Comment by justsomehnguy

23 days ago

> yet the only option for citizens of the GDR and other communist states

yawns

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s_Soviet_Union_aliyah

The Soviet Union had almost no legal emigration prior to the 1970s, and limited, targed emigration quotas after. The US, by contrast, prior to 1965, had strict quotas limiting immigration (based on national origins).

  • You are moving goalposts.

    There were a lot of things in the USSR but leaving by "escape and defection" was not the only option.