ABSTRACT
The sixth and final chapter focuses on the experiences of evacuated Jewish children and youth as they confronted anti-Semitism on the home front. The author argues that anti-Semitism was an outgrowth of anti-evacuee sentiment within home front communities. Based on an analysis of ego documents, this chapter considers how Jewish evacuees internalized and coped with the prejudices they encountered. Testimonies and memoirs written decades after the war bear witness to the long-term impact the evacuation experience had on these young people’s lives. Without a doubt, evacuation saved the lives of many Soviet Jews who would otherwise have perished under Nazi occupation. At the same time, these accounts reveal that the home front experience led many to feel increasingly alienated and disconnected within Soviet society and shaped their understanding of their identity and the terms of their belonging in the Soviet Union for decades to come.
