Experiences of European Jewish Refugees in the Soviet Interior, 1939-1946

This dissertation sheds light on the experiences of European Jewish refugees in the interior of the Soviet Union during 1939-1946. It focuses on the first-hand accounts of the European Jews including oral history, letters, and objects. These primary sources provide a glimpse into how the survivors recounted their time in the Soviet Union and their encounters with the local population. Many refugees underline hunger, hard labor, and harsh climate. This study argues that European Jewish refugees had to navigate the Soviet system, filled with the contradictions and unwritten rules with which the Soviet evacuees were familiar. They survived by engaging in barter with the local population and changing locations in search of a place with food. The objects help us understand how some refugees survived, whether literally through barter of a parcel or spiritually by saving it to commemorate a loved one. Possessing the right object— whether documents allowing for movement or something that could be used as a bribe for one’s safety and survival— constituted an important part of the refugee experience in the Soviet Union during the war.

This study shows that scarcity was a deciding factor that shaped the lives of the refugees there: the local population became more hostile as the resources decreased and the number of newly arrived people increased. The overall trend of the encounters entails numerous instances of the Soviet authorities exhibiting hostility, as did the local population through antisemitism and xenophobia. There were incidents of individual help but the unequal power dynamics and scarcity of resources exacerbated the overall preexisting prejudice.