When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry (87 page)

The Soviet Jews were among the first to demand these rights, but they had been on the frontlines of the other major attack against the integrity of the Soviet empire. Through the coldest years of the Cold War, they had insisted that their own national, tribal interests be respected. The swift domino collapse of the Eastern bloc and then the Soviet empire that occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s had as much to do with a hunger for democracy as it did with this purely nationalist desire. Everyone wanted an "exodus" from the Soviet Union. In the end, even the state of Russia opted out of the empire. The refuseniks had demanded these national rights persistently and loudly for decades before the final moment. Gorbachev understood that allowing the Soviet Jews their freedom was one of the concessions he had to make—and once he'd made it, there was no end to the concessions until the Soviet Union was no longer.

The Soviet Jewry movement cannot claim responsibility for finally shoving the Soviet state off the cliff—there were too many other factors responsible for that—but the existential challenge it posed in many ways presaged the end. It's the reason the Soviets always felt threatened by the movement. They knew that once they allowed Jews to leave, they would have a crisis on their hands. Every other ethnic group that wanted a separate identity would follow. The right to leave gave one the chance to vote with his or her feet—that's why Andrei Sakharov so valued and supported the movement. He knew that if Soviet leaders capitulated on this right, they would quickly find a cascade of other rights crashing down on their heads. And this is what happened.

Perhaps it was an unintended consequence. Certainly the Soviet Jews who wanted out and the American Jews who helped them weren't thinking about bringing down the Soviet Union—though they probably fantasized about it. For them, a second exodus meant a second chance. In many ways, it was a final chapter to the chaos wrought by World War II. By devoting themselves to saving their brethren, American Jews felt they could stand tall as a community, that they had not squandered their freedom and prosperity but had used it to defend both the universal and the particular: the human principles they believed in and their tribal instinct to rescue their own. Soviet Jews, whose grandparents had dreamed—and in many cases fought—for an egalitarian vision, had saved themselves from the nightmare that dream had become. Living in a totalitarian state, these were people who decided, almost out of nowhere, to assert an ancient identity, turn themselves into pariahs, risk everything, and become living proof of man's capacity for bravery—all so they could simply be Jews.

What I feel most grateful for—after finishing a project that was nearly five years in the making—is the patience of others. From the many people I interviewed for this book to my indulgent publishing house to friends and family and, most recently, to my newborn daughter, everyone in my life has been incredibly understanding about a process that has been, frustratingly but necessarily, very long.

Since so much of this book is based on oral testimony, I have to offer my thanks first to the many former activists in Israel, America, and Russia who opened their homes to me. Their names are listed in the notes, but each one represents hours over cups of tea—or sometimes vodka and pickled mushrooms—that provided a living picture of the movement, one I simply could not have gotten from archives alone. I only hope this book does justice to the struggle that many of them devoted their lives to. My only regret is that a few of my most helpful and warmest sources aren't around anymore to read this—I'm thinking specifically of Si Frumkin, Lynn Singer, Yuri Shtern, and that indispensable chronicler of the movement William Korey.

My key navigator through the world of the refuseniks was Enid Wurtman; she provided me with most of my initial contacts and continued to be an endless source of help. Laura Bialis, who directed
Re-
fusenik,
a powerful documentary about the movement, was extremely generous, allowing me access to the transcripts of interviews she conducted.

Enid offered to look over the manuscript early, and she, Joshua Rubenstein, Steven Bayme, Michael Beizer, Glenn Richter, and Yaakov Birnbaum played the critical part of first readers, saving me from myself in more than a few instances.

Long, long before there were readers, there were people who believed in the book, even when it was just half a chapter written by a twenty-seven-year-old. Andrew Blauner, who became my agent, was the first who showed that faith. Jane Rosenman, who acquired the book and believed in the project, provided much moral support in the early years of research.

For the past two years, I have been extraordinarily lucky to have this book in the hands of Amanda Cook. Until I started working with Amanda, I had stopped believing that there were editors who did what she does so expertly—respect a writer's vision while not shirking from the details, looking over every line with intelligence and patience and care. This book is inestimably better because of her.

A few folks at Houghton proved particularly helpful. Shuchi Saraswat went above and beyond to help me with the grueling task of gaining permissions. Megan Wilson has been excellent on the publicity front. And Tracy Roe did a masterly job copyediting the book.

Along the way, I have been buoyed up by a variety of people. First is my mentor Sam Freedman. It was in his seminar at the Columbia Journalism School and under his guidance that this book was born. I am thankful for his wise counsel and for the tough love he has doled out over the years.

The
Columbia Journalism Review
was an important home for me during the first years of this project. I am thankful to Mike Hoyt and Brent Cunningham for their support and friendship. I also benefited from editors, such as Alana Newhouse, who were willing to take risks on me again and again. My most recent home has been the
Forward,
where Jane Eisner hired me sight unseen and has allowed me to continue earning a living as a writer, something one can't take for granted these days.

From May 2008 to September 2009, I spent a glorious year in Berlin, thanks to a German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. I am grateful to the foundation for giving me the time I needed to finish the book and to Berlin for the serene quiet of the Staatsbibliothek. During the months I was in Bonn, a very generous professor, Herbert Dreiner, provided me with keys to the university's physics institute so that I could have a quiet place to work.

On a reporting trip to Moscow, I was well taken care of by Carl Shakhnis; he made sure that I and my courageous companion, my father, had everything we needed, from bodyguard to
banya.

And my friends. Once upon a time there was a dark side. The group that was there at the beginning has continued to prod me along with love and good humor and the occasional drink: Kavitha Rajagopalan, Shoshana Guy, Allan Jalon, Mara Hvistendahl, and David Biello. Along the way, other good friends propped me up at various dark moments and were more responsible than they probably realize for helping me to push through: Helen Frazier, Maha Ziadeh, Agata Lisiak, Paul McLeary, and my dear cousin Boaz Barkan.

