What would happen to you if you were deported from US to Russia 1930

April 30, 2024 11:02 AM

I just got a family mystery landed in my lap and I have to work and can't look this up - writing on a photo says "she was a Russian Jew and was deported back to Russia with her daughter in the early 30s" I have so many questions.

A family member who is granddaughter of the American husband contacted me. She did not know about this first wife. For privacy reasons I can't post names here but I will post the outcome or if she wants to open the search more in my Metafilter bio.
First question: How could she be deported if she has an American husband??

Do you know what would have happened to a woman (and she had a young daughter) "deported back to Russia" in the 30s"?

My relative said she did hear a rumor that there was a "Russian ballerina" in the family
It says in the census that she is from Kiev, Russia

posted by cda to Law & Government (10 answers total)

The timing is relatively near the Russian Revolution and pre-WW2, so might have been part of the general red scare immigration policy of the time - its a bit later, but the anti-anarchist act or other related immigration policies might have applied. The idea was to deport anarchists, or radicals; it was often indiscriminately applied to Russians, regardless of their political affiliation.

As far as getting deported while having an American husband - she may or may not have been an American citizen herself (easier to deport if not) and anyway US immigration law is not consistent, or consistently applied, over time.

https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/polish-russian/soviet-exiles/
posted by RajahKing at 11:30 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]

It wouldn't be without precedent, especially at that time. There were massive deportations in the US 1929 to 1939 - largely Mexicans to to Mexico (the "Mexican Repatriation"). Estimates range up to 2 million individuals, and perhaps half were American citizens. Many were deported after committing minor offenses, or under the argument of removing immigrants in support of "American jobs for American workers."
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 11:31 AM on April 30

The laws were changing pretty rapidly in this period, if they married after 1922, she would not automatically gain her husband's citizenship on marriage, and if she immigrated after 1924 there were pretty significant quotas especially targeted at immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, and she may not have immigrated legally.

Consider also they may not have been married.
posted by muddgirl at 11:42 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]

Emma Goldman was deported in 1919. If the woman in question was involved in socialist or anarchist politics in the U.S., it was certainly possible. She may have led a very interesting life!
posted by praemunire at 11:56 AM on April 30 [2 favorites]

(Speaking of which, while I haven't read it myself, Goldman's memoir does cover that period in her life...a little earlier than the relative here, but still in that interwar period, so it might yield some useful details.)
posted by praemunire at 11:59 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the reminder praemunire, I just finished reading the Emma Goldman memoir and yes, her on-the-ground reporting of what Russia was like post-revolution is a fascinating read! It’s a great examination of people’s attitudes changing in real time. She had lost her US citizenship earlier due to the political actions of her ex-husband. She did get special treatment in Russia due to her celebrity status.
posted by oxisos at 12:18 PM on April 30 [3 favorites]

Do you know what would have happened to a woman (and she had a young daughter) "deported back to Russia" in the 30s"?

I fear it would not have gone well. It was a rough time in the USSR. The Stalinist purges were in full swing. People were arrested, imprisoned, and sometimes shot for any reason (or no reason).

Being someone who went to America, then came back, could have been reason enough to fall foul of the authorities.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:18 PM on April 30 [2 favorites]

Underscore the "not have gone well", especially if she was sent to Ukraine, which was subjected to the Holodomor, or forced famine in 1930-33 that killed millions.
posted by sapere aude at 3:10 PM on April 30 [4 favorites]

One more thing I want to add, as an amateur genealogist, there is usually a grain of truth to family stories but often just a grain. I would not assume the caption on the photo was the whole truth without more evidence, considering the source is seemingly from the family of the husband.

Especially in those days before no-fault divorce, I have quite a few "widows" in my family tree whose husband is alive and well and even living in the same state.
posted by muddgirl at 5:33 PM on April 30 [3 favorites]

As background, lots of people immigrated from the USA to the USSR in the early 1930s as a response to the depression. There were adverts in major newspapers. By 1937 many of them were caught up in the great purge and ended up dead or in the gulag.

It probably doesn’t need to be said but a Jew who survived the great purge and/or Holodomor living in the western USSR (including all of Ukraine) almost certainly died in the ‘holocaust by bullets’. In Leningrad they may have starved during the siege but may have survived.
posted by plonkee at 11:37 PM on April 30 [2 favorites]