Let My People Go: The Transnational Politics of Soviet Jewish Emigration During the Cold War

Description

American Jews' mobilization on behalf of Soviet Jews is typically portrayed as compensation for the community's inability to assist European Jews during World War II. Yet, as Pauline Peretz shows, the role Israel played in setting the agenda for a segment of the American Jewish community was central. Her careful examination of relations between the Jewish state and the Jewish diaspora offers insight into Israel's influence over the American Jewish community and how this influence can be conceptualized. To explain how Jewish emigration moved from a solely Jewish issue to a humanitarian question that required the intervention of the US government during the Cold War, Peretz traces the activities of Israel in securing the immigration of Soviet Jews and promoting awareness in Western countries. Peretz uses mobilization studies to explain a succession of objectives on the part of Israel and the stages in which it mobilized American Jews. Peretz attempts to reintroduce Israel as the missing, yet absolutely decisive actor in the history of the American movement to help Soviet Jews emigrate in difficult circumstances. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Introduction Part I: Israel, Instigator of Mobilization within the Diaspora, 1953–63 1 The Jewish Community Reaches Political Maturity 2 Mobilization in the Postwar Years 3 An American Campaign Orchestrated by Israel, 1955–63 Part II: From Community Mobilization to Humanitarian Movement, 1964–71 4 An American Movement in Support of the Rights of Soviet Jewry, 1964–66 5 The Six-Day War: A Turning Point for the American Jewish Community, 1967–71 Part III: The Emigration of Soviet Jewry: A Central Issue in Soviet-American Relations, 1972–Late 1980s 6 The Emigration of Soviet Jewry: An Obstacle to Détente, 1972–74 7 Jewish Rights or Human Rights in the Soviet Union? 1975–79 8 Jewish Emigration as a Barometer of US-Soviet Relations in the 1980s Conclusion Acknowledgments Appendix Chronology List of Acronyms Select Bibliography Index