Born Under a Lucky Star

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A Flight to Freedom This book reads like a political thriller as Rimma Zaraysky's flight to freedom from Russia in 1980 and to a new life in the U.S. unfolds. She survived the Leningrad Blockade in WWII, endured the terrible economic, food, and shelter shortages during and after that war, and overcame many childhood illnesses, including becoming partially deaf. Hampered in her college choices and work demotions as a senior engineer due to anti-Semitism in Russia, she did not want her children to face the same restrictions. She could not even practice her Jewish religion. Her journey tells of her courage and resilience in meeting life's difficulties and challenges. Her husband, Ilya, also an engineer, worked on Sputnik and also faced many obstacles as a result of anti-Semitism. They both later found work in Silicon Valley. Her family photos present a pictorial history of her life in Russia and the U.S. Zaraysky sponsored many family members' immigrating to the U.S. from Russia, and now has an extended family of 40 living nearby in Silicon Valley. If your own ancestors did not talk about their lives in the "old country," in this book you may learn some of what they were afraid to reveal. Writing her story helped Zaraysky heal her PTSD and war trauma. She tells of the unusual way she got work in Silicon Valley and then traveled the world after retirement on a modest budget. This is a riveting memoir.