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Emil Draitser

Lecture subjects

The Modern-Day Exodus and the Soviet Jewry movement as documented in his autobiographical book, Farewell, Mama Odessa (Northwestern University Press, 2020), dedicated to the human rights activists.

Pertinent to the issue is his book titled Shush! Growing up Jewish under Stalin: A Memoir (California University Press, 2004).

Contact emil.draitser@hunter.cuny.edu

Languages English, Russian

Based in: West New York, New Jersey, USA

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Biography

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, to a working-class Jewish family, Emil Draitser has studied at the Odessa Polytechnic Institute and Moscow School of Journalism. Under his pen name "Emil Abramov", he began his writing career as a freelancer, contributing satirical articles to leading Soviet periodicals, such as Literary Gazette, Izvestia, Youth, and Crocodile, as well as on the Central Radio, TV, and in the satirical newsreel "The Wick" (Mosfilm). Eventually, blacklisted for writing an article critical of an important official, he immigrated to the United States. In 1975, he settled in Los Angeles, where he earned a Ph.D. in Russian literature from UCLA. Since 1986, he has been a Professor of Russian at Hunter College in NYC.

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