On 10 November 2025, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yuly Markovich Daniel was marked — a dissident, writer, translator, and one of the most significant authors whose works and personal fate became an essential part of the history of the Soviet and post-Soviet human rights movement.
For many, it was precisely his literary words that became a moral anchor. In his novella Moscow Speaks, Daniel wrote:
You must not allow yourself to be intimidated. You must take responsibility for yourself — and through this, you are responsible for others.
This phrase, devoid of pathos, became his own definition of civic courage — quiet, human, yet unbreakable.
Writing under the pseudonym Nikolai Arzhak, he created stories where irony coexisted with deep ethical meaning. In 1966, these very works became the basis for the first open political trial of the late USSR — the Sinyavsky–Daniel case. A court meant to prove that a work of fiction could be a “crime” instead turned the writer into one of the symbols of resistance to unfreedom.
Daniel endured five years in a strict-regime labor camp while preserving his dignity and his capacity for kindness. After his release, he continued to translate, write, and work — without loud declarations, simply by remaining true to himself.
The centenary of Yuly Daniel is more than a date on the literary calendar. It is a reminder of the power of honest words, the price of truth, and the fact that human responsibility always begins with a personal choice — the very one he wrote about.
A major feature dedicated to Yuly Daniel has been published by Novaya Gazeta: “Moscow Says Nothing.”