14_Augus ...
, playwright (Jewish father) *
Zoya Semenduyeva Zoya Yunoevna Semenduyeva (russian: Зоя Юноевна Семендуева, translit=; he, זויה סמנדואב; born 20 October 1929 – 9 April 2020) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Israeli poet. She wrote in a language of the Mountain J ...
, poet * Mendele Mocher Sforim, founder of modern
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
and
modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the He ...
literature * Viktor Shklovsky, writer and critic (Jewish father) * Ilia Shtemler, writer * Gary Shteyngart (Steinhart), writer * Yulian Semyonov, writer * Elena Shirman, poet *
Boris Slutsky Boris Slutsky (russian: Бори́с Абра́мович Слу́цкий; 7 May 1919 in Slovyansk, Ukraine – 23 February 1986 in Tula, Russia, Tula) was a Soviet Union, Soviet poet. Biography Slutsky was born in Sloviansk in 1919. He grew ...
, war-time poet *
Mikhail Slonimsky Mikhail Leonidovich Slonimsky (russian: Михаи́л Леони́дович Слони́мский; – 8 October 1972) was a Soviet writer, member of the Serapion Brothers group. Mikhail was born in Saint Petersburg to the family of Intellig ...
, writer (Jewish father) *
Boris and Arkady Strugatsky The brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky (russian: Аркадий Натанович Стругацкий; 28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky ( ru , Борис Натанович Стругацкий; 14 A ...
, science fiction writers (Jewish father) * Mikhail Svetlov, poet *
Shaul Tchernichovsky Shaul Tchernichovsky ( he, שאול טשרניחובסקי) or Saul Gutmanovich Tchernichovsky (russian: link=no, Саул Гутманович Черниховский; 20 August 1875 – 14 October 1943) was a Russian-born Hebrew poet. He is c ...
, poet and translator *
Yuri Tynyanov Yury Nikolaevich Tynyanov ( rus, Ю́рий Никола́евич Тыня́нов, p=ˈjʉrʲɪj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ tɨˈnʲænəf; October 18, 1894 – December 20, 1943) was a Soviet Union, Soviet writer, literary criticism, literary cr ...
, writer *
Vladimir Voinovich Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Войно́вич, 26 September 1932 – 27 July 2018), was a Russian writer and former Soviet dissident, and the "first genuine comic writer" produced by the S ...
, writer *
Vladimir Vysotsky Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky ( rus, links=no, Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ vɨˈsotskʲɪj; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980), was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor ...
, poet, singer, actor (Jewish father) * Semen Yushkevich, writer and playwright *
Boris Zakhoder Boris Vladimirovich Zakhoder (russian: Бори́с Влади́мирович Заходе́р; 9 September 1918, Kagul, Bessarabia — 7 November 2000, Moscow, Russia) was a Russian poet, translator and children's writer. He is best known for ...
, children's poet and writer *
Mikhail Zhvanetsky ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) , death_date = , death_place = Moscow, Russia , genre = Satire , subject = , influences = , influen ...
, writer and comedian *
Zinovy Zinik use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...
, writer *
Valentin Zorin Valentin Sergeyevich Zorin (; February 9 1925, Moscow – April 27 2016, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian political commentator, journalist, author, screenwriter and television presenter. Career Zorin was host of several Soviet television program ...
, Soviet and Russian political commentator, journalist, author, screenwriter and television presenter.


Religious figures

* Israel Isaac Kahanovitch, Orthodox Jewish rabbi *
Raïssa Maritain Raïssa Maritain (née Oumansoff) (12 September 1883 in Rostov-on-Don – 4 November 1960 in Paris) was a Russian poet and philosopher. She immigrated to France and studied at the Sorbonne, where she met the young Jacques Maritain, also a ph ...
, Catholic writer and philosopher *
Alexander Men Alexander Vladimirovich Men (russian: Александр Владимирович Мень; 22 January 1935 – 9 September 1990) was a Soviet Russian Orthodox priest, dissident, theologian, biblical scholar and writer on theology, Christian hi ...
, Russian Orthodox priest, theologian, Biblical scholar and writer. *
Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky (pronounced skĕr-ĕs-kūs'kĭ ; 6 May 1831 – 15 October 1906), also known as Joseph Schereschewsky, was the Anglican Bishop of Shanghai, China, from 1877 to 1884. He founded St. John's University, Shanghai, ...
, Anglican Bishop of Shanghai, China, from 1877 to 1884


