Immigrants to the U.S. who changed the world

Another cut-and-paste from Twitter, this time from Rohoza (Дев'ятий) Mykhailo:

15 Geniuses Who Fled the Pogroms — or Were the Children of Those Who Did. 

 

All of them were Americans. Their ancestors were Jews from the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire. They fled pogroms, restrictions, and antisemitism — and built a different life.  

 

Here is what their descendants became: 

 

1. Isaac Asimov — born in the Smolensk Governorate. Author of Foundation and I, Robot. One of the greatest science-fiction writers of the 20th century. 

 

2. Saul Bellow — son of refugees from the Grodno Governorate. Nobel Prize laureate. He wrote about the Jewish experience in America — and about the human condition. 

 

3. Kirk Douglas (Danielovitch) — son of poor immigrants from the Grodno region. He became a Hollywood symbol of strength and courage. 

 

4. Steven Spielberg — grandson of Jews from Odesa and Kamianets. Created Schindler’s List and Indiana Jones. Helped reshape the way the world remembers the Holocaust. 

 

5. Dustin Hoffman — descendant of Jews from Kyiv and Bila Tserkva. A face of the “New Hollywood” — a hero without muscles, but with a soul. 

 

6. Mel Brooks — son of an immigrant from Daugavpils. Made The Producers and mocked Hitler. Hilarious — and terrifying at the same time. 

 

7. Bob Dylan — grandson of Jews from Odesa and Lithuania. Nobel Prize laureate. A prophet of rock and roll. 

 

8. Leonard Bernstein — his parents came from the Rivne region. Composer, conductor, educator. A symbol of American music. 

 

9. Richard Feynman — his grandfather came from Minsk. A genius of quantum electrodynamics. He loved playing the bongos and challenging the academic establishment. 

 

10. Murray Gell-Mann — his mother’s family came from Ukraine. He discovered quarks. Without him, modern physics would have a massive hole in it. 

 

11. Michael Bloomberg — grandson of Jews from the Mogilev region. Mayor of New York City, billionaire. The Bloomberg name is known around the world. 

 

12. Larry Ellison — son of a woman from Odesa. He founded Oracle and became one of the richest — and most controversial — figures in tech. 

 

13. Bernie Sanders — his father came from Słopnice, Poland. A socialist with Jewish roots who came close to winning the Democratic presidential nomination. 

 

14. Ruth Bader Ginsburg — daughter of a Jewish immigrant from Odesa. U.S. Supreme Court Justice. An icon of feminism and liberal America. 

 

15. Noam Chomsky — his father came from a shtetl in what is now Ukraine. A towering figure in linguistics and a relentless critic of power, propaganda, and lies.  

 

And all of this grew out of the shtetls. Out of the Pale. Out of a world built around the word “forbidden.” 

 

They did not remain victims — they became authors of the modern world. 

 

 Remember it if you want. But never forget where it all began.