Migration of Jews out of Russia and Ukraine: from the mid -1990s till today

• In Event: Migration Patterns in the Contemporary Jewish World

Abstract

This paper focuses on the developments in migration of Jews and their family members from Russia and Ukraine in the last 30 years. Jewish migration responds to economic cycles and political crises, as is well known. The post-communist period in Russia and Ukraine was marked by economic ups and downs as well as by increasing conflictuality between these two former constituent republics of the former Soviet Union. Most recently, since the escalation in military conflict in 2022, emigration of Jews and their family members reached new heights.

This paper places the newly observed migration from Russia and Ukraine in a historical perspective, comparing it to other instances of mass migration of Jews: following the collapse of the USSR, establishment of independent states in North Africa in the mid-20thcentury and the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany during the 1930s. Mass departure of Jews, it is maintained, is a precursor of a major political upheaval. The exact dynamics and reasons behind it may differ and anti-Jewish sentiment may or may not be the main drive. It is further maintained, that the current migration wave of Russia, in particular, has little, if anything, to do with antisemitism and everything to do with the increasingly clear contouring of the new geopolitical order and an ensuing increase in political uncertainty.

Author

• Daniel Staetsky, Institute for Jewish Policy Research