Sport figures


Chess

* Lev Alburt *
Yuri Averbakh Yuri Lvovich Averbakh (russian: Ю́рий Льво́вич Аверба́х; 8 February 1922 – 7 May 2022) was a Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was chairman of the USSR Chess Federation from 1973 to 1978. He was the first centenaria ...
* Alexander Beliavsky * Ossip Bernstein *
Benjamin Blumenfeld Benjamin Blumenfeld (24 May 1884, Vilkaviškis – 5 March 1947, Moscow) was a Russian chess master. He was born in Vilkaviškis, in the Suwałki Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania). In 1905/06 he tied for second/third wit ...
* Isaac Boleslavsky *
Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess. Botvinnik ...
, World Champion * David Bronstein, World Championship challenger * Mikhail Tal * Maxim Dlugy *
Iossif Dorfman Josif (Josef, Iossif, Iosif) Davidovich Dorfman (born 1 May 1952, Zhytomyr) is a USSR, Soviet-French chess Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster, Coach (sport), coach, and chess writer. Tournament results Dorfman played in several USSR championships ...
*
Mark Dvoretsky Mark Izrailevich Dvoretsky (russian: Марк Изра́илевич Дворе́цкий; December 9, 1947 – September 26, 2016) was a Russian chess trainer, writer, and International Master. Biography Dvoretsky was born in Moscow in 1947. ...
* Louis Eisenberg *
Yakov Estrin Yakov Borisovich Estrin (Russian: Я́ков Бори́сович Эстрин, April 21, 1923 – February 2, 1987) was a Russian chess player, chess theoretician, writer, and World Correspondence Chess Champion who held the chess titles of Inte ...
* Alexander Evensohn * Salo Flohr * Semen Furman * Boris Gelfand * Efim Geller *
Eduard Gufeld Eduard Yefimovich Gufeld (russian: Эдуа́рд Ефи́мович Гу́фельд; 19 March 1936 – 23 September 2002) was a USSR, Soviet International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess author. Chess career Gufeld began participating in che ...
* Boris Gulko *
Dmitry Gurevich Dmitry Gurevich (russian: Дмитрий Гуревич; born September 11, 1956) is a Russian-American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster. Born in Moscow, Gurevich emigrated to New York City in 1980 and earned the Grandmaste ...
* Ilya Gurevich * Mikhail Gurevich *
Nicolai Jasnogrodsky Nicolai Jasnogrodsky (6 August 1859, Lubny – 23 April 1914, New York City) was a Russian–born American chess master. Jasnogrodsky started to play competitive chess around 1885 in Vienna, and moved to England in the 1880s. He tied for 4-5th ...
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Gregory Kaidanov Gregory Kaidanov (russian: Григорий Зиновьевич Кайда́нов, ; born 11 October 1959) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster. He was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in 2013. His peak rating is 2646 ...
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Ilya Kan Ilya Abramovich Kan (russian: Илья Абрамович Кан; 4 May 1909 – 12 December 1978) was a Soviet chess player. He was awarded the title of International Master (IM) by FIDE in 1950. Kan was born in Samara. He played ten tim ...
* Garry Kasparov, World Champion *
Alexander Khalifman Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman (russian: Алекса́ндр Вале́рьевич Халифма́н; born 18 January 1966) is a Russian chess player and writer. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990, he was FIDE World Chess Ch ...
, FIDE World Champion *
Alexander Konstantinopolsky Alexander Markovich Konstantinopolsky (russian: Александр Маркович Константинопольский; 19 February 1910 – 21 September 1990) was a Soviet chess player, trainer and writer. He was a five-time champion of Ki ...
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Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He ...
, World Championship challenger *
Ljuba Kristol Ljuba Danielovna Kristol ( he, לובה דניאלובנה קריסטול; russian: Любовь Даниэловна Кристол; born May 26, 1944, in Leningrad) is a Russian-born Israeli chess player who holds the ICCF title of Lady Grandma ...
* Alla Kushnir, Women's World Championship challenger *
