Host Intro
TRACK: NYC is home to hundreds of thousands of Russian-Jewish immigrants, and is a major hub for the Jewish diaspora. As with many ethnic groups in the Big Apple, communities have formed that became home to a concentration of particular groups of people. As a Russian-Jewish immigrant, it may make sense to settle down in Brighton Beach, where one would feel comfortably surrounded by people with similar backgrounds. Some people, however, prefer to take on a different path when landing in America. Denis Minchuk sat down with his mother to learn more about her story.
AMBI:*Keyboard Typing/Work Station Sounds*
TRACK: My mother, Anzhelika, sits at her work station in the home office. It was nearly 30 years ago that she left Belarus and came here at 22 years old with my 20 year old father, a two year old baby in my brother Yuriy, her parents, and her maternal grandparents who were holocaust survivors. They settled in Dyker Heights as opposed to more thoroughly Russian Brighton Beach. She says there were a number of reasons they decided to leave.
Act: Anzhelika: “the biggest one of them was of course that throughout the years the country suffered with big Anti-Semitism. Me being raised in a Jewish family and then married to a non-Jewish person created bigger problems for us, raising a child from a mixed marriage. More issues were coming with the breakup of the Soviet Union, when the economic conditions were absolutely horrible and raising kids was impossible.
TRACK: But it all started in 1986 with [the] Chernobyl catastrophe.
ACT: I was living in Belarus in the 30Km zone, and that’s why the first conversations of leaving the country started.
Track: The process of getting to America wasn’t easy or quick.
Act: *Airplane sound* Anzhelika: From the start of the process to us landing at JFK it was two years approximately. We started filling out the papers when our child was not born, when we came here our child was two years old.
TRACK: They experienced some serious culture shock when they first arrived.
ACT: The first couple of days were absolutely shocking to us. We didn’t know English, we didn’t have money, we didn’t have anything with us except the family and a kid.
TRACK: The first year in America was the toughest year of their lives.
ACT: Anzhelika: We obviously reached out for advice to whomever we could, getting the best advice honestly helped us to understand how to become Americans in this country. So the decision was made to go and get an American college education.
TRACK: Raising children with dual identities was a delicate balance.
ACT: Anzhelika:. I still wanted to bring home country values to the kids, definitely bilingual education. They both started learning Russian first then English. We are all bilingual and I believe it helps, so I can’t really say that they are Russian vs. American. They are American kids and so are we American parents but with a little bit of culture left to make certain decisions maybe a little different.
ACT: *Russian grocery store advertisement playing*
TRACK: We do our grocery shopping in this Russian grocery store in Sheepshead Bay. If you didn’t know where you were, you could easily be in Odessa. But it was important for my parents not to take the easy way when they moved here.
ACT: Anzhelika: We knew if we moved into a Russian community we would not be able to do it as successfully as we have done. Well reason number one, again we were young and we wanted to know the country, we wanted to become true Americans. Citizenship was our number one priority.
TRACK: For my grandparents, the experience was much different. They had more experience being Jewish in the Soviet Union, and no reason to stay behind while their daughter left to a better land. She said being Jewish in Belarus was difficult.
ACT: Sofia’s voice plays in Russian with my translation: It was bad. They called us yids, insulted us. We were able to get work but moving up and getting promoted was difficult.
TRACK: But she says she’s never experienced anything of the sort in America.
ACT: Sofia’s voice plays in Russian with my translation: In America I haven’t seen any of that. We went to school to learn the language, two or three different schools. I found work quickly. My parents were old but they got SSI right away and everything was okay mostly. We had nostalgia at first, that first year.
TRACK: When asked if she feels like an American now, she gave a resounding yes. My mother seconded that thought.
ACT: Anzhelika: We feel at home. Seriously, after 28 years, we basically spent more of our lives here than back in Belarus. We do feel at home, and I believe we are successful, both us and the kids who are getting great education here. Professionally, financially, I think we are doing great.
TRACK: Now with my older brother Yuriy having a child of his own, the roots grow deeper in America, and a second generation of Americans in our family will begin to grow. Reporting for Baruch College, I’m Denis Minchuk in Brooklyn.