Fulfilling A Dream

Millionaire Vladimir Goussinsky leading revival
of Russian Jewry.

interview, in the 21st-floor office he
shares with Moscow's City Hall.
"When I am not in this world any-
more or am very old, they will
Moscow — In order to enter Vladimir
remember the name Goussinsky just
Goussinsky's spacious office, you must
as they recall the name of the family
first pass through an airport-style
who
started the New York Times."
metal detector and pass a security-
Like
many of his fellow moguls, the
guard inspection.
publicity-shy
On one wall of the
Goussinsky rarely
office — which fea-
gives interviews in
tures a panoramic
Russia, and his face
view of Moscow and a
— which he says,
caged boa constrictor
with a laugh, is the
on display in the cor-
most important part
ner — hangs an
of his Jewishness —
award, bearing the
is not familiar to
face of Lenin, given to
most Russians.
the Russian Jewish
' Contributing to
mogul for winning a
his shadowy image,
table tennis tourna-
Goussinsky rides in
ment as a child. Next
a dark-blue bullet-
to this award is a
proof Mercedes,
thank-you from
usually accompanied
Russian President
by a convoy of
Boris Yeltsin for
bodyguards. When
Goussinsky's work in
he plays tennis, as
Yeltsin's 1996 re-elec-
many as 15 armed
tion campaign, and an
Vladimir Goussinsky: "I had to
guards patrol the
fight often when someone was
honor the U.S.
courts.
calling me a Jew-face."
Congress gave
And like many
Goussinsky for his
members of Russia's
contribution to the
business elite, Goussinsky is involved
revival of Russian Jewish life.
in politics. Experts credit much of
Like most of Russia's nouveau
Goussinsky's meteoric financial rise to
riche, Goussinsky, a 45-year-old for-
his close ties with Moscow Mayor Yuri
mer theatrical director, made his
Luzhkov — and when it appeared
money quickly and mysteriously.
possible that Communist Party candi-
From a modest start in 1986 with a
date Gennadi Zyuganov would defeat
small company specializing in metal
Yeltsin
in the 1996 presidential elec-
works, he expanded his holdings to
tion,
Goussinsky
and six other key
include a bank and, later, a financial-
financiers
banded
together to fund
industrial group called Most.
Yeltsin's
victorious
re-election cam-
Today, his empire includes an influ-
paign.
ential television channel, a satellite
But Goussinsky is more than just
television network, a radio station and
one
of Russia's wealthiest men. As the
a company that provides program-
president
of the Russian Jewish
ming and finances for some 50 region-
Congress,
he is the public figurehead
al television stations throughout
of Russian Jewry and the leading
Russia.
Russian sponsor of Jewish communal
Goussinsky's media empire also
projects.
includes a leading daily newspaper and
Mikhail Chlenov, president of the
a weekly magazine published in coop-
Va'ad,
the Jewish Federation of Russia,
eration with Newsweek.
said
that
what Goussinsky has
His personal wealth is believed to
achieved was an impossible dream just
have topped $1 billion.
a few years ago. "He has turned Jewish
"I have a dream," he said in an

LEV KRICHEVSKY
Special to The Jewish NeWs

,

,

philanthropy into a prestigious,
respectable activity," said Chlenov.
Growing up in Moscow,
Goussinsky, like most Soviet Jews,
knew little about Judaism. During his
student years, Goussinsky was one of
dozens of Jewish youths who flocked
to Moscow's Choral Synagogue on
Saturdays "to demonstrate they were
proud of being Jewish, in spite of all
these KGB agents who were taking
pictures of the crowd" — but he never
went inside to pray.
'Indeed, anti-Semitism was the main
component of his Jewish identity. "I
had to fight often when someone was
calling me a Jew-face," Goussinsky
recalled.
But he also remembers a positive
Jewish connection: When he
watched the Olympics in the 1970s,
he rooted for both the Israeli and
Russian teams.
As he made his fortune, Goussinsky
did not actively participate in Jewish
causes. The bank he founded, Most,
has been very involved in philan-
thropy, but has mainly donated to bal-
let, theater and other non-Jewish caus-
es, including the Russian Orthodox
Church.
Then, in 1995, Russian Jewish reli-
gious leaders asked Goussinsky to sup-
port a new group originally created to
help Jewish religious institutions sur- •
vive.
While Goussinsky was considering
whether to make a contribution, he
was targeted by then-president Boris
Yeltsin's security chief and confidant,
Alexander Korzhakov, who, reportedly
jealous of Goussinsky's success,
launched a raid on Goussinsky's
offices. Afraid for his safety,
Goussinsky moved his family to
London.
It was there, a source close to RJC
said, that he decided to get involved.
In part, he did so because he had
become convinced that the interna-
tional community would care about
his safety if he were known for sup-
porting Jewish projects.
Goussinsky also persuaded a num-

Global Digest

Bank Plans
Second Study

New York (JTA) -- Austria's
Creditanstalt Bank said it would
conduct a second probe of its
wartime records to prove that
it had no involvement in the
laundering of gold and other
valuables stripped from
Holocaust victims during World
War II.
The Austrian bank was named
along with Germany's two largest
commercial banks, Deutsche
Bank and Dresclner Bank, in an
$18 billion class-action lawsuit
filed by survivors of the
I-Tolocaust claiming the institu-
tions knowingly traded in vic-
tims' assets. Deutsche Bank is
reportedly planning to meet with
Jewish officials soon to discuss a
possible settlement

Suit Filed
Against Degussa

New York UTA) -- A class-
action lawsuit was filed in New
Jersey against German metals
refiner Degussa and its U.S. sub-
sidiary,
The suit claims the company
smelted gold taken from
Holocaust victims and helped
the Nazis produce the cyanide
used in the death camps, It seeks
all of the assets of Degussa,
whose annual worldwide sales are
estimated at $9 billion.

con t.i;
decade,
in recent m
speculation
would never'

DREAM on page 38

9/4
1998

Detroit Jewish News

35