I

n 1981, my mother, Alla 
Zlatopolsky (maiden name 
Nisnevich), a Jewish immi-
grant from what was then the 
Soviet Union, experienced 
her first Shabbat dinner at 
the home of a volunteer fam-
ily in Metro Detroit. These 
American families were paired 
with Soviet Jewish families to 

teach them about Jewish life.
At 15 years old, my mom, 
who was born in Bobruisk, 
Belarus, and grew up in Riga, 
Latvia, knew little about 
Judaism. But she, along with 
the thousands of Soviet Jews 
who resettled in that area after 
World War II, weren’t alone in 
this lack of understanding.

Religion was illegal in the 
U.S.S.R. due to state-spon-
sored atheism instilled by the 
communist regime. Judaism, 
especially, was not tolerated 
or permitted. Centuries of 
antisemitism were deeply 
ingrained in Russian society, 
a view that barely improved 
after the war.

Three million Jews across 
the Soviet Union from 
Ukraine to Lithuania faced 
spiritual extinction. While 
the physical threat of the 
Holocaust remained nothing 
but a terrible, albeit fresh, 
memory for survivors and 
their direct descendants, the 
once-vibrant Jewish life of 

10 | MARCH 11 • 2021 

Freedom,
Finally!

OUR COMMUNITY

ON THE COVER

Recalling the 
historic arrival of 
Soviet Jews in 
Detroit.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

