The college paper

SVETLANA VELKOVSKAYA:
A person who tries if any other door is open.

Svetlana Velkovskaya is my friend. She is Russian Jew and lives in the U.S. for five years. The interview was taken 20 Nov 2004 at SvetlanaЎЇs house in McLean, Virginia.

  YW: Hi, Sveta.

   SV: Hi, Lena.

YW: Why did you live Russia and in  what year?

SV:   I left Russia in 1993. The question is why. Well, it started not in one day. As you probably

know, Russia like whole Europe was not free of anti-Semitism, and I experienced it in my life.

To be honest I was a not a member of any Jewish community and did not know anything about

my nationality, except one line in my birth certificate. This information was available at school,

and in other questionnaires and documents. And I felt that my future life in that country would not

be easy. As an example I can tell that I found a wonderful place to work after I finished my first

University. I was accepted to that place, but later when I filled out all the forms my application

was denied.

YW: What did you do in Israel?

SV:  As a result I immigrated to Israel. In Israel I decided to go to study. I planned to gain

another degree, and to improve my Hebrew at the same time. I was lucky. I started working as a

tutor in the University. But of course from the very beginning I accepted any possible work as

babysitting and cleaning the houses, tutoring at school.

YW: What language did you speak there?

SV: In Israel I spoke Hebrew and Russian. My English was not good for communication at that time.

YW: Why did you move to America?

SV: My husbandЎЇs Software company moved to the U.S. and proposed him a position here. He

accepted it and we moved to the U.S.

YW: How did you learn English?

SV: I started my English studies at school in Russia, when I was in 4th grade. But the level of

language education there in ordinary school was poor. I knew lots of the words which I was not

able to use in real life, because they were too special. Like, for example: struggle for peace,

nuclear weapon, etc. Before I came here I took few lessons in Israel. My teacher worked in BBC

when she was young and lived in the Great Britain. We read the books and discussed interesting

topics. She didnЎЇt speak Hebrew, so English was the only way I could communicate with her.

YW: What country are you citizen of?

SV: Israel.

YW: Where is your family ЁC parents or siblings?

SV: My mom and my younger brother live in Israel.

YW: How are you adapted in the U.S.?

SV: I came to this country at the end of 1999. It was pretty good situation on the work-market. I found

my first job easily in one month. But it took more than six months to get a working visa. At the very

beginning I didnЎЇt have any American friends. I didnЎЇt have a car and wasnЎЇt able to go anywhere to find

new friends. No computer neither. But we werenЎЇt alone here. My husbandЎЇs college friend and his ex-

coworker lived in Maryland, so we were not totally lost. At the same time one of my husbandЎЇs new co-

workers invited us to his house a few times. His wife came to me to exchange Hebrew-English, and it

helped me a little.

YW: How long ago youЎЇve been in Russia and what you think is going on there?

SV: IЎЇve never been in Russia since I left eleven years ago, but I have a lot of the friends there. I think

that the country experiencing itЎЇs unique transformation from socialism to capitalism, from totalitarizm

to democracy. ItЎЇs not easy, thatЎЇs why there are a lot of troubles at this point. But I think that the

country has a great potential, and it will find its place in the civilized world with new status. The

economic situation of this country is difficult as a result of this political transformation. As I understand

the layer called Ў°middle classЎ± disappeared lately. There are very rich and poor and very poor people. It

supposes to stabilize later starting from the capitals (Moscow, S-Petersburg), and we can see that the

process is stated. Well, IЎЇm not an expertЎ­

YW: What do you think about the process of migration in Russia and why people leave their country?

SV: The main reason why people leave their country is that they cannot find their place in the changing

situation. Some people donЎЇt want to wait when the country will create the same rainbow of the

opportunities as there are in the world. I think that the immigrants are very strong and smart people.

Have you ever seen in the office-building that all people use only one of four doors? There is a long line

to enter. Suddenly, one person tries if any other door is open. This person potentially can be an emigrant.

So, people leave to have more opportunities, to have better life for themselves and their families. Some of

them are planning to come back to their country later with new experience which can make them unique

specialists, for example.

YW: What nationality do you identify yourself with?

SV: I am Jew with Russian roots, I guess.

YW: Thank you very much for answering my questions, Svetlana.

SV: YouЎЇre welcome.



Svetlana Velkovskaya is one of the many Russian immigrants among my friends. But she is

not only Russian, she is also Jew.  It was never easy being Jewish in Russia, original home of

pogrom. Some time ago, Tsarina Elizabeth expelled the few Jews in her kingdom, declaring that she

did not want to have any profit from the enemies of Christ (Kessner 160). So, the history of the

relationship between Jews and Russian government has not never been easy. The First wave of

Russian immigration to America was the Jews who were escaping the Pale of Settlement (territory

established in 1786 after the division of Poland where Jews were compelled to live).