Anatoly Lein Anatoly Yakovlevich Lein (russian: Анатолий Яковлевич Лейн; March 28, 1931 – March 1, 2018) was a Soviet-born American chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1968. Chess career FIDE awarded Le ...
*
Konstantin Lerner Konstantin Zaivelevich Lerner ( uk, Костантин Зайвелевич Лернер; 28 February 1950, Odessa, Ukraine, former USSR – 24 September 2011, Herzlia, Israel) was a Ukrainian chess grandmaster (GM). In 1978 and 1982, he w ...
* Grigory Levenfish *
Irina Levitina Irina Solomonovna Levitina (born June 8, 1954) is a Russian-American chess and bridge player. In chess, she has been a World Championship Candidate in 1984 and gained the title Woman Grandmaster. In contract bridge she has won five world champio ...
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Vladimir Liberzon Vladimir Mikhailovich Liberzon ( he, ולדימיר מיכאילוביץ' ליברזון; russian: Влади́мир Миха́йлович Либерзо́н; 23 March 1937, in Moscow – 4 August 1996) was a Russian-born Israeli chess grandma ...
* Andor Lilienthal *
Moishe Lowtzky Moishe (Mojżesz) Lowtzky (Łowcki) (1881–1940) was a Ukrainian–Polish chess master. Biography He was born into a Jewish family in Ukraine. In 1903, Lowtzky tied for 6-7th with Eugene Znosko-Borovsky in Kiev (3rd RUS-ch). The event was won b ...
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Vladimir Malaniuk Vladimir Pavlovich Malaniuk (; 21 July 1957 –2 July 2017) was a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and three-time Ukrainian champion. He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship 1998. In team events, Malaniuk played for Ukraine in three Chess O ...
* Sam Palatnik *
Ernest Pogosyants Ernest Levonovich Pogosyants (June 5, 1935, Chuhuiv – August 16, 1990) was a Soviet-Armenian composer of chess problems and endgame studies. He composed about 6,000 problems and studies, almost as many chess puzzles as the 6,500 created by T ...
* Iosif Pogrebyssky * Lev Polugaevsky *
Lev Psakhis Lev Borisovich Psakhis ( he, לב בוריסוביץ' פסחיס; ; born 29 November 1958 in Tver (then Kalinin), Russia) is a naturalised Israeli chess grandmaster, trainer and author. Born in Siberia, he is also a two-time former champion of th ...
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Abram Rabinovich Abram Isaakovich Rabinovich (5 January 1878 – 7 November 1943) was a Lithuanian–Russian chess player. He was champion of Moscow in 1926. Biography Rabinovich was born in Vilna, Lithuania (then the Russian Empire) into a Litvak family. Hi ...
* Ilya Rabinovich *
Leonid Shamkovich Leonid Aleksandrovich Shamkovich (Russian: Леони́д Алекса́ндрович Шамко́вич; June 1, 1923 – April 22, 2005) was a chess Grandmaster and chess writer. He was born in a Jewish family in Rostov-on-Don in Russia. Che ...
* Ilya Smirin *
Gennadi Sosonko Gennadi "Genna" Sosonko (russian: Геннадий Борисович Сосонко, ''Gennady Borisovich Sosonk''o; born 18 May 1943) is a Soviet-born Dutch chess player and writer. He has been awarded the title Grandmaster (GM) by FIDE and is ...
*
Leonid Stein Leonid Zakharovich Stein (; November 12, 1934 – July 4, 1973) was a Soviet chess Grandmaster from Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s (1963, 1965, and 1966), and was among the world's top ten players during that era. ...
* Peter Svidler *
Mark Taimanov Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (russian: Марк Евгеньевич Тайманов; 7 February 1926 – 28 November 2016) was one of the leading Soviet and Russian chess players, among the world's top 20 players from 1946 to 1971. A prolific ch ...
* Boris Verlinsky *
Yakov Vilner Yakov Vilner (1899, Odessa – 29 June 1931, Leningrad) was a Ukrainian chess master. Biography Vilner won the Odessa chess championships four times (1918, 1923, 1925, and 1928). He won the Ukrainian championships three times; at Kiev 1924 (ahe ...
*
Leonid Yudasin Leonid Yudasin ( he, ליאוניד גריגורייביץ' יודסין; russian: Леонид Григорьевич Юдасин, translit=Leonid Grigoryevich Yudasin; born August 8, 1959) is a Soviet-born Israeli chess player and trainer. He ...


