Survival In Russia by Lois Fisher

Author:Lois Fisher [Fisher, Lois]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Russia & the Former Soviet Union, Europe, Former Soviet Republics
ISBN: 9780813386300
Google: 9qZxQgAACAAJ
Publisher: Avalon Publishing
Published: 1993-05-02T15:56:30+00:00

5

Babushka Natasha

MOSCOW USED TO BE a restful island for my soul—a place where I could refuel with new energy. My friends spoiled me with their love and attention. Their problems became mine, and we solved them together. I was moved to hear “When you come the sun begins to shine” or to receive a New Year’s card with the message, “If you disappear, Lois, my life will be dark, awful, and without miracles.” It was gratifying to be needed.

Perestroika had opened the emigration door for many old friends whom I had met at the end of the 1970s when I lived in Moscow. At first I tried to discourage them from leaving. “Perestroika will give you the opportunity to fulfill your dreams,” I said. They answered, “It will take at least two generations before reforms will be felt.” I continued my arguments, “In a new country it will be difficult to find a good job and close friends like the ones you are leaving behind.” The response was always the same. “I must think about my childrens future.” Many of my friends left the country between 1987 and 1992, and I miss them when I come to Moscow.

Moscow had also become depressing for another reason. From summer 1990 until the following summer, every visit was accompanied by bad news and insolvable problems. In the cozy surroundings of my one-room flat my friends were used to receiving an infusion of hope and energy. Suddenly I felt as helpless as they.

In the early 1980s everyone worried about the threat of a third world war. Ten years later they feared civil war, hunger, pogroms, and crime. When I arrived at the airport during the winter of 1991, Masha, the adventurer, reprimanded me for bringing a fur coat. “That might cost your life,” she said. She had recently been beaten up by two prostitutes, whom the police released without making any charges. The prostitutes were angry that Masha had not permitted them to join the delegation of foreigners she was dining with in a restaurant. Anatoly told me about the murder of two men in front of his house. Natashas dacha was vandalized. A Russian driver was beaten up in a parking lot and then stripped of his fashionable Western clothing. A taxi driver threatened to throw a German cameraman out of his cab on a dark rainy night if he did not pay in dollars. If my friends dared to walk on the streets at night, they usually carried some kind of protection, such as tear gas or a whistle. The private ownership of guns is strictly controlled, but this does not discourage peopie from purchasing weapons on the black market.

When Larissa returned to Moscow from a trip abroad she saw a banner in front of a school. It read, “Jews, leave the country.” The wife of a German diplomat, who spoke German in the subway, was told by a drunken passenger, “You don’t belong here.”

A walk through my neighborhood was no more encouraging than the news I heard.

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