Lives in Limbo: The Jews Who Left the USSR at the End of the 20th Century

A Documentary and Personal Account

Speaker Zhanna Gordon

In Person and Zoom (Please RSVP below)

Imagine you live in a place where you can never realize your dreams because you are Jewish.  Finally, after years of waiting, you have permission to leave.

BUT…

·       You can’t tell anyone you are leaving.

·       You can only take one suitcase and very limited money.

·       You will probably never see your homeland and people again.

·       You do not know where you are going.

·       You do not speak the language of your future country.

This was the situation of most Soviet Jews when they left the Soviet Union In the late 1970’s through the early 90’s.

In the late 1980s, the Soviet floodgates of emigration were thrown open by perestroika, the Soviet policy to restructure their economic and political system.  However, for thousands of Soviet Jewish émigrés, hopes of a quick arrival in America were shattered when the United States immigration service started denying these people refugee status while they were in transit in Italy.  The documentary, Stateless, captures this untold story from the points of view of the immigrants themselves—their trials and tribulations, hopes and dreams, all laid bare.  

View the trailer:  http://www.stateless.us/dvd

Join us for a viewing of the documentary, “Stateless,“  and a discussion and talk led by our own Zhanna Gordon who experienced all of the above.  This is an important moment in Jewish History that will come alive through Zhanna’s personal anecdotes and stories.  

Zhanna was born in Kiev, Ukraine, USSR, and came to the US in 1978 when she was 15.  She and her parents settled in Houston, Texas, where she went to High School and College.  Zhanna, her husband, Bill, and their two children, Alex and Bekah, moved to South Burlington in 1993.