Boris Hoffman

Born in Soviet-occupied Lithuania in 1954, Boris Hoffman grew up hearing the brutal stories of Stalin’s Gulag from his family, friends, and neighbors. Raised by parents who refused to join the communist party, and grandparents whose farm was collectivized by the state and who were later sent to a labor camp in Siberia, Boris saw through Moscow’s lies and realized at an early age that neither he, nor his family, could truly live in the Soviet Union — they could only hope to survive.

As Boris progressed through school he quickly understood that as a Jew, he was a second-class citizen in the so-called “egalitarian” USSR. Facing discrimination and bullying from his peers and teachers, Boris was forced to forgo his dream of becoming a doctor and join a construction firm, lest he become conscripted into the Red Army and sent to Afghanistan.

After his father was fired for refusing to bribe his boss, and Boris’ career prospects were frozen because of his refusal to become an accomplice to the Communist party, he realized that he and his family had to escape from the Soviet Union, at all costs.

Bear witness to Boris’ unabridged story, on our new Witness Project Podcast above.