By Irina Magid

My Father, Yakov Alexandrovich Ryftin

Biographical data of Yakov Alexandrovich Ryftin Y.A.

Ryftin was born in Russia in the town of Sarapul in 1905 in a family of poor watchmakers. After graduation from the Polytechnic Institute in the city of Leningrad in 1929, he worked as an engineer in the A. F. Loffee Physical Technical Institute, taught students at the Polytechnical Institute, and conducted scientific research in the field of TV. At that time he was the leader of a group of engineers in the Leningrad Electrophysical Institute which developed the   mechanical TV.

In the beginning of the 1930's scientists of the USA and the USSR began to   develop the electronic TV as having a much better future than mechanical TV. The   first investigations in the field were done by the famous American scientist V.K. Zworykin in 1933. He was named a pioneer of American TV.

In 1932-37 Y.A. Ryftin was invited to be the chief of the first TV sub-faculty of the S.M. Budenny Military Electrotechnical Academy of Communication. At that time the Soviet government authorized a laboratory led by Y.A. Ryftin in the Leningrad Telemechanic Institute to develop the electronic TV. The first electronic image on a TV screen in the Soviet Union was achieved in June 1934 under the leadership of Y.A.Ryftin in his laboratory.

When V.K. Zworykin came to see it, he said, "During my first visit in 1933, I was a teacher of the Soviet Specialist. During the second visit in 1934 I became their colleague. I am afraid that if I visit the USSR a third time, I will have to learn a lot from the Soviet scientists".

In 1936 Y.A. Ryftin, as a leading specialist in the field of TV, was sent on a business trip to America where he worked together with V.K. Zworykin. Y.A. Ryftin as Martyr of Stalin's Regime on 07/07/1937 Y.A. Ryftin was arrested on false accusations of being a participant in the counterrevolution of the Trotzky organization, which forced him to conduct a hostile activity.

He was in terrible condition in prison for two years together with felons. The cell was overcrowded. People slept on plank beds. The bucket with urine and excrement smelled around the clock. The supervisor of the prison and the criminal prisoners mocked the political prisoners.
Y.A. Ryftin remembered those years, "Dirt, Stench, Hunger, Cruelty, Beating, Mockery, Crying, Moaning, Extermination." But this was not the worst. There was the most terrible Torture. A rare man could resist the tortures of the KGB and not admit to crimes, which he had not committed. But Yakov Alexandrovich Ryftin was strong enough and hearty physically to overcome his adversity.

In spite of many difficulties, before my emigration to America, I obtained from the KGB an extract of Y.A. Ryftin's interrogation. In the extract there are ten interrogation protocols. During all the interrogation he didn't admit any guilt. He denied all the accusations of the six witnesses. They were false!

Among those witnesses was the director, V., of the TV Institute in which Y.A.Ryftin worked. V. was arrested too, soon after the arrest of Y.A.Ryftin. Under torture he accused Y.A.Ryftin (at the time of a meeting organized by the KGB) of - Purposely developing TV equipment for military aircraft very slowly, Becoming friend with a Russian emigrant and Russian defector, the famous American scientist Y.K.Zworykin and the former czarist officer Malof (who worked for the firm RCA and with whom Y.A.Ryftin also worked at the time of his business trip to America), Executing a special hostile task.

Accusations by five other people were less serious. Among them were the following: Y.A.Ryftin spent too much government money for his work and he refused once to give a good reference for an invention by Tarantchev. (He had refused it because there was already a similar invention done by others)

At the time of Stalin's regime, it was enough for an arrested man having such accusations as Y.A.Ryftin to be shot. It was a miracle that he preserved his life. Y.A.Ryftin was freed from prison on 09/09/1939.

For a long time I thought that he was only released as a leading scientist in the field of TV because a few famous scientists such as the academic Tshernyshov interceded for him. But later, after I left Russia in 1991, I found out that in 1939 there was Beria's fake wave of liberalism or politics of "fixing mistakes". During that time a few thousand innocent victims were released. It was done in order to show that other victims were properly executed because they were proven to have been terrorists.

