Si Frumkin appeared on a number of TV and radio shows and has contributed articles to countless magazines and newspapers. Si Frumkin taught a number of college level courses on Eastern Europe, Jewish history, and the Middle East. In Los Angeles Si Frumkin worked closely with Zev Yaroslavsky who was SCCSJ executive director for 5 years and who headed the Calif. Students for Soviet Jews before being elected to L.A. City Council, and in 1995 to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.
Si Frumkin is currently the associate editor and columnist for the California-based Russian-language weekly 'Panorama', as well as a free-lance contributor to a number of national and international publications Si Frumkin founded the Southern California Council for Soviet Jews - an independent activist organization
Si Frumkin publishes Graffiti for Intellectuals - a biweekely newsletter. Contact Si Frumkin Subscribe to our Free Newsletter Articles from other authors Change Language
Welcome to Si Frumkin web site! Los Angeles Panorama. Si Frumkin lives now in Los Angeles Si Frumkin is a member of the Board of Directors of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. Si Frumkin had been appointed to the L.A. City Human Relations Commission in 1993, and in 2002 to the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Board.

Si Frumkin was born in Lithuania, in 1930. He spent the war in a number of concentration camps and was liberated from Dachau by the U.S. Army in 1945, at the age of 14.

After studying in Switzerland and England he immigrated to Venezuela in 1948. In 1949 he was admitted to New York University, graduating in 1953. He then moved to California to work for a textile firm whose presidency he assumed in 1965. In 1964 he earned a Master's Degree in history by taking night courses at U.C.Northridge.

In Los Angeles Frumkin worked closely with Zev Yaroslavsky who was SCCSJ executive director for 5 years and who headed the Calif. Students for Soviet Jews before being elected to L.A. City Council, and in 1995 to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. Under Frumkin's leadership the SCCSJ led the way in activities that were eventually adopted by organizations elsewhere. The first pickets and demonstrations at cultural and athletic events, Candlelight Walk rallies with tens of thousands of participants, direct phone calls and letters to Soviet Jews, over a million of specially designed greeting cards mailed to the USSR, Prisoner of Conscience medallions with 200,000 distributed world­wide.

Frumkin, who is fluent in Russian, kept in close contact with Jewish activists in the USSR.  In  1973 he visited the Soviet Union bringing out film and photographs that were featured on national TV and print media. In 1989 he participated in the first-ever Union of Councils meeting in the Soviet Union, visited several cities, and met hundreds of Soviet Jewish activists.  He visited Russia again in 1989, 1990 and 1993, and has served as a host and interpreter for a number of Russian dignitaries visiting Los Angeles.  Frumkin appeared on a number of TV and radio shows and has contributed articles to countless magazines and newspapers. He taught a number of college level courses on Eastern Europe, Jewish history, and the Middle East. He is currently the associate editor and columnist for the California-based Russian-language weekly "Panorama", as well as a free-lance contributor to a number of national and international publications.   He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, had been appointed to the L.A. City Human Relations Commis­sion in 1993, and in 2002 to the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Board. In 2006 he was the honoree at the Israeli Independence Day celebration in Los Angeles that drew over 40,000 participants.

Frumkin has been very involved in legislation and campaigns dealing with restitution to Holocaust survivors worldwide. He has interviewed close to a 100 Russian-speaking survivors for the Spielberg Shoah Foundation and has acted as a consultant and witness to California political leaders. The SCCSJ "Graffiti for Intellectuals", a bi-weekly journal of commentary by Frumkin and others is sent to over 1000 opinion makers, political leaders, and influential individuals and organizations worldwide.

Frumkin participates in the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Outreach programs, has gone on international missions to China and Japan for the opening of Holocaust exhibits there and is an active advocate of the campaign to free Jonathan Pollard.

In 1987 Frumkin retired from his business and is now devoting his time to public service, lecturing, writing, and whatever else has to be done. He has two adult sons, four grandchildren, and lives in Studio City with his wife Ella and two dogs.


Si Frumkin at a Jewish Brigade truck in refugee camp in Italy 1945.

Nuns signing a petition to "Let Jews Go!" in Los Angeles, December 1969.

Meeting Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson, Los Angeles 1975.

Picketing Soviet art exhibit at L.A. County Art Museum, 1978.

Dinner at the Reagan White House, 1987.

Si in Israel in 1990.

Si Frumkin publishes Graffiti for Intellectuals - a biweekely newsletter.
home of Si Frumkin website In 1989 Si Frumkin participated in the first-ever Union of Councils meeting in the Soviet Union, visited several cities, and met hundreds of Soviet Jewish activists.
Si Frumkin Newsletters Si Frumkin co-founded and served as president of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews that became the largest independent Soviet Jewry organization with over 100,000 members in more than 40 cities.
Si Frumkin Publications
Si Frumkin Biography
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Contact Si Frumkin
Si Frumkin Website
Si Frumkin Website
Candlelight Walk for the Soviet Jews in Los Angeles in December 1969.
Si Frumkin has been very involved in legislation and campaigns dealing with restitution to Holocaust survivors worldwide