Maria Weizmann (, ; 1893–1974) was a sister of Russian-Israeli politician and scientist

Chaim Weizmann Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( ; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born Israeli statesman, biochemist, and Zionist leader who served as president of the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization and later as the first pre ...

(the first President of the State of Israel). She graduated from a university in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and worked as a doctor in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

from 1915. Maria Weizman and her husband V.M. Savitsky were long denied the right to emigrate from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

by the authorities. Her husband was arrested in 1949. On February 10, 1953 she was arrested in connection with the alleged Doctors' plot. Her case was handled by the

GRU Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series. Gru or GRU may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper * Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga'' Organizations Georgia (c ...

(as opposed to MGB as it was common), an evidence of its importance to the Soviet regime. After

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's death and the admission by the Soviet leadership that the "plot" was made up, she was still kept in Lubyanka prison, and released only on August 12, 1953. Weizmann emigrated to Israel in 1956. She was officially rehabilitated after

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

in 1989.

References

External links

Materials on the case of Maria Weizmann (in Russian)
1893 births 1974 deaths Refuseniks Soviet Jews Soviet women physicians Soviet physicians 20th-century Israeli physicians Soviet emigrants to Israel Maria Physicians from Moscow 20th-century Israeli women physicians 20th-century Russian physicians 20th-century Russian women physicians {{USSR-bio-stub