I gained a new family over these past couple of years—Alex and Nancy Kolben, Kevin Kolben, and Michal Lando (my friend turned sister). They are a constant source of sustenance on all fronts—particularly the emotional and culinary.

The greatest fortune in my life is to have a family that is the epitome of warmth and unconditional affection: my grandparents Shoshana and Elkana, who gave me a home for months when I was in Israel on a reporting trip and who have built a family that would be the envy of anyone; my other grandparents, Cesia and Bubi, who won't see this book but whose spirits infuse it in more than a few places; and all the many uncles and aunts and cousins.

I thank my sisters, Natalie and Maya, for the love and indulgence they offer a brother who, sadly, is often far away. And most important, I thank my parents, to whom this book is dedicated. There are many ways they could have viewed the zigzag path their
luftmensch
took in life. But even when they didn't understand it, they trusted and supported me; I always knew that if and when everything else fell away, they would still be there.

Finally, I started this project as a lonely bachelor and end it now with a family of my own. Responsible for this happy occurrence is the love of my life, Deborah Kolben, who has never known me as anyone but the long-suffering author of this book. She has sustained countless (and I mean countless) kvetching sessions, lifted me back on my feet, talked me off the ledge, and never tired of reminding me that I could do this. My gratitude to her for all she has given me—especially our beautiful Mika—is boundless. My only hope is that this book is worthy of the undying faith she has always had in me and which, more than anything else, enabled me to get up every morning and face it all anew.

1. Beneath the Earth

page

[>]
Mendelevich was a shy:
Biographical information on Mendelevich from interview with author and from Mendelevich,
Operation "Wedding,
" 9–53.

[>]
It was strange:
History of Riga's Jews from Steimanis,
Latvian Jews,
57–123.

[>]
 
Betar had sprung from the mind:
Jabotinsky,
Political and Social Philosophy.

[>]
 "
[Betar], as we think of it":
Quoted in Kaplan,
Jewish Radical Right,
26.

[>]
 
Their end came quickly:
Ezergailis,
Holocaust,
240–50.

[>]
 
for 2,267,814 Soviet citizens:
Number comes from the 1959 Soviet population census, cited in Altshuler,
Soviet Jewry,
21. Jews made up 1.1 percent of the total Soviet population; in Riga, the number of Jewish citizens was 30,267, 5 percent of the city's population (ibid., 88). Out of that number, 14,526 designated Yiddish as their mother tongue.

[>]
Even more important than:
Biographical information on Mendel Gordin from Schroeter,
Last Exodus,
74–75.
Hardly anything worthy:
The history of the early Riga Zionist movement is recounted in Ro'i,
The Struggle,
292–93; Schroeter,
Last Exodus,
61–83; and author interviews with Boris and Leah (Lydia) Slovin, Eli Volk, and Yosef Mendelevich.

[>]
 
In this way, Riga became:
Author interviews with the Slovins, Volk, and Mendelevich.
In Riga, Yosef Schneider:
Biographical information on Schneider from Ro'i,
The Struggle,
78–79.

[>]
 
From then on, one of the embassy's:
The role of the Israelis covertly working in the Soviet Union is described in Levanon,
Code Name,
15–134; Eliav,
Hammer and Sickle;
Ro'i,
The Struggle.

[>]
 
As early as 1964:
Author interview with the Slovins.

[>]
 
Ezra Rusinek, the bare-chested:
Biographical information on Rusinek from Schroeter,
Last Exodus,
76.

[>]
 "
And I myself/am one":
Yevtushenko,
Yevtushenko's Reader,
135–38.

[>]
 
Here were silenced:
The number in the memorial was inaccurate. At the time, it was thought that 38,000 Jews had been killed in Rumbuli; the more accurate figure is probably 25,000 (cited in Ezergailis,
Holocaust).

[>]
 
Rumbuli was the first group:
Mark Blum, who changed his name to Mordecai Lapid, wrote an extensive account of the events at Rumbuli in "Memorial at Rumbuli."

[>]
 
Every city where Gill performed:
Accounts of the Gill concerts in Schroeter,
Last Exodus,
72–73; Ro'i,
The Struggle,
323–24.

[>]
 
Within minutes, a riot:
Account of Gill riot in Lapid, "Memorial at Rumbuli"; Ro'i,
The Struggle,
323–24; Mendelevich,
Operation "Wedding,
" 27–28.

2. "Failure May Have Become Our Habit"

[>]
 "
I believe with perfect":
Nizkor Project, session 68, June 7, 1961.
Lou Rosenblum was a scientist:
Biographical details on Lou Rosenblum come from his interviews with the author and a detailed series of interviews he conducted with his son Daniel from 1996 to 1999.

[>]
 "
epidemic inability":
Greenberg's "Bankrupt," dated February 12, 1943, was reprinted in
Midstream
in March of 1964.

[>]
 
Multiple studies by local:
Statistics from Sachar,
History of the Jews,
646–47.

[>]
 
In 1923, only:
Ibid., 666.
The American Jewish Committee conducted:
Study is quoted in Novick,
Holocaust in American Life,
113.

[>]
 
Both the play and the film:
Ibid., 117–20.
"
had had remarkably slight effects":
Glazer,
American Judaism,
114–15.

[>]
 "
You know, I was elected":
Sachar,
History of the Jews,
731.

[>]
 "
From our Jewish historic":
Prinz's speech is reprinted in Staub, ed.,
Jewish 1960s,
90.
Milton Himmelfarb, a leading:
Milton Himmelfarb, "In the Community,"
Commentary
30 (August 1960): 160.