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Article: Jews Unite in Rally for Soviet Emigration;Diverse U.S. Jewish Groups Unite in Rally for Soviet Emigration
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- December 6, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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"Either we get civil rights or we emigrate," was the proclamation
of Jewish intellectual Max Mandelstam of Kiev, referring to the
millions of his fellow Russian Jews haunted by poverty and
persecution. "Our human dignity is being tramped upon . . . . Either
we get decent human rights or else let us go wherever our eyes may
lead us."
That was in 1882. Between then and 1920, 2 million Russian and
Polish Jews took his advice and, in one of the monumental movements
of people in modern times, fled the centuries of pogroms in those
unforgiving lands for America, the nation of opportunity.
The children and grandchildren of these refugees now make up the
great majority of the American Jewish ...