THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

1980, one out of every four doctors in
Kupat Holim, the national health
service, was a Soviet immigrant.
In the United States, by con-
trast, no government agency is speci-
fically charged with the responsibil-
ity of finding employment for immig-
rants. That becomes the job of agen-
cies in the private sector. Many
Soviet Jews wind up, at first, in re-
lated but far lower positions than
those held in Russia. "For example, a
ship-building engineer becomes a
draftsman; a physician works as a
volunteer in a hospital, then as a
low-level technician, while studying
for medical and English exams. Only
after four to five years does she qual-
ify, and then she has to do her intern-
ship and residency all over again.
"So my general impression is of
some, but not very much, unemploy-
ment — and of considerable down-
Ward occupational mobility, espe-
cially for former engineers and
physicians. Finding a job has been a
major problem, especially in the
sluggish economy of the late 1970s
and the 1980s.
"Of course," added Dr. Gitelman,
"Some of them have gone into things
closed to them in the Soviet Union —
small businesses, restaurants, etc. —
and have become successful
entrepreneurs."
When it came to housing, the
situation facing Soviet immigrants
in Israel and the United States were
reversed: while accommodations in
Israel have been a problem and a
source of complaints, here, with as-
sistance from local Jewish resettle-
ment agencies, Soviet Jews have
been directed to reasonable rental
property.
"They have been sent to areas of
declining Jewish population — Oak
Park in Detroit, Brighton Beach in
New York — which still have Jewish
institutions." This, thought Dr.
Gitelman, was a "brilliant solution.
It provides cheap housing, enables
them to live in compact settlements,
and at the same time stabilizes and
even revives Jewish neighborhoods
which have the Jewish infrastruc-
ture needed to support-them."
Do the Soviet Jews remain a dis-
tinct sub-groUp, or do they become
part of the general Jewish commu-
nity?
"Older people remain within the
immigrant community, and there are
Russian newspapers for them. Young
people very quickly become indistin-
guishable from other American
Jews. People in their 30s, 40s and 50s
have, by and large, a foot in both
societies. Most of their close friends
remain other Soviet immigrants, but
they do interact a good dell with
native-born Americans."
No one really knows what the
political orientation of these new-
comers is, declared Dr. Gitelman. In
the absence of systematic empirical
im-
studies, "everyone has their
pressions, based on chance meetings,
prior prejudices and a variety of
stereotypes.
"One might think politics would
be of lower priority to them than
practical matters of resettlement —
but this is not the case. Many Soviet,
immigrants have an interest in
American politics, though from their
own specific point of view. '
"In the ,Soviet Union, they de-

veloped certain notions about the .
United States. When they came here,
those notions were confronted by
American realities. The nature of
American society, its politics and its
policy towards the Soviet Union is of
interest to them. In general, it seems,
Soviet immigrants support the kind
of rhetoric used by the Reagan. Ad-
ministration. One has to be careful,
though, until there has been. a real
study of political resocialization."
Dr. Gitelman commented on the
situation of Soviet Jews in Detroit.
There are about 1,500 Soviet Jews in
the metropolitan area now, according
to Alicia Karr of the Jewish Welfare
Federation, but there are almost no
new arrivals.
Dr. Gitelman published a case
study of absorption efforts here in a
1978 issue of the Journal of Jewish

Communal Service. He commended
the Jewish Vocational Service for an
excellent job. Other Jewish organiza-
tions helped integrate these latest
Jewish immigrants. Both the Oak
Park and West Bloomfield branches
of the Jewish Community Center had
full-scale acculturation programs —
clubs, activities in Russian, even a
newsletter, Fonarik (Lantern).
The JCC branches and the
United Hebrew Schools had extel-
sive English language instruction.
Local day schools also made some ef-
forts to accommodate Soviet immig-
rant children, and were financially
aided in doing so by the Jewish Wel-
fare Federation. Some local syna-
gogues gave free membership to
Soviet Jews. Indeed, a branch of the
Jewish War Veterans • was set up for
World War II Red Army soldiers.

Dr. Gitleman believes the majority of
Soviet Jews in the U.S. have improved
their standard of living over that they
had in the USSR:

.

Friday, July 13', 1984

15

Ann Arbor also has an active
Russian community but, perhaps
befitting a college town, one
composed mostly of intellectual
emigres. It has become a center for
the publication of Russian literature
— two publishing houses, Ardis and
Ermitage, have published many
authors unable to circulate their.
work in the USSR, and they have a •
substantial readership around the
world. Carl Proffer, a professor of
Russian literature, and his wife
Ellendea established Ardis, and they
helped bring Soviet dissident Josef
Brodsky to U-M as a
poet-in-residence. Though Brodsky
has moved on to New York, many.
other Russians continue to live in
Ann Arbor. The university plans a
major international conference in
1985 to discuss American and
Russian influences on each other's
respective literature and art.
r. Gitelman's studies have
shown that the vast major-
ity of Soviet Jews in
America have experienced
a rise in their standard of
living as compared to their previous
condition in the USSR and are satis-
fied with their situation here. "The
American press is always looking for •
sensations," he complained, "so it
tends to play up the instances of dis- -
content, disappointment and de-
viance among Soviet immigrants. It's
no secret the Soviets have used emig-
ration tq get rid of some politically
and socially-undesirable elements —
so, as in any other immigration to
this country, you do get some prob-
lematic individuals. But it is minis-
cule compared to other groups."
What does the future hold for the
Soviet Jewish emigration
movement? Will there yet be a return
to the mass exodus of the 1970s?
Dr. Gitelman feels the volume
and nature of Soviet emigration
depends primarily on the state of
U.S.-Soviet relations — it is a
political football between East and
West. "The Russians use these people
aq pawns — there's no humanitarian
motivation. Emigration is like a
faucet, turned on and off to reward or
. punish the Americans.'.' Since the
invasion of Afghanistan, the failure
to reach an agreement on arms
control and the general freeze in
. relations during the Reagan
Administration, emigration has
dried up.
"Soviet emigration began
• because of internal conditions, but
later external factors became equally
important. We know about
300,000-400,000 Jews still in the
Soviet Union have taken the first
steps towards' emigration, so the
potential is still there. The
international climate, particularly `
the American-Soviet 'relationship,
will determine if they can leave."
There has been no noticable
change under Konstantin
Chernenko, the new Soviet leader.
Everyone, said Gitelman, is waiting
for the results of the November
American Presidential election.
"The United States can
influence Soviet policy only when the •
Soviets have some incentive to
acceding to American requests, when
the Soviets think they can get

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