The International Jew: A Story on

Russo-Jewish Immigration, and

the Effects it had on Detroit
Parker Feldman
Professor Mortenson
HON 1000

The year was 1917. It was a cold, and dark morning in Glazov, Russia. Boris
Chetkov awoke to the sound of his father coughing. This is the same sound that he was
always startled awake to before heading to the bakery. He was up this early every day
of the week in order to throw the first loaves of bread into the oven at around 3 AM. He
sat up in the darkness and looked around him, taking a careful survey of the room. He
gets out of bed carefully, as he does every morning, in order to ensure that he does not
step on one of his 12 sleeping brothers and sisters on his way out of their one bedroom
house.
Boris had just celebrated his 19th birthday 3 days prior to him receiving a letter
from his eldest brother Nikita. Boris thought it must have just been a happy birthday
card, but when he opened it, he did not find what he expected. He found $50 in
American currency, a pamphlet entitled The Ford Manual, and a formal invitation from
his brother to come to America to work with him. This stunned Boris. The Russian
economy had been steadily improving since the beginning of World War 1, but Boris
had never held this much currency all at once in his life. It was a tough decision, but he
decided to ask his parents for their blessing to go and work with his brother in Detroit.
At dinner he brought the idea up of him moving in with Nikita in Detroit, and
working with him. The whole table erupted in yelling, crying, and whimpers. His younger
sister Ivanka could be heard saying Please dont go, and his father can be heard softly
speaking with his mother in a tone so stern, it could turn a normal woman to stone. But
not Boriss mother. She was adamant in the fact that Boris should be able to pursue his
own hopes and dreams, as long as he is still helping to provide for the family. His father
turned to Chetkov and said Son, you have my blessing. Chase your dreams, and make

a life for yourself in the city. Never forget your heritage. And please, find yourself a wife
already. His mother insisted that his younger brother of 11 months could easily take
over his role at the bakery, and that he needn't worry about the well being of the family
without him there. So, after some more intense discussion, it was settled. Boris would
leave for New York city the next morning by boat, and then travel back to Detroit with his
brother Nikita.
The total trip, by boat, from Russia to New York took 2 weeks and 4 days, and
the journey to Detroit from New York took a little over 2 days by train including stops.
During all of this time, Boris could only imagine what great wonders and opportunities
awaited him in Detroit. And when her arrived, the city was just as he had imagined;
enormous, beautiful, and booming with life. His brother Nikita had offered to split the
cost of a small room on Benton street with him, and that is where they would room
together for the next 3 years. Nikita was a small goods and household items peddler. He
went door to door, and business to business selling lamps, vacuums, and other
household items. He had been doing this for more than 2 years, and made a
surprisingly decent living. Nikita had offered to teach Boris the trade, and said that the
company that hired him would surely hire Boris as well (as it was jewish owned and
operated), but Boris declined, and stated that he had more interests in working for the
man himself, Henry Ford.
Three weeks after exclaiming that he wanted to work for Henry Ford, Boris was
hired as a line worker, at the position of bolt inspection. It was not an easy decision for
Boris to make, telling his brother he would not work with him. But, after reading over the
Ford manual, Boris concluded it was steady and well paying work, and something that

he could manage quite well while assimilating into American culture. The work Boris did
at the factory, day in and day out, was not nearly as challenging as running the town
bakery by himself back in Glazov. Ford was a very generous boss to his new workers,
who, in fact, also happened to be comprised of mostly immigrants. Ford hired english
teachers to teach basic english courses to the workers after their 10 hour shifts. This
made the transition into Boriss new found American culture a lot easier.
Boris began to gain a rhythm. Go to work 5 days a week, come home after a 10
hour shift and take a nap, go to the new German-Russo synagogue built on Hasting
street for night time prayer, come home and study his english lesson for the day, repeat.
Boris was making more money than he ever thought possible, and sent more than half
of his salary every month back home to his family. But what did this new opportunity at
change and wealth cost Boris? Boris felt as if he had lost his sense of community at
first, but joining the synagogue on Hasting street seemed to help him feel more at
home. The meeting of the Rabbis daughter, Veronika, who was a Saint Petersburg
Immigrant, seemed to help Boris feel as if he was not as lonely as he once thought. The
city life felt rushed to him, and did not suit him well, but he quickly grew attached to
Veronika, and became accustomed to his work schedule, so none of the discomfort that
the city initially caused him seemed to matter anymore.
Soon after Ford was cited for publishing the The International Jew pamphlets in
1920, and was accused of being an anti-semite, Boris left his job at the factory, and
helped his brother start up a new laundry service business in the heart of Detroit. Boris
was a changed man. He was a hard working man, as he was before he came to
America, but he had changed cultural values. He played a large role in the Russo-

Jewish community, both in unifying the Jewish peoples in Detroit, but in aiding new
Jewish immigrants, both from Russia, and Germany, in finding work, and in securing a
roof to go over their heads at night. Boris, and the rest of the Jewish Immigrant
community of Detroit created a subculture to the city, and increased and developed
Detroits economy further than it had been before they arrived. Boris yearned for home,
but he knew he had created a genuine and loving community and life for himself in the
city of his dreams, Detroit.

Works Cited
American Jewish Historical Society, 12/01/1970. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.
Detroit News-Tribune, 22 June 1902. See Michael A. Meyer, Response to Modernity: A
History of the Reform Movement in Judaism
Henry Ford. The Ford Manual (1915). Pamphlet.
Katz, in: Detroit Historical Society Bulletin (Feb. 1950), 49; Meyer, in: JSOS, 2
(1940); Detroit Jewish Chronicle, 153 (191651); G.B. Catlin, Story of Detroit (1923)
Moving in and Moving Up: Early Twentieth-Century Detroit Jewry Author(s):
Robert Rockaway; Michigan Historical Review, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Fall 2015), pp. 59-79
RESNICK, EDIE. "From Wash Tubs To Linens And UniformsMemories Of Jews
In Detroit And Their Connections To The Laundry And Linen Supply Industries."
Michigan Jewish History 51.(2011): 58-67. America: History & Life. Web.
Rockaway, Robert. American Jewish Historical Quarterly: ETHNIC CONFLICT IN
AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT: THE GERMAN AND RUSSIAN JEW IN DETROIT. 60 Vol.
5

Rockaway, Robert A. "The Eastern European Jewish Community Of Detroit,

1881-1914." Yivo Annual Of Jewish Social Science (00844209) 15.(1974): 82-105.
America: History & Life. Web

Simon, Rita J. "In The Golden Land: A Century Of Russian & Soviet Jewish
Immigration In America." (1997): NoPg. Urban Studies Abstracts. Web.