Interviewed by Faye Wolf
February 20, 2020
Max M. Fisher Federation Building, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Audio 01:04:03
Abstract
In this interview Boris Drigant discusses his life in Moscow and how he came to the United States in 1987. He discusses antisemitism in both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and how that affected activities like getting a job. He explains the difficulty of keeping Jewish traditions alive in the Soviet Union and when he came to the United States how it was a difficult adjustment. When he came to the United States, he discusses how he found work and how his work had him travel all over the United States. He also talks about being welcomed into the Jewish Community in Detroit.
History of Narrator
Boris Drigant was born in Moscow, Soviet Union in 1944. His parents came from the Pale of Settlement and settled in Moscow. He studied mechanical engineering and earned his PhD and worked in a research center in Moscow. He immigrated to the United States in 1987 via Vienna and Italy with the help from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) with his wife and daughter. He settled in the Metropolitan Detroit area, where he resides today with his second wife, Anna.
Transcript
Credit as: Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives, Boris Drigant Oral History Interview, February 20, 2020.