Boxing

*
Yuri Foreman Yuri Foreman (born August 5, 1980) is an Israeli professional boxer who held the WBA super welterweight title from 2009 to 2010. He was born in Gomel, Belarus, but currently fights out of Brooklyn, New York. Foreman has also pursued Jewish reli ...
, Belarusian-born Israeli US
middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...
and
World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...
champion super welterweight * Louis Kaplan ("Kid Kaplan"), Russian-born US, world champion featherweight, Hall of Fame *
Shamil Sabirov Shamil Altaevich Sabirov (russian: Шамиль Алтаевич Сабиров; born 4 April 1959) is a retired Russian light-flyweight boxer. He won gold medals at the 1979 European Championships and 1980 Olympics, becoming the only boxing cha ...
, Russia, Olympic champion light flyweight


Canoeing

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Leonid Geishtor Leonid Grigorievich Geishtor; also Geyshtor (russian: Леонид Григорьевич Гейштор) (born October 15, 1936, in Homel, Belarusian SSR) is a Soviet Union, Soviet-born Belarusian canoe racing, sprint canoeist who competed ...
, USSR (Belarus), sprint canoer, Olympic champion (Canadian pairs 1,000-meter) * Michael Kolganov, Soviet (Uzbek)-born Israeli, sprint canoer, world champion, Olympic bronze (K-1 500-meter) * Naum Prokupets, Moldovan-born Soviet, sprint canoer, Olympic bronze (C-2 1,000-meter), gold (C-2 10,000-meter) at ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships


Fencing

* Yury Gelman (born 1955), Ukrainian-born American Olympic fencing coach * Vadim Gutzeit, Ukraine (saber), Olympic champion * Grigory Kriss, Soviet (épée), Olympic champion, 2x silver * Maria Mazina, Russia (épée), Olympic champion, bronze * Mark Midler, Soviet Union, Soviet (foil), 2x Olympic champion * Mark Rakita, Soviet (saber), 2x Olympic champion, 2x silver * Yakov Rylsky, Soviet (saber), Olympic champion * Sergey Sharikov, Russia (saber), 2x Olympic champion, silver, bronze * David Tyshler, Soviet (saber), Olympic bronze * Eduard Vinokurov, Russia (saber), 2x Olympic champion, silver * Iosif Vitebskiy, Soviet (épée), Olympic silver, 10x national champion


Figure skating

* Ilya Averbukh, Russia, ice dancer, Olympic silver * Oksana Baiul,
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, figure skater, Olympic gold, world champion * Alexei Beletski, Ukrainian-born Israeli, ice dancer, Olympian * Sasha Cohen, figure skater (U.S. National Champion and silver medalist at the 2006 Winter Olympics) * Aleksandr Gorelik, Soviet, pair skater, Olympic silver, World Championship 2x silver, bronze * Natalia Gudina, Ukrainian-born Israeli, figure skater, Olympian * Gennadi Karponossov, Russia, ice dancer and coach, Olympic gold, World Championship 2x gold, silver, 2x bronze * Michael Shmerkin, Soviet-born Israeli, figure skater * Irina Slutskaya, Russia, figure skater, Olympic silver, bronze, World Championship 2x gold, 3x silver, bronze * Maxim Staviski, Russian-born Bulgarian, ice dancer, World Championship gold, silver, bronze * Alexandra Zaretski, Belarusian-born Israeli, ice dancer, Olympian * Roman Zaretski, Belarusian-born Israeli, ice dancer, Olympian


