Why One Family Fled the Soviet Union to Establish a New Life in the United States

How Anti-Semitism in the USSR Caused One Family to Flee

[names and information about my family are withheld for privacy reasons]

In 1978, my mother, her brother, and their parents packed up their bags and fled the Soviet Union to establish a better life for themselves in the United States. Decades-long experience with anti-semitism finally culminated in the late 1970s, as my mother was reaching her early teenage years.

I was able to have a conversation with my babushka [бабушка] (grandmother in Russian) about what life was like for her growing up.

Her Childhood

My babushka (or "Baba" as I grew up calling her) provided some background before discussing why they finally decided to leave in 1978. She and her family were not religious Jews at the time; they were simply ethnic Jews, and she had no history or knowledge of Judaism. Her ethnically-Jewish father died when she was young, fighting for the Red Army against Germany in WWII. Growing up, she was proud of her father and loved him very much, especially for his sacrifice for the USSR. As my grandmother told me, there were many Jewish soldiers and officers in the Red Army. But, back at school, she remembers her peers teasing her and mocking her, stating that "no Jews fought for the Red Army."

My grandmother was one of three Russian Jews in her school. In the hallways, she would hear students whispering and glaring, but when she would go up to ask them what they were talking about, they would either feign ignorance or tell her that she was different because she was Jewish.

"You could feel it...'you're not like us'...'stay aside a little bit' "

Family friends had changed their last names to sound less Jewish. She wasn't taught about Jewish contributions to the Russian Empire or Soviet Union (in the army or in art, for example). 

Impact of Propaganda

"Never once in my childhood was the idea of leaving Russia for another country" because official propaganda convinced her that she was living in the "best country in the world" despite being hungry.

"That's how propaganda works - you don't see reality"

My grandmother couldn't change the TV or the music they could listen to, she was seeing and hearing the same thing everyone else was. She tells me that she knew she was a part of the "undesirable population in Russia" but never even considered leaving the USSR.

Possibility of Leaving the USSR

1967

When she graduated college, married, and had my mother, she started to notice that people were beginning the emigration process. In 1967, following the Six Days War between Israel and Arab states, and the Soviet Union cutting diplomatic ties with Israel, Russian Jews began to consider life outside of the USSR.

"Suddenly Russian Jews realized that Jews can fight, and can be strong, and don't need to lower our head...but be proud of being Jewish! [...] Inside, we started feeling that we are not the worst people on the Earth. Our brothers and sisters could stand up for their beliefs"

Israel became a viable option for Russian Jews to move to because it was a state made, led, and supported by other Jewish people. But, as my grandmother reinforced, the USSR did not have an emigration agency. No one could go to a government office and request to live in France or America, for example.

"It was unheard of - no one was allowed to leave Russia. Period."

1970

Another turning point came in 1970 with the Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair. Sixteen refuseniks (a term given to individuals, typically Russian Jews, who were not allowed to leave the USSR) attempted to take over an empty civilian plane and fly it to the West and escape the Soviet Union. However, it wasn't successful. But "internationally, it became very famous because it demonstrated that people did want to leave Russia." The Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair brought to light emigration issues (and anti-semitism / human rights abuses) in the USSR, forcing the government to change its policies. The world questioned why the Soviet Union was blocking a World War II human rights law that allowed families to reunite.

1974

The United States passed the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, where the US Congress suggested that they provided additionally funding to help pay for Russian Jewish settlement. "People would leave Russia after applying for legal permission to leave the country and move to Israel" using the American funds. My grandmother states that this was an "extremely important amendment" and "only at that time, we started talking [about leaving]." In fact, it was her father-in-law who initiated the conversation about them leaving the USSR.

"I was just scared about how difficult it might be [...] to uproot the life and leave the family behind and the jobs and the apartment and everything"

Late 1970s: The Turning Point

As my mother was growing up, my grandparents said that most important issue was to provide for her daughter (my mother) a good education.

Their Russian-Jewish friends started to leave the Soviet Union. But, the main motivation for her to uproot her family was because of my mother and her education. From an early child, my grandparents knew that "she was a very gifted child" and was growing up with high aspirations of attending the best university in the USSR. In particular, my mother wanted to attend the School of International Relations.

My grandmother had to tell her "Don't even dream! Don't even repeat this sentence! [...] They do not take Jews into that school" nor does Moscow University nor other major schools. My grandmother and grandfather said that "we have to find schools that do accept Jews."

  • But how would the schools know she [or another student] was Jewish?
    • My grandmother explained that there was discrimination during the testing required to apply to University. Tests were on five subjects: Russian language, foreign language, Physics, Chemistry, and History. They were written and oral exams.
    • The test administrator would pull students perceived to be Jewish aside after the test and ask additional test questions that were extremely difficult, and when the student wouldn't get the answer correct, they failed the entire exam.
    • With a failed test, the student could not get into the one University they were allowed to apply to.
    • The Soviet Government used this system to "kick Jewish kids as far away as they could"
    • Only the smartest Jewish student (such as one family friend who was on the Russian Math Olympiad team) would be allowed to attend Moscow University

At some point, my grandfather realized that this was not fair. They were done feeling discriminated against and treated as unequal citizens, despite the many sacrifices they made to the USSR.

"We brought this child to life, and because we are Jewish, we are limiting her from what she can achieve in life because that's the country we are living in ... [her education] was the most important reason of all other reasons considered" 

1977

My grandmother's Russian-Jewish friends were beginning to apply for emigration, and they decided to apply in May. Their friends were refuseniks and denied permission to leave Russia. My grandmother worried that the government would say no to them, but they received permission in December to emigrate. 

1978

My grandparents packed up their life in Russia, and took my mother and uncle (her brother, who was a toddler at the time). Their journey took them from country-to-country, including some time in Israel and Greece, before landing in Southern California. 

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Their difficult journey paid off: they felt welcomed by American society, and not just Jewish Americans. Fast-forward to 1983 - my mother graduated from High School in San Diego, CA as Valedictorian, and later attends Stanford University and gets her PhD from MIT.

To my grandmother, it was all worth it.

"Only here in America did I learn to be proud to be Jewish"

Other Information About the USSR and Anti-Semitism

First, she stated that anti-semitism by the government was not explicit - no teachers or government officials were isolating students or individuals explicitly on the basis that they were Jewish.

Second, she tells me that Jews were identified on their passports and birth certificate. Nicknamed the пятом пункте ("fifth paragraph"), individuals had to define their nationality. Their documentation would say [First name] [Father's Name] [Jew].