It was very interesting that Y.A.Ryftin never spoke ill about V. in spite of his knowing that he slandered him. Before their arrest, they were friends, and their wives and children were friends. So, the Soviet Stalinist System crippled most people. Before leaving prison each prisoner swore that he would never divulge anything about life in prison. Breaking the vow could lead to a new arrest or immediate execution. So, Y.A.Ryftin kept silent for a long time. Only at the end of his life when he was over 80 years of age, did he begin to speak about it a little. Y.A.Ryftin as a Scientist After Y.A.Ryftin was liberated from prison he had many difficulties finding a job. Only well-known scientists helped him and he started to work again as a specialist in the field of TV. He worked in the Leningrad Scientific Research Institute #9 (SRI #9) from 1939 until the beginning of WWII.

In the beginning of WWII in 1941 Y.A.Ryftin as a patriot of the Soviet Union asked to be sent to the front to fight against fascists. But the government decided to send him to the rear. So Y.A.Ryftin was evacuated together with some group of specialists of SRI#9 to the city of Krasnoyarsk. There this group associated with the Leningrad military plant #323 which was evacuated to Krasnoyarsk too. There Y.A.Riftin worked until the end of the war in 1945. Working in the Krasnoyarsk military plant, Y.A.Riftin worked out many inventions and new things for military use, and in particular invented and created a communication system that permitted negotiation of treaties between military planes, and he was rewarded for it. All money Y.A.Ryftin gave for the victory against the fascists.

After the end of WWII in 1945, Y.A.Riftin returned to Leningrad. There Y.A.Ryftin founded one of the most famous schools of TV in the Soviet Union and became the exclusive leader of the TV division in the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, by the name of V.I.Ulyanov (Lenin). He continued to be the leader for 28 years. Y.A.Ryftin had about a thousand students and more than 130 original inventions, scientific reports and articles. Y.A.Ryftin was the only author of the monograph "Television System. Theory." The most important direction of his research was improvement of quality of the television image.
From 1947 to 1950 Y.A.Ryftin held the honorary rank of professor with a degree of doctor of technical sciences.

Y.A.Ryftin worked as a scientist until the end of his life. In 1987, when he was 82 years old, he published his new and last article "Characteristics of Eye Tremor". In this article, Y.A.Ryftin proposes a theory for explaining the characteristics of eye tremor and its consequences for vision. It was the first Russian theoretical research in this field. The result of Y.A.Ryftin's theoretical research coincided with a known experimental date and made it possible to specify an optimum resolution of optical, photographic, cinematographic and TV system.

In 1989 Y.A.Ryftin died. Conclusion In order for American people to know about a pioneer of the Soviet TV and a scientist who was a martyr of Stalin's regime, I wrote the article about my father, Professor Yakov Alexandrovich Ryftin.

Colleagues, scientists and students respected Y.A.Ryftin and named him an outstanding Soviet scientist, a founder of the Soviet TV and Soviet TV School. However, Y.A.Ryftin constantly felt some kind of discrimination. The Soviet government and the Soviet Academy of Sciences didn't recognize him as such because he was a Jew; he had never been a member of the Communist Party and in 1937 he was arrested. But Y.A.Ryftin responded to this discrimination with equanimity. He wasn't interested in titles.

It was wonderful that Y.A.Ryftin, who was a contemporary of the Revolution of 1905, who experienced Jewish pogroms, the revolution of 1917, civil war of 1917-20, arrest of 1937-39 and WWII of 1941-45, always liked to say, "I am happy!" It was true.

He really was happy in his creative scientific work, teaching students and his ability to do many things. He was a many-sided, very bright and talented person. He was passionately enthusiastic about mechanics, electrotechnology and physics. He knew how to repair complex watches and lockmaking machines. He even had some a small lathe at home. In his free time Y.A.Ryftin sawed or made various things. He liked to listen to the symphonic music, play the violin and, drew a picture with a pencil. Y.A. Ryftin was also enthusiastic about gymnastics and weightlifting. He performed physical exercises until the last days of his life.

Y.A Ryftin really was happy in his family. He loved his wife very much, constantly and truly. He was an unforgettable, father and grandfather.

Y.A.Ryftin is a great example of extraordinary person for future generation. He was a very strong individual and even Stalin's regime couldn't break his spirit and exacerbate his heart.

Boston 1997