Football (American)

* Joe Magidsohn, Russia, halfback * Igor Olshansky, Ukraine, defensive lineman (Miami Dolphins)


Gymnastics

* Yevgeny Babich, Evgeny (or Yevgeny) Babich, Soviet, Olympic champion, world and European champion, 2x runner-up * Yanina Batyrchina, Russia, Olympic silver (rhythmic gymnastics) * Maria Gorokhovskaya, USSR, Olympic 2x champion (all-around individual exercises, team combined exercises), 5x silver (vault, asymmetrical bars, balance beam, floor exercises, team exercises with portable apparatus) * Natalia Laschenova, USSR, Olympic champion (team) * Tatiana Lysenko, Soviet/Ukraine, Ukrainian, 2x Olympic champion (balance beam, team combined exercises), bronze (horse vault) * Mikhail Perelman, USSR, Olympic champion (team combined exercises) * Vladimir Portnoi, USSR, Olympic silver (team combined exercises) and bronze (long horse vault) * Yulia Raskina, Belarus, Olympic silver (rhythmic gymnastics) * Alexander Shatilov, Uzbekistan/Israel, world bronze (artistic gymnast; floor exercises) * Yelena Shushunova, USSR, Olympic 2x champion (all-around, team), silver (balance beam), bronze (uneven bars)


Ice hockey

* Max Birbraer, Russian from Kazakhstan; lived and played in Israel; 1st Israeli drafted by NHL team (New Jersey Devils) * Vitaly Davydov, Soviet, defenseman, 3x Olympic champion, world and European champion 1963–71, runner-up * Alfred Kuchevsky, Soviet, Olympic champion, bronze * Yuri Lyapkin, Soviet, defenceman, Olympic champion * Yuri Moiseev, Soviet, Olympic champion, world champion * Vladimir Myshkin, Soviet, goaltender, Olympic champion, silver * Ian Rubin, Ukraine/Australia, Russia national team * Yevgeni Zimin, Soviet, Olympic champion 1968–72, world and European champion 1968–69, 1971 * Viktor Zinger, Soviet, Olympic champion; world champion 1965–69


Judo

* Ārons Bogoļubovs, USSR, Olympic bronze (lightweight)


Rugby league

* Ian Rubin, Ukraine/Australia, Russia national team


Sailing

* Valentyn Mankin, Soviet/Ukraine, only sailor in Olympic history to win gold medals in three different classes (yachting: finn class, tempest class, and star class), silver (yachting, tempest class)


Shooting

* Lev Vainshtein, USSR (Russia), 3x team world champion (25 m Center-Fire Pistol, 25 m and 50 m Pistol, 50 m pistol) and Olympic bronze medalist (300 metre rifle three positions, 300 m rifle)


Soccer (association football)

* Leonid Buryak, USSR/Ukraine, midfielder, Olympic bronze * Yakov Ehrlich, Russia, striker * Andriy Oberemko, Ukraine, midfielder (Illichivets and U21 national team) * Israel Olshanetsky, USSR, attacking midfielder at Dynamo Leningrad * Boris Razinsky, USSR/Russia, goalkeeper/striker, Olympic champion, manager * Boris Borisovich Rotenberg, Russia/Finland/Israel, defender * Mordechai Spiegler, Soviet Union/Israel, striker (Israel national team), manager


Speed skating

* Rafayel Grach, USSR, Olympic silver (500-meter), bronze (500-meter)


Swimming

* Vadim Alexeev, Kazakhstan-born Israeli, breaststroke * Semyon Belits-Geiman, USSR, Olympic silver (400-m freestyle relay) and bronze (800-m freestyle relay); world record in men's 800-m freestyle * Lenny Krayzelburg, Ukraine, Ukrainian-born US, 4x Olympic champion (100-m backstroke, 200-m backstroke, twice 4x100-m medley relay); 3x world champion (100-m and 200-m backstroke, 4×100-m medley) and 2x silver (4×100-m medley, 50-m backstroke); 3 world records (50-, 100-, and 200-m backstroke)


