Evgeny Nikolaevich Kryakin,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
“Jews in the Soviet Union to Be!” The Problem of Choosing the Path of Life of Soviet Jewry in the Years of Late Perestroika
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2022-1-18
Since 1968, Jews have been able to leave the USSR as part of repatriation to Israel. The restrictions imposed on this process made it impossible to repatriate the entire Jewish population of the USSR. In 1976, M.A. Chlenov voiced the idea of the possibility of developing an independent Jewish culture in the USSR in a dialogue with the Soviet authorities. In the 1970s, this idea seemed hardly achievable, but the political shifts after 1985 revived the frozen processes of an independent national life. Soviet Jews got an opportunity to develop their independent culture outside of repatriation, to remain themselves while still living in the Soviet Union. The article shows that this was not a consequence of the assimilation of Soviet Jewry, but aliyah was not perceived as the only possible option for the development of Jewish life.
Publishing: 28/02/2022
The article has been received by the editor on 01.12.2021
How to cite: Kryakin E.N. “Jews in the Soviet Union to Be!” The Problem of Choosing the Path of Life of Soviet Jewry in the Years of Late Perestroika // Historical Courier, 2022, No. 1 (21), pp. 217–225. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2022/ISTKURIER-2022-1-18.pdf]
The collection of archival materials was carried out during the author's work in the framework of the research seminar “Jews of Stagnation and Fracture (1971–1992)”, organized by the Jewish Museum and the Tolerance Center in 2021.
Links: Issue 1 2022
Keywords: Soviet Jewry, repatriation, aliyah, social organization, Vaad USSR, Perestroika, M. Members, communities, Jews