The Status of Jews in the USSR

[ladislav]

The status of the Jews in the USSR was similar to that of ethnic Chinese in Malaysia and Indonesia. Or to ethnic Koreans and Chinese in Japan. Not 100%, but pretty much kind of like that.

You were considered a non-indigenous ethnicity ( in those languages, there is no difference between ethnicity and nationality) whose country lay beyond the USSR borders ( it was Israel/Palestine, that is). So, a Ukrainian and an Armenian person were indigenous, but you were not.

Supposedly, the nationality had to be Soviet, but they did not really implement it to such a degree. They would declare citizenship to be different from nationality.

You would be a citizen of USSR, but a person of Hebrew Nationality.

In all your IDs and other personal documents, it said: “ Nationality: Hebrew”. As such, you were de facto- and even kind of de jure, a foreign resident.

Other non-indigenous nationalities/ethnicities were ethnic Greeks, ethnic Germans, ethnic Poles and ethnic Finns. And Jews were ethnic Hebrews, basically. All born in the country, but still considered non-indigenous. These two were often persecuted, but this is for another post.

How did it affect your daily life? Initially, it was OK and everyone had equal rights, and Jews moved into the ruling echelons and many were doing very well.

But culturally, Orthodox Christian societies are very anti-Jewish. Even as they became Communist, the old prejudices resurfaced when Stalin came to power. The Jews lost their positions and many were arrested and even shot. A lot of them would be discriminated at work place and also harassed in social situations. Slavs can usually tell by facial features that a person is Jewish. Plus, you have strange names such as Goldstein, Steinberg, etc.

Having said that, there were areas in USSR as well as time periods in which Jews could live normal lives, succeed professionally and be like any other citizen. But it was all very spotty and situational. This decade it is all fine, and this city is very friendly and accepting, and suddenly, the next decade it gets worse and the welcome in the city starts wearing thin.

There were quotas on Jews at work places and universities. And even Jews themselves would discriminate against their own. They would not want to hire other Jews because they would be accused of favoritism. Usually, the more remote the area, they easier it would be for Jews to fit in. The Soviet Far East was very friendly to them, for example. Siberia was very welcoming, but they were welcoming of everybody.

Most Jews had to be very well educated and work twice as hard to not be discriminated against, and tokens got high positions. For the masses, though it was spotty. Some did OK, and some did not.

When the Arab- Israeli wars started, the socialist countries of the East decided to take the Arab side and form a voting block with Muslim countries at the UN. This way, they would have more power in their opposition to the West. This reflected on the treatment of the Jewish population inside the country. Suddenly people who had nothing to do with Israel became portrayed as the 5th column, Western agents, Zionists, etc. Many more got discriminated against in university admissions, trade union membership and in daily lives.

Having said that, as with any discrimination, it did not happen to 100% of people in 100% of situations. You could move to a remote area. Or you had family connections. Or just happened to be living in a non-anti-Semitic area. So, you would see Jews who were lucky and who had never experienced anything like that.

It is the same with the way black people got treated in the USA. There were blacks who never experienced any bad treatment through just pure luck and having connections, living in good states, but a significant %% did.

In conclusion, the situation was a mixed bag with the Jews and a larger %% of them left than stayed. No matter what those lucky few would say, the Jews have always been seen as a foreign, non indigenous nation. Same as Gypsies. And it has always been precarious there for them.

A lot of Americans cannot relate to that because if they are born in the USA, it is home for them. But being born in those countries still does not mean you belong.