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Saving the History of Soviet Jewry Before it Disappears

The Wende Museum is now seeking archives, documents, photos and materials related to the experiences of Russian-speaking Jews who left the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.
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April 15, 2021
Courtesy Wende Museum

Protests. Sit-ins. Boycotts. Marching in the streets. A political rally on the National Mall attended by a quarter million people.

It may sound like a description of the past year, but this activism actually took place in the 1970s and 1980s, as part of an international movement to pressure the Soviet government to allow Jews to safely emigrate from the USSR. That movement was one of the most well-organized and effective advocacy campaigns in recent history.

Throughout the first decades of the Cold War, Jews in the former Soviet Union were isolated, largely unable to practice their religion, move freely or even communicate with the outside world. And although Jews outside of the country were vocal with their protests, the Jews inside the Soviet Union were far from silent.

From the 1960s onward, Soviet Jews began exploring the possibilities and perils of living as practicing Jews in the country — or leaving. Although small numbers of Jews were permitted to depart in the 1970s and 1980s, countless applied. Every person who requested to leave the Soviet Union risked losing employment, privileges, social status and connection with friends and family. Jews whose applications to leave were refused earned the label “Refusenik.”

From 1989 to 1994, about 1.5 million Jews left the Soviet Union and established new communities in Israel, the United States and Germany, expanding the Russian-speaking diaspora. This influx had an immediate impact on the local communities where they settled, infusing their adopted homes with new cultural traditions, Russian cuisine, music and a unique Jewish identity that resulted from years of isolation and systemic repression.

Courtesy Wende Museum

But when the USSR collapsed in the early 1990s, media attention on the lives of former Soviet Jews began to dwindle. Important stories of rebellion, survival and emigration have been lost to time. But the past is now becoming history. Driven by a renewed interest in Russia and themes of protest and social justice, a new generation of scholars and specialists are seeking to understand the significance and contributions of the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora.

A new generation of scholars and specialists are seeking to understand the significance and contributions of the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora.

Although a large collection of documents related to the American movement to free Soviet Jews is safely ensconced in the American Jewish Historical Society in New York, other archives related to the Soviet Jews themselves — such as the Samizdat (“underground”) materials that were secretly produced and distributed — are scattered around the world. Mainly in Russia and Israel, these documents hide under beds or in closets and linger in private collections.

The scattered nature of these documents raises numerous conservation concerns. Above all, critical materials remain inaccessible to those who need and want them. Without these primary sources, scholars cannot write books and articles, and museums cannot curate exhibitions, making it difficult to “spread the word” about one of the most important movements of the 20th century.

Fortunately, our organization, the Culver City-based Wende Museum of the Cold War, is working with former Refusenik Aleksander Smukler to preserve a collection of important underground Russian-language Jewish periodicals, which provide unique insight into the grassroots movement from the inside. These materials will be made accessible to everyone through the museum’s online collections and exhibitions, including this fall’s exhibit, “Jewish Life in the Soviet Union,” featuring the photography of Bill Aron and Yevgeniy Fiks and underwritten by Edward B. and Peggy J. Robin.

The Wende Museum is now seeking archives, documents, photos and materials related to the experiences of Russian-speaking Jews who left the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. They will have a permanent home in the museum archives and online alongside oral history interviews with Refuseniks, which have been made possible through the Fiona Chalom and Joel Aronowitz Historical Witness Project.

Ensuring the preservation of at-risk and endangered collections can foster understanding of a significant chapter in Jewish history, one that changed the demographics and character of communities around the world, including in the United States. After all, history is not just what happened before. It is also the story of how we got to where we are, and who we are.


Justinian Jampol is executive director of the Wende Museum and Edward B. Robin is former chairman of the National Conference for Soviet Jewry. For more information about the project or to donate materials, please contact the Wende’s head of collections Christine Rank, crank@wendemuseum.org.

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