But to be an Ё¦migrЁ¦ by itself is very challenging. The history forces people to leave their

homes for the different reasons. To find a new place for living for each of the emigrants is a real

trial. To find a Ў°new homeЎ± means not only the simple act of moving but also a spiritual and culture

experience, when a person tries to fit him- or herself in the new environment. 

Svetlana compares the potential emigrant with the person who tries Ў°if any other door is openЎ±,

while the other people stand in a long line waiting to enter. Such persons should be smart and open-

minded as Svetlana Velkovskaya is.

She has an experience of moving from Russia to Israel and from Israel to America. The

reason she left the USSR was politically reasonable in the 1990s, when Russian Jews were free

to leave under President Mikhail Gorbachev.  In the article Ў°Rush from RussiaЎ±, The Economist 19 Jan

1990, it says Ў°The Soviet Zionists who argued their way to Israel in the late 1970s were enthusiasts. The

new wave is different. Few have sought freedom to study Hebrew; they have not recently been harassed

by Soviet security men, nor been deprived of jobs for applying for permission to leave. Most would prefer

to go to the United StatesЎ±. But it argues with what Svetlana said about her experience being Jewish in

Russia in 1990s: Ў°Ў­when I filled out the forms my application was deniedЎ±.  The anti-Semitism

movement in Russia has never gone, it is matter of how strong it is in certain time.



The willingness to escape the pursuits of the government was not inherent in only the Jews. The

country that they tried escape was the U.S.S.R. ЁC Ў°the devil empireЎ±. Despite the fact that Jews are the

most persecuted folks there was a time during Soviet period when many people tried to save themselves

and their families using their Jewish origin as an excuse to leave the country. Somehow to be Sovetic was

worse than to be Jew.  Ў°In the dЁ¦tente of the early 1970s, the Soviets agreed to allow as many as 250, 000

citizens to emigrate, a move prompted by the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the 1974 Trade act, which

demanded that Soviet authorities lift the ban on the immigration of the Jews. In theory, only Jews and

Armenians Ў°seeking to reuniteЎ± with family members could leave. In practice, many others emigrated,

including left-political dissidents, scientists, writers, artists, human-rights activists, and other

Ў°undesirablesЎ±. Unlike the earlier waves of East European Jewish emigrants many of whom spoke Yiddish

as their native language, the Russian Jews of the recent immigration spoke Russian and were culturally

Russian.Ў±(www.fas.harvard.edu) The confirmation of these facts we can find in SvetlanaЎЇs recognition of

herself as Ў°Jew with Russian rootsЎ±. Larissa Remennick says in her article Ў°Transnational community in

the making: Russian-Jewish immigrants of the 1990s in IsraelЎ± that Ў°across the multi-ethnic U.S.S.R., the

Russian language was dominant as both official and everyday language for most urban residents,

especially for educated professionals and white-collar workers. Ў­ Soviet Jews Ў­belonged to the core of

Russian intelligentsia and took active part in the very creation of twentieth-century Russian-Soviet culture.

Hence the strength of the umbilical cord connecting Russian Jewish identity with Russian cultural

tradition.Ў± (Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, July 2002)

The adaptation in the new country was not an easy process for Svetlana: she had to work in

different places to learn a new language. In her case she had to learn even two new languages ЁC Hebrew

and English, besides her native Russian.


As Larissa Remennick says, Ў°full time loyalty to one country and one culture is no longer

self-evident: people may divide their physical pastime, effort and identity between several societiesЎ±.

SvetlanaЎЇs identity implies not only her Russian roots and Jewish recent past, but also American present.

She has a job in America and a place to live. She uses English on a daily basis and her family lives in the

American community. Even though she is formally a citizen of Israel, her picture of the world includes

many pieces like a mosaic. All of them create a new image, Ў°a whole new qualityЎ±.

Ў°In psycho-social terms, immigrant/transnational identity and personality become increasingly

Ў®elasticЎЇ, if not Ў®fluidЎЇ, being constantly shaped and reshaped by multiple influences from the different

societies migrants actually live inЎ± (Remennick). Svetlana Velkovskaya is bright example of such a

migrant with her experience of living in the different countries. Adapting all cultures and languages she

stays by herself, finding a right place in this world. She is a person who is looking forward possible

opportunities, who creates her own identity.



WORKS CITED

Kessner, Thomas and betty Boyd Caroli. TodayЎЇs Immigrants, Their Stories: A New Look at the
Newest Americans. NY: Oxford University Press, 1982.

Remennick, Larissa. Ў°Transnational community in the making: Russian-Jewish immigrants of
the 1990s in Israel.Ў± Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies July 2002: 28. InfoTrac: Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale Group. Anne Arundel CC, Truxal Lib., Arnold MD. 14 Oct. 2004
Ў°Rush from Russia. (Russian Jews immigrating to Israel)Ў± The Economist (US) Jan. 13 1990: 314.
InfoTrac: Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale Group. Anne Arundel CC, Truxal Lib., Arnold MD. 14 Oct. 2004  
Russian and Eastern Europeans in America. 19 Oct. 2004