The Russian Jews

The Bible tells of King Nebuchadnezzar taking the Jews out of Israel and into Babylon as slaves about 600 BC. For about 90 years they lived in parts of what is now Armenia, Ukraine and Southern Russia. When they were allowed to return to their homeland many chose to stay because they had married natives, purchased land or moved further north.
As time passed, they spread out into much of Russia. They endured extreme persecution and eventually were kicked out of the country. In events called Pogroms, Russian military and citizens systematically either killed or drove out thousands of Jews and took their homes, possessions and property. The play and movie Fiddler on the Roof portrays these events, as does the animated movie An American Tail.
The majority of Jews that left Russia came to America, but unfortunately many escaped to Germany and Poland where they suffered in Hitler's Holocaust in the 1930's and 40's.

Boris Volnyov's Amazing Story !

Boris Volnyov was one of the elite 1960's Russian cosmonauts racing the Americans for superiority in space when it was "discovered" that his mother was of Jewish decent. He was removed from a crew 3 days before their mission, and had to work his way back up in seniority.

In January of 1969 during re-entry, his spaceship was at the wrong angle and the unprotected part of his ship, (not the heat sheild) faced the 5000 degree temperatures. The Russian Flight control began passing the hat to collect money for his soon-to-be widow, but he survived. His parachutesand retro rockets didn't work properly and he slammed so hard into the ground that he lost several teeth.

More than 200 miles away from his designated landing place he opened his hatch and found himself alone and in a -40 degree Russian winter. He saw smoke in the distance and followed it through the snow. When his rescuerers found the spacecraft empty they followed his footprints and drops of blood in the snow and found him being cared for in a small cabin by a peasant.

The Russian Government kept the "failure" a secret for many years.

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Following the Russian Revolution and fall of Czar Nicholas and Alexandria (Anastasia's Parents) thousands of Russians left for America, Europe and Asia. When the Russian Orthodox Church accepted the communist leadership, those members on the outside started their own group called the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia or ROCOR. Their headquarters are in New York City.

Poland in World War II

Poland was the country that lost the highest percentage of its people during World War II. Of the 35 million people in Poland in 1939, 5.6 million died, about half of them Jews. That is a death rate of 16.7 percent. Both Russia and Lithuania lost nearly 14 percent of their people.