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After the Six-Day-War [26] in 1967, at the beginning of the 1970s we were given the possibility to immigrate to Israel. Talks about leaving became an obsession among my relatives and friends. We listened to the programs of the ‘Voice of America’ [27] and BBC about Jewish life. Our friends stealthily shared with us news received from their relatives [28], who had left for Israel and the USA. I remember how we gathered at Victor and Tsylia Barvish’s place to see their son Aron off to the USA. We sat at the table and during several hours spoke only about the departure problems, perspectives to find a job ‘there,’ and so on. Later Tsylia retold me in detail and with pride the rare letters from her son.
However, I had to avoid these plans and even these conversations, as I had absolutely no possibility to leave the USSR. I have worked in the military industry all my life and had access to secret information, including documentation marked ‘OV’ [short for ‘very important’ in Russian]. Systems, the components of which we produced, are still the basis of Russia’s defense potential. The perspective to join the army of unemployed Jews, who received a refusal, didn’t attract me at all. That is why the problem of departure was not really considered in our family.
However, I had to avoid these plans and even these conversations, as I had absolutely no possibility to leave the USSR. I have worked in the military industry all my life and had access to secret information, including documentation marked ‘OV’ [short for ‘very important’ in Russian]. Systems, the components of which we produced, are still the basis of Russia’s defense potential. The perspective to join the army of unemployed Jews, who received a refusal, didn’t attract me at all. That is why the problem of departure was not really considered in our family.
Period
Location
Russia
Interview
Mikhail Plotkin
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