User:Smgarfias1

The chaos and depression that plagued Europe following the conclusion of World War II drove many native Europeans to immigrate to the United States. After the war, there were about 7 million displaced persons ranging from various countries throughout continental Europe. (Wilsoncenter.org). Of these 7 million, 2 million were Russian citizens that were sent back to the U.S.S.R. to be imprisoned, exiled, or even executed having been accused of going against their government and country. (Harvard) Roughly 20,000 Russian citizens immigrated to the United States immediately following the conclusion of the war. (loc.gov) Following the war, tensions between the United States and the then Soviet Union began to rise to lead to the U.S.S.R. placing an immigration ban on its citizens in 1952. (loc.gov) The immigration ban effectively prevented any citizen or person under the U.S.S.R. from immigrating to the United States. This came after a large percentage of Russian immigrants left for the United States specifically leaving the U.S.S.R. embarrassed at the high percentage of Russian citizens emigrating. After the immigration ban was placed into effect, any Russian citizen that attempted to or planned to leave Russia was stripped of citizenship, barred from having any contact with any remaining relatives in the U.S.S.R., and would even make it illegal for that individual's name to be spoken. (loc.gov)

By the 1970s, relations between the U.S.S.R. and the United States began to improve and the U.S.S.R. relaxed its immigration ban, permitting a few thousand citizens to immigrate to the United States. (loc.gov) However, just as had happened 20 years prior, the U.S.S.R. saw hundreds of thousands of its citizens immigrate to the United States during the 70s. (loc.gov) The Soviet Union then created the “diploma tax” which charged any person that had studied in Russia and was trying to emigrate a hefty fine. This was mainly done to deter Soviet Jews who tended to be scientists and other valued intellects from emigrating to Israel or the West. (Wilsoncenter.org)

Due to the U.S.S.R. suppressing its citizens from fleeing the U.S.S.R., the United States passed the Jason-Vanik of 1974 penalized the U.S.S.R. (Immigration U.S.) The Jason-Vanik agreement was apart of the 1974 Trade Act. The agreement stipulated that the United States would review the record of human rights before permitting any special trade agreements with countries with non-market economies. (case.edu) As a result, the U.S.S.R. was pressured into allowing those citizens that wanted to flee the U.S.S.R. for the United States to do so, with a cap on the number of citizens allowed to leave per year. (Immigration U.S.) The Jason-Vanik agreement made it possible for the religious minorities of the U.S.S.R. such as Roman-Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Jews to immigrate to the United States. (Immigration U.S.) This agreement effectively kept immigration from the U.S.S.R. to the United States open and as a result, from 1980 to 2008 some 1 million peoples immigrated from the former Soviet Union to the United States. (Immigration U.S.)

The 1970s witnessed 51,000 Soviet Jews emigrate to the United States, a majority after the Trade Agreement of 1974 was passed. The majority of the Soviet Jews that emigrated to the United States went to Cleveland, Ohio. Here, chain migration began to unfold as more Soviet Jews emigrated after the 1970s, concentrating in the eastern part of Cleveland. The majority of Soviet Jews that had arrived were educated and held college degrees. These new immigrants would go onto work in important industrial businesses in the city such as BP America and General Electric Co. Other Russian immigrants worked in the Cleveland Opera or in the Cleveland Symphony as professional musicians and opera singers.