Jewish-American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was freed after being held for 16 months in a Russian prison Thursday.
Gershkovich, 32, was released in a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia, the United States, Germany, Poland, Norway, and Slovenia that took place in Ankara, Turkey. Other prisoners released include Jewish Russian-British journalist Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
U.S. President Joe Biden bashed Russia for holding these prisoners under false charges in unjust conditions.
“Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years,” Biden said in a statement. “All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over.”
Let’s break down Gershkovich’s release and his Jewish identity.
Evan Gershkovich was born to a Russian-Jewish family
Gershkovich was born Oct. 26, 1991 to Soviet immigrants Mikhail Gershkovich and Ella Milman. He grew up in Princeton, New Jersey in a Russian-speaking home alongside his older sister, Danielle.
His Soviet-exile parents emigrated to the U.S. in 1979, fleeing rising antisemitism and increased restrictions under communist rule in the USSR.
In his early adulthood, Gershkovich became interested in the Russian language and began devoting himself to learning more. Beginning his journalism career at the New York Times, Gershkovich then began focusing his coverage on Russia, working for the Moscow Times (which is now banned in Russia for criticizing Vladimir Putin’s regime), Agence France-Presse (AFP), and then moving to the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow bureau in Jan. 2022.
At the time of his arrest, Gershkovich had lived in Russia for six years. During his time living in her former home, his mother said that he had been exploring his Soviet Jewish roots.
“He cares a lot about his identity as a Jew, and especially his identity as the son of Soviet Jewish immigrants,” Gershkovich’s former roommate Jeremy Berke told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2023. “I think that was a large part of why he wanted to go back to Russia.”
Why was Evan Gershkovich arrested?
After Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2023, Gershkovich and other journalists were forced to leave the country after war-time censorship laws were put into place. He began living in London, but would travel to Russia for weeks at a time for assignments before returning to the U.K.
Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war in Yekaterinburg on espionage charges. The Kremlin accused the 32-year-old of spying in an effort to obtain defense secrets for the U.S. government. The journalist, the Wall Street Journal, and the U.S. government have persistently denied the charges, calling Gershkovich as unjustly imprisoned.
After being arrested, Gershkovich spent 23 hours a day in solitary confinement as a “high-risk” prisoner and was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security prison. There was no outside evidence or press allowed in Gershkovich’s trial, nor was any of Russia’s evidence released.
Gershkovich is the first American journalist to be arrested on charges of espionage since the Cold War.
How the Jewish community rallied for Gershkovich’s release
Many Jewish families reignited traditions used during the movement to free Soviet Jews by setting an empty seat at their seder tables for Gershkovich.
Synagogues across the U.S. and those with Soviet exile members worldwide have put on programming to educate their congregations about his imprisonment. Others have included him in their prayers for Jewish political prisoners worldwide, including the hostages in Gaza.
For Rosh Hashanah in 2023, Jewish Federations of North American received over 2,200 letters from people in 21 countries in support of Gershkovich. These messages were compiled into a “collective letter” delivered to his lawyer and individually printed and bound into a book delivered to his family after the High Holidays.
Read more: Freeing Russian Jewry: The Refuseniks
Natan Sharansky, the face of the campaign to free Soviet Jewry, has relentlessly advocated for Gershkovich’s release. He wrote into the letters campaign about his own experiences at his “alma mater,” Lefortovo prison — where Gershkovich was held. The activist hoped to send strength to the imprisoned journalist.
“I’m sure it will be the year of your liberation, thanks to our prayers, the Jewish solidarity, and the support of your friends and colleagues,” Sharansky wrote from his home in Jerusalem. “It is very important while resisting the pressure to see a bigger world picture in mind and to be optimistic.”
How has the Jewish world reacted to Gershkovich’s release
Jewish Federations of North America celebrated Gershkovich’s release in a statement released Thursday.
“Jewish Federations of North America are overjoyed and relieved at the news of Evan Gershkovich’s release, along with the release of Paul Whelan and other political prisoners,” it said. “It has been 491 days since Russia wrongfully detained Evan, a Wall Street Journal reporter trying to do his job in communicating news back home to readers.”
“Since the arrest of Evan Gershkovich in March 2023, Jewish Federations have been active in advocating for his release,” JFNA added. “Today, Federations are overjoyed and relieved at the news of Evan’s release, along with the release of Paul Whalen and other political prisoners.”
“Evan, our community has been incomplete without you. Welcome home.”
The American Jewish Committee similarly expressed its joy that Gershkovich was released, praising the Biden White House for its work on the prisoner deal.
“AJC is deeply relieved that Gershkovich, the other Americans, and all those freed as part of this agreement are no longer suffering in the deplorable conditions of detention in Russia and have been released to safety and freedom. AJC deeply appreciates the role of President Biden and his administration, and other world partners, in securing their release,” the AJC wrote.
The Orthodox Union wrote on X, “Baruch matir assurim,” which is the Jewish blessing over the release of hostages.
Antisemitism has soared in Russia
In recent years, there has been a spike in antisemitsm in Russia. Many Jews who lived in Russia, like Israel’s Eurovision contestant Eden Golan, fled to Israel and the U.S., especially after the war in Ukraine began.
The Jewish community in Russia has halved in the last decade, declining from 156,000 in 2010 to around 82,000 in 2021.
The U.S. State Department has accused the Kremlin of “weaponiz[ing] antisemitism, attempting to silence Jews in Russia who oppose the war.” These tactics include creating bot accounts on American social media platforms to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, deploying neo-Nazi groups, and accusing prominent Jewish figures of being “puppeteers” of world events.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who previously served as the chief rabbi of Moscow, believes that Gershkovich was intentionally targeted based on his Jewish background.
“He just happened to be Jewish, right?” Goldschmidt sarcastically wrote on X.
Goldschmidt fled Russia after the Ukraine war began. He claimed that the government persecuted him over his criticism of the Putin regime, and put increased political pressure on him to support the war.
“When we look back over Russian history, whenever the political system was in danger you saw the government trying to redirect the anger and discontent of the masses towards the Jewish community,” Goldschmidt told the Guardian in 2022.
Putin and top members of his government have been accused of encouraging antisemitic sentiment in Russia, repeatedly making antisemitic comments. The Russian president has been known to target Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, over his background.
