Soviet Jewish Migration and the Weaponization of Citizenship, 1967-1991

• In Event: In and Out: Twentieth-Century Jewish Mobility in Eastern Europe

Abstract

In 1967, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet issued a decree: the Soviet government would rescind the citizenship of all Jews immigrating from the USSR to Israel. Jews crossing the border became stateless persons. Upon arriving to Israel, Soviet Jews—by virtue of Israel’s Law of Return (1950)—immediately acquired citizenship. Acquiring Israeli citizenship, however, came with a cost. If Soviet Jewish Israeli citizens subsequently decided to emigrate from Israel, they could no longer access refugee status in the United States nor aid from Jewish organizations dedicated to Soviet Jewish migrants. Engaging sources produced by the Soviet and Israeli state, this paper argues that both governments weaponized the concept of “citizenship” to control the mobility of Soviet Jews. Turning to the perspectives of migrants, my paper reveals how Soviet Jews found greater access to the liberal notion of the “freedom of movement” as stateless individuals than as citizens of either the USSR or Israel.

Author

• Alexandra Zborovsky, U of Pennsylvania