Line Five, the Internal Passport: Jewish Family Odysseys from the USSR to the USA

``Line Five'' refers to the Jewish ``nationality'' on the Soviet Citizen's Internal Passport, and anti-Semitism pervades these illuminating oral histories of 50 people in 19 Jewish families who immigrated to Chicago from 1986 to 1991: distrust after the 1953 Doctors' Plot, workplace discrimination, childhood scapegoating and the recent rise of the nationalist group Pamyat. Interviewees relate the texture of their lives in the former Soviet Union, including material hardships (one bathroom for 40 people), marriages and births and the decision to apply for permission to emigrate and subsequent struggles with the authorities. Though the stories are admirable, especially when two generations in a family are interviewed, sometimes they cover the same ground, such as reactions to the Chernobyl disaster. The immigrants have varying reflections on America: some find freedom and friendliness, while others feel alienated, and many--perhaps the result of a bias in selection--seem to be reclaiming their Jewish identity. A portrait of immigrants in a more concentrated community, like Brooklyn's Brighton Beach, might have yielded different results. The editors are affiliated with the Oral History Project of the Chicago Jewish Community Centers. Photos not seen by PW . (Dec.)