The Anatomy of refusal

The Jews who emigrated from the USSR in 1970s-80s endured the humiliating procedure of: passing the necessary documents to OVIR (Department of Visas and Registration), paying back money for education, etc. This book is based on the latest data collected through in-depth interviews with refuseniks, questionnaires they filled in, archival materials and their memoirs, is an attempt to draw a detailed picture of a refusenik’s life in the Soviet Union as a social and political phenomenon. The author analyzes reasons and motives for refusal. The social life of the community of refuseniks, which didn’t want to give up and opposed the Soviet state is described in the book together with different ways of their struggle for the right to emigrate (demonstrations, hunger strikes, individual and group appeals and letters of protest, using pressure from the West, etc.). Special attention is paid in the book to the process of developing a Jewish identity among the refuseniks: studying Jewish history and culture, celebration of Jewish holidays, courses in Hebrew, etc.