New York City’s Russian-speaking population is both one of its oldest and most varied immigrant demographics. Waves of immigration from the late 19th century to the early 20th included diasporic waves of Jewish emigres fleeing pogroms. This population is reflected only marginally in contemporary russophonic identity in New York (for more on this, see Nancy Foner’s From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration, particularly Chapter 1, “Who They Are and Why They Have Come”). Linguistically, Jewish groups often preferred Yiddish and Hebrew even in Eurasia, so they were less likely to speak Russian in the first place. There was also less of a belief among expatriated Russian Jews that they would return to their country of origin due to the nature of their ejection, a well-established Jewish community in New York City, and the totality of immigration; entire shtetls immigrated, not just individuals. Russian Jewish history then folded into New York’s history upon arrival, creating a linguistic hole that remained unfilled for almost a century.
After the overthrow of the Tsar and the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, American preoccupation with Communism became an added barrier to Russian entry and assimilation. The stereotype of political insurrection that persecuted Italians was eventually used to exclude Russians. These fears were magnified following the conclusion of the second World War and the establishment of a world order of rivalry and distrust between great powers in Moscow and Washington, D.C. Even when immigration policy was liberalised and quotas were scaled back in 1965, immigration from the other side of the Iron Curtain remained suppressed until the devolution of the Soviet Union in 1989. While some Russian emigration, particularly of dissidents, had occurred, demographic critical mass to create a sustained Russian community. Compounding this, many of the Cold War era immigrants had a distaste for their mother country and actively assimilated as a rejection of their prior world. Mr. Kholodov says that Boris Akunin, whom The New Yorker called “a driving force in the anti-Putin protests” that followed the elections of 2012, is one of the store’s bestselling authors. Classic works are popular as well, but the American face of contemporary Russian literature reflects a dissatisfaction with the Russia that many immigrants departed from.
The problems of the old world were never entirely separated from the New York community. The juxtaposition of Jewish and Russian communities in close proximity despite literary, cultural, and political incongruities lead to a tense episode a decade ago when leaders of the Jewish community including Assemblymember Dov Hikind named St. Petersburg among other retailers carrying “a best-seller list of anti-Semitic literature.” More recently, contemporary actions of Russian aggression in Ukraine have also sown division among the multinational russophonic populations that St. Petersburg services. “I think our shoppers think about the situation deeply, but they try not to comment and discuss it publicly,” said Violeta Lazareva” of St. Petersburg in a 2014 interview. The remarkable diversity within Russian speaking populations lends support both to the establishment of community around a bookstore and heightens the propensity for the formation of rifts within it.
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Every culture, every family, and every individual in America has a unique immigration story, whether that means coming over to the country with the Pilgrims, after a war ravaged through Europe, or running for your life from revolution.
For the customers of St. Petersburg, ex-Soviet Union countries are the main countries of origin for millions on Brighton and Brooklyn in general. The main immigration movements from Eastern Europe into the United States occurred pre-1917 and during the 1980s and 90s. After the iron grasps of communism, America became the safe haven from religious persecution as well as gave people the freedom to become whoever they wanted. This is a theme amongst most of the immigrants who escaped to America throughout its almost 300-year history.
To this day, Brighton is the place to begin a new life for any Russian speaker. To this effect, St. Petersburg Russian Bookstore works as an intermediate step between immigrant, undocumented, and FOB (fresh off the boat) to resident, worker, and citizen.
Aside from the ability to connect to other Russian book lovers, St. Petersburg is able to education its customers about citizenship process, driver’s test, traffic signs, the English language, American music, and American novels. Customers are able to introduce themselves to American culture in the comfort of their own language, within their own traditions, and amongst their own people.
Because Russians are quite an educated culture due to the tradition of good schooling formed in the Soviet Union, St. Petersburg offers cultural books about art, literature, and history aside from just Russian novels. Translation of popular American novels can also be purchased because being one of the only Russian bookstores in the 5 boroughs, St. Petersburg accommodates not only new arrivals but longtime residents.
