OUR COMMUNITY

I

n the early 1970s, a 
slow trickle of Soviet 
Jewish refugees reset-
tled in Metro Detroit. 
They gave up life in 
the USSR to pursue 
religious freedom and better 
opportunities for their families.
What started as a few hun-
dred immigrants steadily began 
to pick up speed. By the late 
1980s and particularly the mid-
1990s, following the collapse 
of the Soviet Union, the trickle 
turned into a wave and thou-
sands of Soviet Jewish refugees 
left the Iron Curtain for good.
It’s estimated that by the 
time the mass emigration 
finally slowed down, some 2 
million Jews escaped the Soviet 
Union to start new lives in the 
United States, Israel, Canada 
and Australia, among other 
countries. For those resettled 
in Metro Detroit, their oppor-
tunities were possible thanks to 
a group of dedicated volunteers 
unwaveringly committed to the 
Soviet Jewry cause.
Everyday individuals like 
Metro Detroit-based Jewish 
community members Jeannie 

Weiner and Beverly Yost 
worked relentlessly around the 
clock to advocate on behalf of 
Soviet Jewry. 

GETTING THE WORD OUT
In the early years of the Soviet 
Jewish exodus, the Soviet 
Jewish struggles still weren’t 
publicized.
“It wasn’t something that 
was widely known or thought 
about in those years,” explains 
Yost, who at the time worked 
for the Jewish Community 
Council. There, 
she focused on 
international con-
cerns, which led 
to cause of Soviet 
Jewry eventually 
entering her life.
“It was an issue 
that had really developed after 
the 1967 Six-Day War,” she 
said, “when Soviet Jews wanted 
to get out of the Soviet Union 
and get to Israel.” 
In the early days of the 
movement, an organization 
separate from the Jewish 
Community Council known 
as the Detroit Committee for 

How grassroots ef
 orts, secret trips 
and rallies paved the way for Soviet 
Jewish freedom.

Remembering 
Our Local Heroes

Beverly 
Yost

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

10 | SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 

COURTESY OF JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN
COURTESY OF JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN

OUR COMMUNITY

Photos taken at the JCC during the Freedom Run for Soviet Jewry 
on September 25, 1983.

A screenshot, from the 2007 documentary Refusenik 
by Laura Bialis, which chronicles the 30-year 
international movement to free Soviet Jews.

