Israel jenseits von ‚Heimat‘ und ‚Diaspora‘ – die Perspektive der russischsprachigen Zuwanderer zwischen 1989 und 2000

Between 1989 and 2000 more than one million Russian-speaking people emigrated from the Soviet/Post-soviet Union to Israel on the basis of the repatriation law, Chok a-Schwut. As a consequence, Israeli society is facing a test never experienced before. This article addresses an integration process of immigrants regarded by the receiving country as diaspora people who on their part are unwilling to submit to norms closely connected with this status and thus decline the Zionist concept of the negation of a diaspora. Along with this goes an almost nostalgic remembrance of the abandoned homeland as well as a sort of ghettoization in Israel. On the other hand a new assimilation process can be observed integrating normative demands into their own narratives: a late victimization of anti-Semitic experiences in the country they left along with a conscious decision for Israel as their homeland.