Lev Tanengolts

Lev Isaevich Tanengolts (Russian: Лев Исаевич Таненгольц; scientific transliteration: Lev Isaevič Tanengol'c; born 1941) is a Russian programmer, dissident, and author. He lived in Moscow and was known as a distributor of samizdat literature and a member of the editorial circle of the Chronicle of Current Events (Хроника текущих событий / Khronika tekushchikh sobytiy). He is married to Cerina Lvovna Tanengolts (Церина Львовна Таненгольц), who was also part of the same dissident circle.^[1]

Early life and career

Specific information about Tanengolts's early life and programming career remains limited in publicly available sources. He worked professionally as a programmer in the Soviet Union.

Dissident activities

Tanengolts was actively involved in the Soviet dissident and human rights movement from the 1970s through the 1980s. He was engaged as a distributor of samizdat, clandestine literature banned by the Soviet authorities, and was a member of the editorial circle of the influential underground publication Chronicle of Current Events.^[2]

He participated in the Solzhenitsyn Aid Fund (Фонд Солженицына), an organization supporting political prisoners, initially from 1974 into the 1980s.

The KGB reportedly showed interest in Tanengolts due to his telling of "bad" or politically sensitive jokes.^[3]

Interrogation related to Sergei Khodorovich case

In September 1983, Tanengolts and his wife Cerina were interrogated in connection with the case of Sergei Dmitrievich Khodorovich,^[4] an activist who had been arrested and reportedly beaten while imprisoned in Butyrka prison.^[5]

Later life

Lev Isaevich Tanengolts emigrated from the Soviet Union around 1991 and currently lives in the United States.^[6]

Personal life

Tanengolts is married to Cerina Lvovna Tanengolts (b. 1944), who was also active in dissident circles and was interrogated alongside him during the Khodorovich case.