Soviet Jewish Aliyah, 1989-92 by Clive A. Jones

Author:Clive A. Jones [Jones, Clive A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Social Science, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781135242695
Google: vdyNAQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-10-18T15:59:00+00:00

The Soviet Olim: A Profile

The motives behind any significant migration of an ethnic group can be both multifarious and complex. None the less, any understanding of such patterns remains dependent upon both ‘pull’ and ‘push’ factors: the attraction of a new life outside existing national borders; and the need to escape a perceived threat, however diffuse it may appear to the group or individual.4

The push factors behind Soviet Jewish migration were readily identifiable. Increased concern at socio-economic instability, combined with a rise in interstate and ethnic tension throughout the USSR, proved incentive enough for many Jews to leave. Far from restructuring the Soviet economy, perestroika and glasnost destroyed the conceptual basis of the Soviet Union, and allowed resurgent nationalism to dominate the political agenda. Throughout the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, Jews became increasingly concerned at the strength of indigenous nationalism and overt displays of anti-Semitism that accompanied the rise of national movements.5

The most visible proponent of anti-Jewish sentiment in the Soviet Union was Pamyat, a neo-fascist organization which openly blamed Jews for the parlous state of the Soviet economy. While it failed to implement a threatened pogrom against the Russian Jewish community in May 1990, many Jews did receive anonymous telephone calls and notes on doorsteps threatening violence on certain days. Such action, though falling short of outright violence, increased the psychological pressure on a community whose collective consciousness recalled all too vividly the pogroms of the nineteenth century. Elsewhere, other Jewish communities were not so lucky. In Audizhan, Uzbekistan, the 5,000 strong Jewish community was attacked. While nobody was killed, women were raped and some 150 privately owned artisans’ shops were destroyed. Although physical attacks upon Jews and their property remained the exception rather than the rule, the latent fear of anti-Semitism proved crucial in the decision to emigrate. The activities of groups such as Pamyat were welcomed by some on the right wing in Israel, who believed that the Jewish State could only be a net beneficiary of any rise in anti-Semitic prejudice throughout the USSR.6

The momentum behind the initial stages of migration was maintained, and often increased, by the activities of the Jewish Agency’s shlichim, Israelis who helped expedite the emigration of Jews throughout the Soviet diaspora to the Jewish State. Their activities, however, came to be criticized within Israel once the magnitude of the social and economic burden facing Israeli society came to be realized. Shlichim were accused of inflating both the real threat posed by anti-Semitism within the Soviet Union, and the material benefits to be had in Israel once an immigrant had made aliyah. According to one journalist, prospective emigrants were told ‘that work can be found quickly and is abundant, accommodation is no problem, and that they would learn Hebrew with little difficulty’.7

Other push factors helped contribute to the growing exodus of Soviet Jewry. Most notable among these was the ecological catastrophe at Chernobyl, the deleterious environmental impact of which contributed to the growing volume of Jews seeking to leave the Ukraine.

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