Soviet law classified Jews as a nationality without territory, trapping them between identities

Evidence

One is either a Russian or a Jew, but one cannot be both, since “Russian” and “Jew” in Soviet law are both “nationalities” (natsion­ alnost), within the common Soviet citizenship, and are, therefore mutually ex­ clusive categories. The Soviets do not recognize religion as a form of identity, but maintain Jewish separateness through the principle of a Jewish natsionalnost. The word Jew is inscribed on every Soviet Jew’s identity documents, and in many ways affects the treatment he receives. The Jew, like the Uzbek or the Armenian, belongs in Soviet law to a national minority; unlike them, he has no territorial base or political institutions, and little opportunity to develop and express a distinctive cultural identity. Soviet practice allows him neither to remain a Jew nor to become a Russian, and thus places him in an agonizing dilemma, which is worsened by widespread and deep-rooted hostility. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1367

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Said-adjacent cluster on how identities are administratively produced and made legible — here via Soviet nationality law rather than Western Orientalism.
• DEEPTHINKING: The category trap — a state that defines you by a category it simultaneously forbids you to practice or leave — is a dense, reusable analytical structure, but this chapter treats it briefly.