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VIOLINIST
Alex Treger practices for a concert with the
Los
Angeles Philharmonic Orches tra. A former student of
David Oistrakh in
Moscow,
Alex
was
not allowed to take his vio/in out of Russia.
"Others bes idcs Jcws want to
ge t o ut. T hey have nowh ere to
turn. Ma ny good fri ends in Russia
- not only Jewish would !ove to
leave."
"Here in Los Angeles everyone
pa irs off.
1
am lonely. In Russ ia the
high schoo l s tudents go around in
groups . 1 mi ss th a t. 1 mi ss my
fri cnds."
"Th e subway in Moscow is beau–
tiful. Why doesn' t Los Angeles have
such a tra nsporta ti on?"
"Th e Sov iet government has good
co nstitution like in America. But
here thc law works. In U.S.S. R.
mind contro l is more impo rtant
than law."
Childhood Dream Fulfilled
Former Soviet j ourna list and screen
writer Vladimir Matlin and his wife
Anna. who practiced law in Russ ia.
a re will ing to ta lk openly. "1 want
the pcople in the Soviet Union as
we ll as the immigrants already he re
to understa nd why we ca rn e to
12
America." says Ma tlin. "Come only
if you cherish frccdom. You will be
happy herc thcn. In Russ ia there is
no freedom in politics. no freedom
for intellect. No rcli gious life. No
Jewish lifc. They check your behav–
ior, and they want to know a lways
wha t is in your mind .
lt
may be
ha rd for us now in America. bu t we
ca n read what we wish and thi nk
wh a t we wil l. "
The Ma tl ins wc rc successfu l in
Russ ia. Thcy owned th eir apartmen t
in Moscow (run like American con–
dominiums). But, Ma tli n says he
dreamed of America since he was a
child and carne at th e first opportu–
ni ty. Anna ta lks a li ttlc about the
practicc of law in Russ ia. "Tra ining
is no t up to American s tandards.
and the re a re gove rnment lawyers
and prívate lawyers. The govern–
ment lawye rs. prosecuto rs. a nd
j udgcs a re usually not Jewish. On ly
th e príva te lawyers who defend ac–
cuscd
per~ons
tend to be Jewish,"
she ex plains.
Their 17-ycar-old daugh ter Ma–
rina !oves Los Ange les, the sun–
shine. "a nd school is a little bi t
eas ier here than in Moscow," she
says happ ily. She leaps to answer
th e ri ngi ng phone a nd hcr fat her
sighs a nd says. "She thinks she is
grown woman." Marina's mo ther
adds, "Maybe there is a little too
much frecdom fo r young people
he re?"
For ano ther family. in Los Ange–
les just threc months. the sacrifices
they madc to gc t out of Russ ia and
th e frant ic, fru it less search lo r jobs
fo r fa mily members had made them
anxious and nervous and caused
them to wonde r if they did the right
thing. In Russia. the mother was a
practicing dentist and the fat her a
successful construction engineer.
Their teen-age daugh tcrs a ttended
school where they d id not admit to
classmates they wcre Jcwish.
One daugh tcr says. "In Russia
l'm afraid to te ll 1 am Jewish . 1
don' t look lik e Jewish. 1 hear ot her
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1976