Sergei Kovalev Collection, American Philosophical Society

Table of contents

Abstract

The electrophysiologist Sergei Adamovich Kovalev (1932- ) was a prominent Russian dissident and human rights activist. After earning an international reputation for his research on the electrophysiology of myocardial tissues, Kovalev became involved with Andrei Sakharov and others in founding the Initiative Group for the Defense of Human Rights in the USSR, and he was a major figure in the distribution of The Chronicle of Current Events, a samizdat news letter that became the primary uncensored source for information about the dissident movement. He was arrested by the Soviet authorities in December 1974 and sentenced to seven years in prison and three more in exile. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Kovalev entered politics and won election to the Russian Duma.

The Kovalev Collection consists of files of correspondence, circular letters, and miscellaneous published materials pertaining to the Soviet dissident scientist, Andrei Kovalev. The collection is arranged in two Series of approximately equal size, representing the activities of two of Kovalev's supporters: Paul F. Cranefield of Rockefeller University, who helped mobilize support for Kovalev in the United States, and Silvio Weidmann a physiologist at the University of Bern, who operated in Europe. Both Cranefield and Wiedmann were in regular contact with one another and both worked with professional organizations, with human rights groups such as Amnesty International, and with fellow activists such as Rosa Last.

Background note
Scope & content
Administrative information
Additional information
- Related material
Added entries
Contact information
Collection overview
- Series I. Paul F. Cranefield material, 1976-1990
- Series II. Silvio Weidmann material, 1974-1990
Collection inventory
- Series I. Paul F. Cranefield material, 1976-1990
- Series II. Silvio Weidmann material, 1974-1990

Background note

Sergei Kovalev

The electrophysiologist Sergei Adamovich Kovalev (1932- ) was a prominent Russian dissident and human rights activist. Interested in the physiology of excitable tissues, Kovalev performed basic research in the electrophysiology of cardiac and myocardial tissues from 1959 to 1965, becoming one of the first scientists to create an adequate electrical structural model of the myocardium, and during the four years that followed, he attempted to use computers to create a comprehensive analysis of his models.

In 1969 Kovalev was working as a senior fellow in biology at his alma mater, Moscow University, when he was released due to his political activities. Already known as a dissident, he joined Andrei Sakharov and others in 1969 in founding the Initiative Group for the Defense of Human Rights in the USSR. Despite his dismissal, Kovalev managed to continue his scientific career, working at an experimental fish hatchery on problems in chemical mutagenesis, and he persevered as an activist. In 1974, however, the Soviet authorities once again intervened and his scientific career ended. In 1973, Kovalev and two colleagues, Tatiana Velikanova and Tatiana Khodorovich, resumed publication of The Chronicle of Current Events, a samizdat news letter that became the primary uncensored source for information about the dissident movement. Produced secretly using typewriters and carbon paper (since the Soviet authorities restricted use of photocopiers), the Chronicle defended the gamut of repressed and dissident groups, and was correspondingly perceived as a significant threat to the government. One year later, Kovalev also became a founding member of the USSR branch of Amnesty International, while his increasing visibility as a supporter of other dissidents added further fuel to the fire.

On December 23, 1974, the KGB raided Kovalev's apartment in Moscow, confiscated his files on prisoners of conscience, and sent him to a prison in Vilius, Lithuania, to await trial. Charged formally with anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda carried on for subverting or weakening the Soviet regime, Kovalev faced a laundry list of specific allegations: association with The Chronicle of the Lithuanian Catholic Church, the longest running dissident journal in the Soviet Union, being a member of the Initiative Group, signing appeals on the first anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia, supporting other dissidents and political prisoners, sending information on the Soviet gulag abroad, and resuming publication of The Chronicle of Current Events. Sakharov responded by denouncing the charges as little more than a pretext to clamp down on dissidents of all sorts.

Kovalev pleaded not guilty, and in an "open" trial filled with irregularities, he was sentenced to seven years in a labor camp and three years of exile. Fresh off his Nobel Prize, Sakharov led protests against the conviction in Russia, while colleagues, concerned scientists, and other human rights activists outside of Russia began a campaign to petition Soviet authorities for his release. Although these efforts kept Kovalev's case in the public eye, they did little to shorten Kovalev's term, and after his release in 1984, he was barred, as the court had directed, from living in Moscow, making a living at menial jobs.

Kovalev was finally allowed to return to Moscow in 1987 and resumed his activities on behalf of human rights. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he entered politics, winning election to parliament beginning in 1990. Even in office, he remained consistent in his stance on human rights, protesting against human rights violations in Chechnya, arguing that "the most influential forces in Russia today are attempting to establish an authoritarian regime."

Scope and content

Because Cranefield and Weidmann worked closely together on the Kovalev case, the two Series both complement one another and provide a measure of duplication. Both series include correspondence to and from Cranefield and Weidmann attempting to rouse support for Kovalev, circular letters from other activists and human rights organizations regarding the case and regarding the conditions of Kovalev's health, and the well being of his family, and numerous clippings from newspapers, professional journals, and the mass media providing a gauge of public and professional opinion.

Administrative information

Restrictions

None.

Provenance

Gift of Paul F. Cranefield, June 1990 (accn. no. 1994-78ms).

Preferred citation

Cite as: Sergei Adamovich Kovalev Collection, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Catalogued by rsc, 2004.

Additional information

Related material

The APS houses a small number of collections with material on Soviet science, all from an earlier period and mostly centered on Lysenkoism. The papers of Theodosius Dobzhansky, L. C. Dunn, I. Michael Lerner, Conway Zirkle, Ernst Caspari, and Milislav Demerec all have material on Lysenko in Russia. The papers of Dunn, Bronson Price, Raymond Pearl, and Franz Boas include material on scientific exchange with Russia in the 1930s, and Curt Stern in the 1960s.