Behind Soviet propaganda’s promise of unity, childhood stereotypes shaped how Russians viewed people from other nationalities—and some of those attitudes still echo today. Elvira Bary draws on memories of growing up in Gorky to explore the gap between the official story and everyday life.
From Roma communities and people from the Caucasus to Ukrainians, Belarusians, smaller ethnic groups, and Central Asian migrants, she traces the assumptions, tensions, and personal encounters that influenced Russian society. The stories also reveal how identity and power can shift, through the experience of Russian émigrés in China. A personal historical reflection on ethnicity, prejudice, and the legacies behind Russia’s present.
