Let My People Go: The Soviet Jewry Movement

Trapped Behind the Iron Curtain

At the height of the Cold War, approximately three million Jews lived within the borders of the Soviet Union — the third-largest Jewish population in the world. But unlike Jews in the United States, Israel, or Western Europe, Soviet Jews were effectively prisoners. They could not practice their religion, study Hebrew, educate their children in Jewish traditions, or emigrate. They were Jews by nationality (stamped in their internal passports) but forbidden to live as Jews.

The Soviet Jewry movement — one of the most remarkable human rights campaigns of the twentieth century — fought to change this. Over the course of three decades, a coalition of refuseniks inside the Soviet Union, activists in Israel and the United States, politicians, celebrities, and ordinary people around the world waged a sustained campaign under a biblical rallying cry: “Let my people go.”

The Situation Inside the Soviet Union

State-Sponsored Suppression

The Soviet Union was officially atheist, and all religions were suppressed. But Jews faced a unique form of persecution. Unlike Russian Orthodox Christians or Soviet Muslims, Jews were classified as a nationality (natsional’nost) rather than merely a religious group. The word “Jewish” (Yevrei) was stamped in the “nationality” field of every Soviet Jew’s internal passport — a marker that invited discrimination in education, employment, and housing.

At the same time, the Soviet state systematically dismantled the infrastructure of Jewish life:

• Synagogues were closed or converted to warehouses and offices (from over 1,000 before the Revolution to fewer than 100 by the 1960s)
• Hebrew was effectively banned; teaching it was treated as Zionist propaganda
• Jewish schools, theaters, and cultural organizations were shut down
• Publication of Jewish texts was prohibited or severely restricted
• Yiddish culture — once vibrant in the Soviet Union — was decimated, especially after Stalin’s anti-Jewish campaign of 1948–1953, which included the murder of leading Yiddish writers and intellectuals

Jews were trapped in a paradox: marked as different but forbidden from being different; identified as Jews but prevented from knowing what that meant.

The “Doctors’ Plot” and Stalin’s Antisemitism

In 1952–1953, Stalin accused a group of predominantly Jewish doctors of plotting to poison Soviet leaders — the infamous “Doctors’ Plot.” This fabricated conspiracy was widely seen as a prelude to mass deportations of Jews to Siberia. Only Stalin’s death in March 1953 prevented what might have been a Soviet-era catastrophe for Jews.

The episode confirmed what many Soviet Jews already sensed: that antisemitism was not merely a relic of tsarist Russia but a living tool of Soviet power.

The Awakening

The Six-Day War

The pivotal moment came in June 1967, when Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War electrified Soviet Jews. Despite (or perhaps because of) the Soviet government’s fierce anti-Israel propaganda, news of Israel’s military triumph awakened a dormant sense of Jewish identity in millions of Soviet citizens who had been cut off from Jewish life for decades.

Suddenly, being Jewish meant something beyond a passport stamp. Soviet Jews began to gather informally, to study Hebrew in secret, to celebrate Jewish holidays in private apartments, and — most dangerously — to apply for exit visas to emigrate to Israel.

The Refuseniks

When Soviet Jews applied to emigrate, most were refused — their applications denied, often with the explanation that they had access to “state secrets” (a category applied broadly and arbitrarily). These denied applicants became known as refuseniks (otkazniki).

The consequences of applying were severe:

• Immediate job loss — applicants were fired from their positions, often within days
• Social ostracism — colleagues, neighbors, and sometimes family members were pressured to sever ties
• Surveillance — the KGB monitored refuseniks constantly
• Arrest and imprisonment — those who persisted in activism were charged with “parasitism,” “anti-Soviet agitation,” or espionage

Among the most famous refuseniks:

• Natan (Anatoly) Sharansky — a mathematician and human rights activist who spent nine years in Soviet prisons and labor camps (1977–1986) before being released in a prisoner exchange. He later became an Israeli politician and author.
• Ida Nudel — known as the “Guardian Angel of the Prisoners of Zion,” who spent years in internal exile for her activism
• Yosef Begun — a Hebrew teacher who was imprisoned three times for the “crime” of teaching Hebrew
• Vladimir Slepak — a refusenik for seventeen years who hung a banner from his Moscow apartment reading “Let us go to our son in Israel”

The Movement in the West

Grassroots Activism

The plight of Soviet Jews galvanized Jewish communities in the United States, Israel, Western Europe, and around the world. What began as small solidarity efforts in the early 1960s grew into one of the largest and most sustained human rights campaigns of the Cold War era.

