Missing: the Long Search for Boris Weisfeiler
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MA Pennis States math iprofessorng disappeared in Chile 18 years ago. His sister continues to search, fearful that he might be dead, but even more afraid that he might be alive. n Jan. 14, 1985, Olga Weis- ised to call his sister around Jan. 14, once feiler waited in Moscow he was settled back into State College. for a call from her brother. When the 14th elapsed with no call from Boris Weisfeiler was a 43- him, Olga was not too concerned. Then Oyear-old professor of mathematics at Penn the next day passed with no word. She says, State, a Russian-born U.S. citizen with a “I waited couple of days, then I began to penchant for long, solitary hikes in empty call him. Telephone didn’t answer.” country. He had backpacked alone in Si- Eighteen years later, Olga Weisfeiler beria, Uzbekistan, Alaska, the Canadian still does not know what happened to her North, and Peru. Olga didn’t understand brother. Chilean authorities eventually why he always had to hike alone. Once, declared that Boris had drowned trying after trekking in remote Canada, he had to cross a shallow river, but the story has alarmed her with stories about bears and several implausibilities, and no one has animal bones. “Animals are not danger- ever produced a body. Meanwhile, evi- ous,” he said. “People are.” dence has accumulated that Boris did not On Christmas Day 1984, Boris had meet an accidental death. Declassified flown to Chile for a few weeks of hiking documents indicate he was apprehended near the Argentine border. He had prom- by a Chilean army patrol that either killed by Dale Keiger 20 The Penn Stater January/February 2003 January/February 2003 The Penn Stater 21 him or turned him over to Colonia Dignidad, a mys- Science, the Chilean Truth and Reconciliation Com- Weisfeiler had been warned that the night at his house; Boris gave him chocolates, terious settlement of immigrant Germans that has mission, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. em- tea, and fishing lures as gifts. The next morning, been accused of serving Augusto Pinochet as a de- bassy in Chile, the Chilean embassy in the U.S., Penn backpacking alone in Chile might the farmer helped Weisfeiler cross to the north bank tention and torture center. State, and mathematicians around the world. She be dangerous. His reply: “This of the Nuble on horseback, and noticed that the Boris Weisfeiler is the lone American citizen has traveled to Washington and Santiago looking mathematician seemed experienced at crossing riv- among the 1,198 desaparecidos who vanished in for help. In Chile she gave interviews, met with hu- makes it even more interesting.” ers. Later that same day, José’s brother, Luis, who Chile during Pinochet’s 17 years of repressive rule. man rights investigators and activists, and published offer to join the faculty at Penn State. George was herding oxen, crossed Weisfeiler’s path. Luis The U.S. State Department regards his disappear- a public appeal in Chilean newspapers. She is Andrews, Evan Pugh professor of mathematics, re- went to the police in nearby El Roble to inform ance as an open case. Olga Weisfeiler has done ev- haunted by the possibility that her brother is still calls, “When Weisfeiler was hired, we in the depart- them of an unreported foreigner in the area. The erything she can imagine to find him. She has en- alive. “I sincerely wish he didn’t live through this ment regarded this as a real coup. He had a very local constabulary appeared alarmed. Two, possi- listed the aid of U.S. senators and representatives. horror,” she says. “But we don’t know, and I need substantial international reputation.” His research bly three, police set off on horseback to look for She has appealed to the American Jewish Congress, to know. I need to be sure.” was mostly in algebra. In State College he lived in Weisfeiler. They found nothing, they later reported, Amnesty International, the Committee of Con- an apartment in Toftrees and liked going to mov- but a single set of bootprints ending at the bank of cerned Scientists, the Human Rights Program of lga lives with her 20-year-old daughter Anna ies, reading, and playing with his friends’ children. the Los Sauces. the American Association for the Advancement of O in a rented house in Newton, Mass. On ev- He became a U.S. citizen in 1981. Olga says, “He For several months, all that Olga knew was that ery shelf, on every wall, in every nook of the house was exceptionally proud to be an American, and felt Boris was missing. “It seemed that nobody could are artifacts from Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Peru: protected by having an American passport.” do anything,” she recalls. “I had no information.” vases, urns, pitchers, figurines, many of them When he decided to go to Chile at the end of 1984, She kept calling friends of his in the States, and in Santiago brought back for her by Boris. Olga has a round he told a mathematician friend, David Kazhdan, “I March, three months after his disappearance, learned face, high cheekbones, and graying wavy hair, and want to wander, relax, and not see anyone.” The that the Sociedad Matemática de Chile had hired a most looks like her brother around her eyes. She is mother of another colleague had relatives in Lima, private investigator named Oscar Durán. Durán filed 59 years old and often limps these days, or confines Peru, and warned Boris that Chile might be danger- a report that repeated the story of the police search herself to her sofa, after a 1995 auto accident that ous for a lone backcountry traveler. He replied, “This and the footprints leading to the river, and described injured her neck and left her on total disability. She makes it even more interesting.” the recovery of the backpack, which Durán said had speaks English with a Russian accent and syntax, been pulled from the water by a fisherman. Missing but with full command. She learned after she immi- ere is what is known about Weisfeiler’s trek from the pack were Weisfeiler’s passport, his return grated from the Soviet Union in 1988. H in Chile: He arrived in Santiago on Christ- plane ticket, his camera, and some currency. She pulls out a Lord & Taylor gift box, which mas, then traveled to Los Angeles, a city about 360 In Moscow, as soon as Olga read Durán’s report C H I L E has a vibrant red rose printed on its top. Inside are miles to the south, and spent the night at the hotel she was suspicious. She says, “Was very strong im- hundreds of documents declassified by the U.S. gov- Mariscal Alcazar. He apparently intended to hike pression that he did not investigate. He just come ernment in 2000. Some of them say that her brother north until he was in the mountains well east of the to police and ask questions.” And there was a pecu- is dead. Others say he was still alive more than two town of Chillan, then head west to San Carlos be- liar sentence in the report: “The possibility that Dr. years after his disappearance. What is not in the Lord fore returning to Santiago. On Jan. 3, a farmer Weisfeiler entered Dignidad Colony [sic] can be Colonia Dignidad & Taylor box is a single definitive word on what named José López Benavides encountered him 18 discarded since it is more than 100 Km. from the L became of Boris Weisfeiler. kilometers from the confluence of the Nuble and place where he was last seen.” If it was so far from o San Carlos s S a Los Sauces rivers. López invited Weisfeiler to spend Weisfeiler’s last known whereabouts, why was u c N e u b s hen he came to the States in 1975, l R e Rive r Chillan i v e Weisfeiler brought two small suitcases, r W 1984 1985 containing mostly papers and books, and a knap- Dec. 24–25 Jan. 3 Jan. 4 sack stuffed with hiking gear. “He came without Penn State math professor A farmer encounters Weisfeiler crosses the Nuble Boris Weisfeiler, 43, flies from Weisfeiler near the confluence on horseback. The farmer’s Los Angeles money, without anything,” Olga recalls. “But the State College to Santiago for a of the Nuble and Los Sauces brother encounters moment he left Moscow, he started to help family.” solo hiking trip in Chile. rivers and invites Weisfeiler to Weisfeiler and reports him He sent back books, clothes, things that Olga could spend the night at his house. to the local police. Police sell for cash to help her get by in Russia. He would Jane Shasky; previous page: © 2003 David Binder look for Weisfeiler, but report call home and talk to his mother. A paralyzing stroke finding only a set of bootprints ending at the edge of the Los Weisfeiler apparently spent about a week had left her unable to speak; she could only cry into Sauces River. backpacking north from the city of Los Angeles, the phone. Chile. He was last seen crossing the Nuble River, He was first hired by the Institute for Advanced near its confluence with the Los Sauces River. Studies at Princeton. A year later, he accepted an Courtesy of Olga Weisfeiler 22 The Penn Stater January/February 2003 January/February 2003 The Penn Stater 23 Colonia Dignidad mentioned at all? And what was to write letters request- Boris “presumed deceased.” of Colonia Dignidad: “When we came to a place it? Olga did research and became alarmed.