Alexander and Yevgeny Vindman
Dublin Core
Title
Alexander and Yevgeny Vindman
Subject
Iraq War
Creator
Museum of History and Holocaust Education
Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata
Subtitle
Refugees, Soldiers, Scholars, Statesmen
Lede
“It was our way of paying back our adopted country, defending it with our lives.”
~Alexander Vindman, Interview with HIAS, 2020
"People come to this country as immigrants and refugees and serve-- whether that be in service in uniform like Alex and I have chosen or as a doctor or a teacher, they look to merit the great gift that they've been given."
~Yevgeny Vindman, Interview with HIAS, 2020
~Alexander Vindman, Interview with HIAS, 2020
"People come to this country as immigrants and refugees and serve-- whether that be in service in uniform like Alex and I have chosen or as a doctor or a teacher, they look to merit the great gift that they've been given."
~Yevgeny Vindman, Interview with HIAS, 2020
Story
Alexander and Yevgeny Vindman, twins born in Soviet-era Ukraine, came to the United States as refugees when they were three years old. Their father, recently widowed, sought exit visas for himself, his three children, and his mother-in-law. As Jewish people in a Soviet republic, few opportunities were available to the Vindmans, and the possibility of leaving to seek a better life was newly availble to them in the 1970s (although this opportunity did not last long).
Once they were granted permission to leave Ukraine, the Vindmans were stripped of their Soviet citizenship and given refugee status. They were essentially stateless. Officially, the Vindmans were meant to settle in Israel, but they, like many other Soviet Jews, preferred to opt out of that program to seek resettlement in the United States instead. They were assisted with their visa applications by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a refugee resettlement organization with historical roots in the resettlement of Jewish refugees of the Russian pogroms of the 1880s.
While waiting for their chance to come to the United States, the Vindmans sold possessions to survive in western Europe. When their chance to cross the Atlantic came, they settled in Brighton Beach, a New York City neighborhood with many Russian-speaking immigrants, but their goal was pursuit of the American dream. All three Vindman boys joined the U.S. Army after participating in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) during college. Alexander completed his Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, in Georgia, in 1999 and then served in South Korea, Germany, and Iraq. He received a purpose heart after being injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004. With a masters degree from Harvard University in Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian studies, he attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2015. He then accepted an assignment with the National Security Council (NSC) in 2018 as Director of European Affairs.
It was in that position, that Alexander Vindman became involved in the circumstances that would lead to the first impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Vindman was on the president's July 25, 2019 call with newly-elected Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelinsky and reported his concerns about the call to the lead counsel of the NSC.
After testifying in the impeachment trial, Alexander was dismissed from his NSC post in February 2020 and then retired from the military. His brother, Yevegeny, also worked for the National Security Council with a rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was promoted to Colonel in 2021. Both brothers sued the Trump administration in 2022 based on their experiences of intimidation and retaliatory personnel actions after reporting their concerns about the administration in 2019.
In 2020, both Vindmans participated in a Veterans Day video produced by HIAS describing their experience as refugees and members of the U.S. Armed Services. The Vindmans have demonstrated a commitment to the United States and the values they perceive as central to their adopted homeland.
Once they were granted permission to leave Ukraine, the Vindmans were stripped of their Soviet citizenship and given refugee status. They were essentially stateless. Officially, the Vindmans were meant to settle in Israel, but they, like many other Soviet Jews, preferred to opt out of that program to seek resettlement in the United States instead. They were assisted with their visa applications by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a refugee resettlement organization with historical roots in the resettlement of Jewish refugees of the Russian pogroms of the 1880s.
While waiting for their chance to come to the United States, the Vindmans sold possessions to survive in western Europe. When their chance to cross the Atlantic came, they settled in Brighton Beach, a New York City neighborhood with many Russian-speaking immigrants, but their goal was pursuit of the American dream. All three Vindman boys joined the U.S. Army after participating in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) during college. Alexander completed his Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, in Georgia, in 1999 and then served in South Korea, Germany, and Iraq. He received a purpose heart after being injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004. With a masters degree from Harvard University in Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian studies, he attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2015. He then accepted an assignment with the National Security Council (NSC) in 2018 as Director of European Affairs.
It was in that position, that Alexander Vindman became involved in the circumstances that would lead to the first impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Vindman was on the president's July 25, 2019 call with newly-elected Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelinsky and reported his concerns about the call to the lead counsel of the NSC.
After testifying in the impeachment trial, Alexander was dismissed from his NSC post in February 2020 and then retired from the military. His brother, Yevegeny, also worked for the National Security Council with a rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was promoted to Colonel in 2021. Both brothers sued the Trump administration in 2022 based on their experiences of intimidation and retaliatory personnel actions after reporting their concerns about the administration in 2019.
In 2020, both Vindmans participated in a Veterans Day video produced by HIAS describing their experience as refugees and members of the U.S. Armed Services. The Vindmans have demonstrated a commitment to the United States and the values they perceive as central to their adopted homeland.
Sponsor
Kennesaw State University Department of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books
Factoid
1975 -
Citation
Museum of History and Holocaust Education, “Alexander and Yevgeny Vindman,” Veteran Stories, accessed November 21, 2024, https://veteranstories.kennesaw.edu/items/show/27.