Anatoly Sharansky

Anatoly Sharansky, who later adopted the decidedly more Hebrew-sounding Natan, was born in Donetsk, Ukrainian SSR. A mathematical prodigy and a refusenik, he became a prominent human rights activist and dissident in the Soviet Union, leading to his arrest in 1977. Apparently, the KGB wasn't too keen on his efforts to monitor Soviet compliance with the Helsinki Accords. Who knew?

Accused of treason and anti-Soviet agitation, Sharansky was sentenced to 13 years in labor camps, where he spent nine of them, including stints in the infamous Perm-36. He was ultimately released in 1986 as part of a prisoner exchange, probably much to the Soviet Union's relief, as he was clearly a persistent thorn in their totalitarian side. He immediately emigrated to Israel, because where else would a nice Jewish boy go after being freed from the Gulag?

In Israel, Sharansky continued his political activism, co-founding the Yisrael BaAliyah party, which represented Soviet immigrants. He served in various ministerial positions, because why stop at just being a global human rights icon when you can also dabble in parliamentary politics? His journey from oppressed dissident to influential statesman is, frankly, exhausting to even think about.