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DAVID HOLZEL
Qc6lyt-i8 Intimate
Apparel
APPLEGATE SQUARE
Northwestern & Inkster-
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353-5522
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We Thank You
For All Your Wonderful
Patronage
And Wish You
The Very Best
New Year
and all the girls
30
FRIDAY, -SEPT 25, 1987
visit because the gate is a
little open;' says Oleg Slut-
sky, a co-owner of the
Sunrise Cafe chain. He
holds his hands to his head
in horror, illustrating the
shock of remembrance the
emigres experience when
they reach Russia. "My God,
never will I go back for a
visit!"
Slutsky says he does not
find America too socialistic
or liberal. "I accept what is.
Everything I found, I like."
Julie Shapiro agrees. "I
accept American democracy,
the American style of liv-
ing."
Says Mark Shapiro: "I
know some people who go to
the extreme. They want to
prove themselves. I want to
be who I am. I am by no
means an extremist. I am in
the middle. I love some
things, L don't like other
things."
Stanislav
Kovalsky
believes the right-wing and
libertarian philosophies em-
braced by some Russians is
merely a reaction to life in
the USSR, a way of purging
the Soviet way of life from
their minds. "I think it's on
Staff Writer
Thurs. — Rosh Hashanah Sat. — Yom Kippur}
.
Continued from Page 28
the surface. I don't think it's
real convincing?'
"Most Russians here are
Republicans," Irina
Kovalsky notes, offering an
interesting reason why: "To
us in Russia, 'democratic'
means communism?'
The move to the right,
then, appears to be a
response to everything
Soviet, even political ter-
minology. "They want to
forget everything that was;'
explains Oleg Slutsky with
a beautiful understatement,
"because it wasn't so nice?'
This distancing from the
past has caused problems
for at least one emigre's
relations with family still in
the Soviet Union. "We don't
belong there anymore.
You're not one of them
anymore;' says Ina Sushin,
who has lived in the U.S. for
12 years. She visited her
family not long ago, before
they, too, emigrated. "They
look at you as if you're still
one of them, but you're not.
It's a very strange feeling.
It's like a guilt feeling."
For those with relatives in
the USSR, there is a feeling
that now is the time to get
them out, "to use this
as Vladislav
Kovalsky puts it. "We're
afraid that it will be for a
very short time," says Irina.
Can the new immigrants
arriving in Detroit • learn
anything from the veterans?
"When we came here, we
were like babies," recalls
Oleg Slutsky: "We changed
our life. completely."
"They should take their
time and select a field they
will enjoy doing. A great
deal of our life is spent at
work," says Emily Valk. "If
you work hard and want to
succeed, this is the country
to do it."
The Kreynin family, in
their fourth month in the
United States, may want to
consider this advice. It is
unclear if they understand
how many changes they will
have to make here. They do
appear to. understand the
major lesson learned by the
Russians in America, even if
they do not fully perceive its
ramifications.
As Maya observes in
halting English: "The
future is in our hands
now?' ❑ -
glasnost,"
Why Do Soviet Jewish Emigrants
Prefer America To Israel
ON THE BOARDWALK
Mon.-Sat. 10-5:30
Rebels
. 0
f the more than
265,000 Jews who
left the Soviet
Union in the past 20 years,
-over 165,000 went to Israel.
Another 91,000 came to the
United States, about 2,000
of them to the Detroit area.
All were allowed to leave on
Israeli visas. Despite this,
an increasing majority of
Soviet Jews shun Israel.
The growing "dropout"
rate has long been a source
of friction between Israel
and immigrant aid groups
such as HIAS. Israel, in
need of immigrants, does
not like to see potential
Israelis going to other
places.
Once in transit points in
Vienna or Rome, the
emigrants, who could be
granted immediate Israeli
citizenship, may declare
their preference to travel on
to the U.S. and receive
refugee status and a visa
from the American consul.
This rankles the Israelis
who argue that a person
with instant citizenship can
hardly be considered a
refugee. Prime Minister Yit-
zhak Shamir has even re-
quested that the U.S. stop
granting refugee status to
the Soviet Jews. All sorts of
schemes have been proposed
to stem the dropout tide, in-
cluding flying the emigrants
either directly or indirectly
from • the Soviet Union to
Israel. There, say the
Israelis, the Russians can
decide, like any other Israeli
resident, if they want to stay
or go.
But memories of America
turning its back on refugees
from the Holocaust have
proven to be stronger to
American Jews than Israeli
arguments, and neither
American Jews nor the U.S.
government seem interested
in changing the status quo.
The Russians who arrive
in the U.S. now do so to join
their families, one reason for
the steadily increasing
dropout rate. This year,.
1,197 — slightly more than
one-quarter —. of the 3,899
Jews who left the Soviet
Union went to Israel.
But those who opted for
America in the 1970s —
when about 60 percent went
to Israel — had other
reasons.
Alex Goldis, a refusenik
for two years, says he had
"definite Zionist aspirations.
But, if I would be honest, [I
had] a desire to come to a
land of opportunity. I was
getting negatiVe impres-
sions of engineering oppor-
tunities in Israel. Mostly I
was charged materialistical-
ly?'
Michael Kuchersky, a co-
owner of the Sunrise Cafe
chain, served three years in
the Soviet army before he
emigrated. That experience
prompted him to choose the
U.S. over Israel. "Everybody
said, 'You go to Israel, you'll
be in the army again! "
Another factor which may
contribute to the dropout
rate is the anti-Israel pro-
paganda to which all Soviet
citizens are exposed. The
propaganda factor leads
Israelis to conclude that if.
the Russians saw Israel
first, they might like it.
Sam Valk says he has an
Israeli uncle who "tried to
veer me to Israel." Valk and
his wife, Emily, had their
sights on the U.S., however.
"It was our choice:' argues
Ina Sushin, indicating that
her decision to come to
America was not so much a
rejection of Israel as it was
an expression of free will.
"That's what.leaving Russia
is all about, making
choices."