Table tennis

* Marina Kravchenko, Ukraine, Ukrainian-born Israeli, Soviet and Israel national teams


Tennis

*Anna Smashnova (born 1976), Belarus-born Israeli tennis player


Track and field

* Aleksandr Averbukh, Russian-born Israeli, 2002 and 2006 European champion (pole vault) * Maria Leontyavna Itkina, USSR, sprinter, world records (400-m & 220-yards, and 800-m relay) * Svetlana Krachevskaya, USSR, shot put, Olympic silver * Vera Krepkina, USSR, Olympic champion (long jump), world records (100-m dash and 4x100-m) * Faina Melnik, Ukrainian-born USSR, 11 world records; Olympic discus throw champion * Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, Ukraine, sprinter, world 100-m and 200-m champion * Irina Press, USSR, 2x Olympic champion (80-m hurdles and pentathlon) * Tamara Press, USSR, 6 world records (shot put and discus); 3x Olympic champion (2x shot put and discus) and silver (discus)


Volleyball

* Nelly Abramova, USSR, Olympic silver * Larisa Bergen, USSR, Olympic silver * Yefim Chulak, USSR, Olympic silver, bronze * Nataliya Kushnir, USSR, Olympic silver * Yevgeny Lapinsky, USSR, Olympic champion, bronze * Georgy Mondzolevsky, USSR, 2x Olympic champion, 2x world champion * Vladimir Patkin, USSR, Olympic silver, bronze * Yuriy Venherovsky, USSR, Olympic champion


Water polo

* Boris Goikhman, USSR, goalkeeper, Olympic silver, bronze * Nikolai Melnikov, USSR, Olympic champion


Weightlifting

* Moisei Kas’ianik, Ukrainian-born USSR, world champion * Grigory Novak, Soviet, Olympic silver (middle-heavyweight); world champion * Rudolf Plyukfelder, Soviet, Olympic champion, 2x world champion (light heavyweight) * David Rigert, Kazakh-born USSR, Olympic champion, 5x world champion (light-heavyweight and heavyweight), 68 world records * Igor Rybak, Ukrainian-born USSR, Olympic champion (lightweight) * Valery Shary, Byelorussian-born USSR, Olympic champion (light-heavyweight)


Wrestling

* Grigorii Gamarnik, USSR, world champion (Greco-Roman lightweight), world championship silver * Samuel Gerson, Ukrainian-born US, Olympic silver (freestyle featherweight) * Boris Maksovich Gurevich, Soviet, Olympic champion (Greco-Roman flyweight), 2x world champion * Boris Michail Gurevitsch, USSR, Olympic champion (freestyle middleweight), 2x world champion * Oleg Karavaev, USSR, Olympic champion (Greco-Roman bantamweight), 2x world champion * Yakov Punkin, Soviet, Olympic champion (Greco-Roman featherweight) * David Rudman (wrestler), David Rudman, USSR, world championship bronze


Other sports

* Elena Altsjoel, Elena Altshul, Women's World Draughts Champion * Nissim Cahn, twice Bronze Medal for Israel, curling * Nikolay Epstein, Soviet hockey coach * Alexander Gomelsky, Soviet basketball coach * Andriy Oberemko, footballer * Grigory Surkis, chairman of the Football Federation of Ukraine


See also

* Bukharan Jews * History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union * List of Galician Jews * Lists of Jews * List of Russians


Footnotes


External links


Prominent Jews based on the ''Russian Jewish Encyclopedia''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jews Born In The Former Russian Empire Ashkenazi Jews topics, Russian Empire born Belarusian Jews, * Jews and Judaism in the Russian Empire, Jews and Judaism in the Soviet Union, * Lists of Jews by country, Russian Empire Russian Jews, * Ukrainian Jews, * Lists of people by ethnicity, Jews, Russian Empire