Intersection Named for Dissident Sakharov
Someday the Soviet Union, where he foreshadowed a freer future, may name some place like Palace Square in St. Petersburg for dissident Andrei Sakharov, but until they get around to it, a Studio City intersection will fill the gap.
A sidewalk ceremony was held Thursday at Laurel Canyon and Ventura boulevards, marked by moments of jubilation and solemnity as Sakharov’s wife, Yelena Bonner, urged about 100 Soviet emigres to remember her husband by seeking the freedom of oppressed people worldwide.
The crowd--mostly immigrants who fled totalitarian Soviet regimes--applauded Bonner with the enthusiasm of children for a sports star. Some proudly wore World war II medals as they jostled for position in photographs with the woman who was Sakharov’s link to the outside world during his decades of exile in the city of Gorky for criticizing Soviet violations of human rights.
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