Emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union in the 1960-1970s through the eyes of the American press

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Abstract

The article analyzes the features of Soviet emigration and repatriation in the second half of the 1960s through the early 1970s, when for the first time after a long period of time, and as a result of political agreements between the USSR and the USA, hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews were able to leave the Soviet Union for good and settle in the United States and Israel. Our attention is focused not only on the history of this issue and the overall political situation of that time, but mainly on the peculiarities of this issue coverage by the leading American printed media. The reference to the media as the main empirical source of this study allows not only perceiving the topic of emigration and repatriation in more detail, but also seeing the regularities of the political ‘face’ of the American press of that time. This study enables us to expand the usual framework of knowledge of emigration against the background of its historical and cultural development in the 20th century.

About the authors

Alexey V. Antoshin

Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin

Author for correspondence.
Email: alex_antoshin@mail.ru

Doktor istoricheskikh nauk [Dr. habil. hist.], professor at the Department of Oriental Studies

19 Mira Ave., Yekaterinburg, 620003, Russia

Dmitry L. Strovsky

Ariel University

Email: dmitryst@ariel.ac.il

PhD in Political Sciences, Professor

1 Kiryat Hamada, Ariel, 40700, Israel

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Copyright (c) 2019 Antoshin A.V., Strovsky D.L.

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