On the third day in Saint Petersburg we concentrated on the stories of the dissident movement in the Soviet Union. First we discussed the life and legacy of Andrey Sakharov with historian Dmitry Dubrovski. He explained us how a prominent Soviet scientist like Sakharov became the leading dissident and defender of human rights in the country. This meeting was particularly important since Sakharov is one of the three main heroes of our historical research in the project (next to Irena Sendler in Poland and Martin Luther in Germany). Afterwards we connected via videoconference with Moscow to talk with Alexander Daniel, in the Soviet times one of the editors of the underground “Chronicle of Current Events” and the son of Yuli Daniel, another prominent Soviet dissident. “I was surrounded by people who refused to think of themselves as unfree. They decided to live like free people in an unfree country” – Alexander Daniel told us, characterizing the dissident community of that times. We finished the day with a visit to the Bolshoi Theatre to watch “Swan Lake”. Pure Russian experience for the end of an intensive day!
