Activism
Involvement in political activism in Eastern Europe has started from the Prague Spring of 1968. Later in his life, Thorolf Rafto got, particularly, supportive of the liberal ideas of the Czechoslovak reformists such as Alexander Dubcek and Jiri Hajek. In 1973, Thorolf Rafto travelled to Odessa, where he witnessed the persecution of intellectuals and Jewish refuseniks, who had applied for emigration to Israel. On the return from the Soviet Union, Rafto wrote an article criticizing internal Soviet politics in Italy's Corriere della Sera, that later was published in Norway and Denmark. Later, in March 1984 he was awarded the Danish Jewish Youth Organisation’s Ben-Adam Prize for his efforts on behalf of the Soviet Jews.
In 1979, Rafto travelled again to Prague to hold a lecture for students excluded from the universities for political reasons. However, he was brutally beaten up by the communist security police and had to come back to Norway. In 1981, Rafto made several trips to Poland to work closer with labour organisations there.
By 1985 his health was weakening. On 4 November 1986 Thorolf Rafto died.
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