Key organizations included:

• The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) — founded in 1964, one of the first American organizations dedicated to the cause
• The National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) — a coordinating body for American Jewish organizations
• The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews — a grassroots federation of local action committees
• The 35s — a British women’s organization that campaigned tirelessly for refuseniks

Activities included:

• Mass rallies — the largest, on December 6, 1987, drew an estimated 250,000 people to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on the eve of a Reagan-Gorbachev summit
• “Adopt a refusenik” programs — families and synagogues were paired with specific refuseniks, writing letters, sending packages, and raising awareness
• Congressional lobbying — resulting in the Jackson-Vanik Amendment (1974), which tied U.S. trade relations with the Soviet Union to freedom of emigration
• Bar and bat mitzvah “twinning” — American children dedicated their b’nai mitzvah ceremonies to a Soviet Jewish child who could not celebrate their own

The Jackson-Vanik Amendment

Perhaps the single most impactful legislative achievement of the movement was the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the Trade Act of 1974, sponsored by Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson and Representative Charles Vanik. The amendment denied Most Favored Nation trade status to countries that restricted emigration. It gave the United States direct economic leverage over the Soviet Union’s treatment of its Jewish population.

The amendment was fiercely opposed by the Nixon and Ford administrations, which feared it would disrupt détente, and by the Soviet government, which viewed it as interference in internal affairs. But it passed overwhelmingly, and its impact was significant: emigration numbers fluctuated in response to the pressure it applied.

The Opening

Gorbachev and Glasnost

The election of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet leader in 1985 and his policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) gradually shifted the landscape. Emigration restrictions began to ease in the late 1980s. In 1989, the gates opened wide.

The numbers tell the story:

• 1970: approximately 1,000 Jews permitted to leave
• 1979: over 51,000 (a peak year during a brief thaw)
• 1982: fewer than 3,000 (after a crackdown)
• 1989: over 71,000
• 1990: over 185,000
• 1991: over 195,000

Between 1989 and 2006, approximately 1.6 million Jews emigrated from the former Soviet Union — roughly one million to Israel and the rest primarily to the United States, Germany, and Canada. This mass migration transformed Israeli society, bringing a wave of scientists, musicians, engineers, and intellectuals that reshaped the country’s demographics, economy, and culture.

Legacy

What the Movement Achieved

The Soviet Jewry movement accomplished something extraordinary: through sustained, nonviolent pressure — combining grassroots activism, diplomatic engagement, legislative action, and international solidarity — it helped liberate an entire community. Three million Jews who had been cut off from the Jewish world for seventy years were reconnected to their heritage, and those who wished to leave were ultimately permitted to do so.

The movement also demonstrated the power of Jewish communal solidarity across national borders. American Jews who had never met a Soviet Jew marched, wrote letters, and lobbied Congress on their behalf. Israeli agents conducted covert operations to support Jewish life behind the Iron Curtain. The campaign showed what a determined, organized community could achieve.

Unfinished Business

The story does not end with emigration. Many Jews who remained in the former Soviet Union (estimated at several hundred thousand) continue to rebuild Jewish life in Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet republics. The cultural and spiritual damage of seventy years of suppression is not easily repaired. But synagogues have reopened, Jewish schools have been established, and a new generation is reconnecting with a heritage their grandparents were forbidden to share.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Jews lived in the Soviet Union at its peak? At its height, approximately three million Jews lived in the Soviet Union, making it the third-largest Jewish population in the world after the United States and Israel. By the time of the USSR’s dissolution in 1991, approximately 1.5 million remained, with the rest having emigrated.

What happened to Natan Sharansky after his release? Sharansky emigrated to Israel immediately upon his release in 1986. He became a prominent politician, serving as a member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and holding several cabinet positions. He also became a widely read author and a leading advocate for democracy and human rights worldwide.

Did all Soviet Jewish emigrants go to Israel? No. While approximately one million went to Israel, many hundreds of thousands emigrated to the United States (especially in the 1970s and early 1980s), Germany, Canada, and Australia. The question of whether Soviet Jews should be directed exclusively to Israel or allowed to choose their destination was itself a subject of significant debate within the Jewish world.