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The massive amounts of Russian immigrants to Israel in the 1990s revealed a lot of pent up demand for emigration, while also reflecting the misery in Russia at the time. What if this was allowed to happen earlier? The early 1970s saw a brief grace period and some 250,000 Jews left the USSR, with half going to Israel and most of the rest going to the US (by that point, the most ideological of Zionists had already emigrated, sometimes breaking the rules to do so).

Essentially, the point in time I have in mind is the Stalinist paranoia phase, in which right before his death, Stalin began to fear and distrust the Jews. There would of course be Russian precedent for a massive deportation, from Ivan the Terrible onwards. How do you think Israel would handle an influx of hundreds of thousands of Jews in the 1950s from Russia, when they were having such problems integrating the ones from the Arab world at the same time? What impacts do you think this would have?

And what about the Volga Germans and Greek Crimeans? A Soviet Union that exiles them would have to gain something from it. Possibly a massive reparation payment from Germany?

Any thoughts?
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