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When Luba Raynus was three years old, she was living in Kiev, Ukraine with her mother, her father, and her brother. At that time, while Ukraine was part of the USSR, Jews were being persecuted because they did not like the Jews. Her mother, Valarie Kanevsky, wanted to come to America but her father, Zory Kanevsky, said no. Zory's father had an essential job in Ukraine. He was the store manager for the largest food store in Kiev, which was considered a very honorable position. At some point, the government decided that a Jew should not be in that position, and therefore, the government falsified charges and put him in jail. Throwing people into jail happened a lot in the USSR, at the time. The reoccurring process would be that a family member was in prison, and then the family would have to bribe all the right people, and later the person would be released. Zory tried to bribe all of the right people, but he could not get his father released. At that point, Zory decided that he was not going to raise his children somewhere where they would get persecuted because of their religion. In 1977, the relationship between the U.S. and Russia were such that the U.S. was taking immigrants and Zory filled out all of the documents with his wife's approval. The Kanevsky family was fortunate because they were allowed to immigrate almost right away. While they were leaving, the family could take tiny things such as clothes or household items. However, the government forbade families from bringing money, jewelry, or anything else of value. They were to get on a train which would get them somewhere across the border and then to Italy. Once in Italy, the Kanevsky's made their way to Rome where Zory found work and sold some of their small items on the black market. They had to stay in Itay until they found someone in America who would guarantee to support them. By law, they needed to find someone in America who would go to the Embassy and ensure the family financial support. Luba and her family lived in Italy for six months waiting for someone to support them in America. While waiting to hear back from other people, Zory's father said that back in the 1910s when everyone was immigrating, they had relatives who moved to Worchester, and therefore, if they were already sending letters to everyone, might as well write one to this family as well. At the time in Italy, there were many cases of children being kidnapped, and therefore Valarie Kanevsky would not allow her daughter to leave the apartment unless she was squeezing her had beside her. The first response that Zory received was from the Hoffman's, who were their relatives from Worchester. The Hoffman's wrote a letter saying that they would support the Kanevsky family. The Kanevsky family hopped on a plane and came to the United States where they were met by the Hoffman's who were very polite and gracious, but Valerie did not like them, so the relationship ended reasonably quickly. After living in Worchester for half a year, Zory got a job and moved his family to Brookline. Once they settled in Brookline, the Kanevsky family began to guarantee support to many other relatives who then made their way to the United States of America.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vnbSZXLgK91kMfP8yxsvMtRO91uAV4V417Ji4WLBBvw/edit?usp=sharing

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The Soviet Era lasted from 1922-1991 and it was a socialist state in Eurasia.

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Lower East Side

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(1) Library of Congress
(2) History.com
(3) Immigration.laws.com

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Regina Sivin immigrated from Warsaw, Poland to New York City in 1928 for more opportunities, religious freedom, and to escape poverty. She was a teenager. Her mother was the first to immigrate to America, leaving her four children behind in Poland until she made enough money to buy four boat ride tickets to America. Regina was the youngest and her older sister who was in charge of the money did not handle the money well, so the few years without their mother in Poland were miserable. Finally, her mother made enough money for the tickets and Regina and her siblings made the difficult journey in steerage from Poland to New York. Unfortunately, she did not escape poverty quickly and raised her children in poverty in different parts of NYC. Her immigration experience traumatized her, so she did not like to talk about it.

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The USSR allowed anyone to emigrate (1).

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More and more Russians who were deemed undesirable by the USSR were allowed to immigrate to the US (1).

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Many Russian refugees fled to the US after WWII. Anticommunists left to escape communism (1).

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Poles fled to the US because of the USSR takeover (1).

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Wealthy Russians who feared another world war immigrated to the US and were able to have the same profession as they had in Russia (1).

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The National Origins Act restricted Eastern European immigration to America (3).

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The Bolshevik Revolution made people flee Russia. This caused the Red Scare in the United States because the US did not want communism to spread. About 30,000 Russians moved to the US and were welcomed because they resented communism (1 and 2).

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Many Poles started moving to the US because of land shortages and unemployment (1).

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In the 1880s, the Russian countryside was strained by severe land shortages. Millions of farmers and peasants set sail for the United States in order to avoid poverty and starvation. However, ethnic Russians were blocked from leaving by the imperial government. The Russians who did make the journey grouped up on small communities and took work where they could find it. Most of the early Russians were circular immigrants - they planned to stay only long enough to save money and then to return home. The new Russians, who immigrated during the Russian civil war, had mostly been prominent citizens of the Empire. The "White Russians" were welcomed by the U.S government. Many Russians took up manual labor for the first time in their lives. From the early 1800's at the beginning of World War II, about 5 million Polish immigrated to the United States. The Poles fled their country for various reasons. Some emigrants left in order to escape conscription, while others left in order to seek better opportunities in America, some fled from religious persecution, and others because of the USSR takeover. Many of the Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland moved to the crowded Lower East Side in NYC.

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Jews left places controlled by the USSR because of pogroms and discrimination (1).

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Land shortages lead to poverty and starvation so many Russians immigrated to America in hope of a better life (1).