Toward a History of Jewish Emigration from the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s:

The Case of Ex-Soviet Migrants in Europe Who Were Left Behind by

Dr. Denis Kozlov

The talk examines a significant moment in the history of Jewish migrations from the Soviet Union to the West during the 1970s and 1980s. At the center of the story is a humanitarian crisis that involved several thousand ex-Soviet Jewish migrants in Europe. Having failed to adjust to the conditions of immigration they had initially encountered, they relocated in an attempt to gain visa admission to Western countries of their choice. However, these attempts were refused by a number of agencies. The story illuminates important aspects of transnational migrations during the Cold War while also shedding light on the political culture of the migrants themselves.

Dr. Kozlov is a historian of modern Russia at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. His current research focuses on the cultural, intellectual, and social history of the Soviet Union, especially the post-Stalin 1950s and 1960s – decades known as the Thaw.