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A Refugee’s Story: U.S. brings safety and freedom from persecution.

F

Gazman's younger brother, Gosha, on the family‘s
first day in the U.S. from the Soviet Union

Siblings Gosha ”Greg“ and Zhenya ”Jane“ in the
Soviet Union

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reedom is on my mind. When was not mine. I was 8. This year,
people learn my family fled
the refugee ban placed by the
the Soviet Union, I am some-
Trump administration unnerved
times asked why. I ask my clients
the nation. And it brought me to
applying for a mortgage the
think about my privilege. I
same question just as casu-
have been thinking about
ally. “Why is now the right
why my family was granted
time to move?” or “What
entry and how that impact-
motivated the move?” My
ed my life. My basic under-
clients are adults and they
standing was we that were
answer the question with-
able to leave because we
out missing a beat. I was
are Jewish. Let me pause
8 when, before daybreak, I
and say, until my family left
Jane Gazman
squeezed into the back of
the Soviet Union, I had no
a car and left my home for-
idea religion existed and
ever. The decision to leave
that I belonged to a reli-
wasn’t mine.
gious group.
My childhood looked nothing
I am not sure why no one told
like that of Syrian children pictured me. Probably because it would
in the news — shocked and dirty
have been a secret and I am ter-
and suffering. My skin is white.
rible at secrets. When I did learn
In the Soviet Union, I remember
I was Jewish, we were in transit
everyone’s skin being white. I wore
and staying in Austria. I promptly
the same brown dress with a black
approached a near-stranger and
apron to school like all the other
asked, “What religion are you?” and
girls. My family celebrated the same was reprimanded. Judaism was key
holidays as all the other families.
to leaving the Soviet Union, but
The only holiday I vividly remem-
what being in the United States
ber is New Year’s. We celebrated
offers my family is more than the
with a green tree decorated with
freedom to practice Judaism.
ornaments and a man with a white
Over the course of my life, I have
beard was the central figure. I can’t
had a touch-and-go relationship
remember if he wore red. I lived in
with Judaism, never really internal-
communist uniformity.
izing all the holidays and hardly
As I said, the decision to leave
any of the prayers. It is not the free-

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dom to practice that is most essen-
tial to my life. What is most essen-
tial is protection from religious
persecution. This is not the same.
I am Jewish, whether or not I
practice Judaism. I was born Jewish.
In the Soviet Union, the passport of
Jews used the religion as nationality
rather than being Russian. During
the Holocaust, it was not the prac-
tice of Judaism but the lineage that
condemned one’s fate.
In America, too, I blend into the
Caucasian majority. But here, today,
I hold a U.S. passport where my
nationality is USA and my country
of birth is Russia, a country that
never accepted me. The freedom
life in America allows is freedom
from persecution. It is a freedom
that, while I appreciate, I cannot
compare through personal memory
to a darker past. My childhood
memories are godless.
When I see photos of children
from Syria, my heart aches. Their
days are pain and bare survival.
I hope one day they, too, will
be happy and healthy adults in
America and reflect on the beauti-
ful safety and freedom being wel-
comed here granted them. •

Jane Gazman of Farmington is a senior
mortgage banker at Quicken Loans and loves
working in Detroit.

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