Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (1918 – 2008) was a Russian novelist, philosopher, historian, short story writer, and political prisoner. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union (USSR), in particular the Gulag system.

Solzhenitsyn was born into a family that defied the USSR anti-religious campaign (1921–1928) and remained devout members of the Russian Orthodox Church. While still young, Solzhenitsyn lost his faith in Christianity and became a firm believer in both atheism and Marxism–Leninism; in his later life, he gradually became a philosophically-minded Eastern Orthodox Christian as a result of his experience in prison and the camps.

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