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joseph filner, the son of polish jewish immigrants, was born in pittsburgh, pa, and used to work in his parents' bakery and drive the delivery truck. concerned about the conditions of workers at other bakeries, he became involved as an organizer for the bakers' union and later for the teamsters, steelworkers and other industrial unions. he enlisted in the army for world war ii, fighting with the 180th infantry regiment through north africa, italy, france and germany. he was among the american soldiers who witnessed the atrocities perpetrated by the nazis at dachau after his unit liberated the concentration camp. following the war, filner returned briefly to the bakery business, but thereafter recognized how important stainless steel scrap metal would become to american industry. he founded the stainless and alloy corporation of america, eventually expanding its scope of operations worldwide. in the process he also formed and operated considar inc., newmet corp., and project development inc.

kiril uspensky, born in 1915 in petrograd, spent 12 years in the red army, including service as an intelligence officer in world war ii. he had a foretaste of police terror in 1938 when he was arrested by n.k.v.d. police, accused of being a german spy, beaten unconscious, and then, just as abruptly, released. in four separate camps. by 1960, established as a writer in leningrad, uspensky was arrested again and sentenced to a five-year term for ''anti-soviet activity.'' he served four years of that term in four separate labor camps in the mordovian autonomous republic. on his release from the camp, uspensky took with him 14,000 note cards on which he had recorded prison argot. he photographed them and, with the help of an american friend, smuggled the film to the united states.

mikhail kukhar was one of the first journalists to cover economic issues for ukraine’s leading weekly newspaper zerkalo nedeli (zn) in 1995, together with alla yeremenko and mikhail kolomyets. his publications in zn during the late 1990s. kukhar went on to work as an assistant editor and editor of several economic magazines, an on- and off-record author of books on economics and economic programs for three successive governments, one presidential candidate and as economic analyst for a joint research project established by imf and world bank in ukraine. mikhail, who turned 40 this year, lectures on macroeconomics and administrates an open facebook account, promoting the ideas of economic liberalism. he is writing his first book, titled “popular macroeconomics.”