Satler 1

Leona Satler

ENGW 1111

25 October 2021

Planting Roots

Figure 1: Marina Lundberg holding her baby on December 31st, 2020.

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            Hearts from all around the room were beating with the same fierceness. On a cool autumn

day in a grey-walled home, warmth radiated from the air and clung to the Satler family. Yelena

Satler, Roman Satler, and their son and daughter were all breathless with anticipation. Seated on

the Lundberg’s dark leather couch, they waited for the eldest daughter, Marina Lundberg, to

return home from the hospital. Like many others during the coronavirus pandemic, the two

families were separated, however, on November 16th, 2020, their connection became stronger

than before. The thought of a new life entering their family made their breathing shaky. I hope

their drive goes well, thought Yelena Satler. Hearing the garage door hardware screech open, the

Satlers all jumped up and greeted Marina Lundberg and her husband, Curtis Lundberg, into the

home, carrying a newborn baby. The fireplace crackling in the silence filled the room with a

sense of comfort. Smiling, both Marina Lundberg and the Satlers saw the contentment they

dreamt of ever since they immigrated to the United States twenty-six years ago.

            Before this picturesque moment in life for the Satlers and Lundbergs, they lived in a part

of Ukraine known as Dnipropetrovsk. While living there, they faced many difficulties that

propelled them to leave their country. Not only did they actively defend themselves against

antisemitism, they feared for the safety of themselves as well as the family they hoped to have

there. With the stigma in World War Two and the lasting effects of genocide, “intergenerational

trauma” affected “first, second, and third generations” of the families and communities in

Ukraine (Bezo and Maggi para. 10). Feeling hated by their country under religious incarceration,

life for Yelena and Roman was unbearably grueling. The two of them experienced “crime

running wild” on the streets, even those that had law enforcement patrolling there because the

chaos was all but normal in those times, said Yelena Satler. Moreover, food was scarce, and

stores had little to no products because of the break of the Soviet Union where the economy was
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“under severe strain,” transitioning to be the “sick man of Europe” as Ukraine was known for its

failed “geopolitical situation” (Sutela para. 2). Marina was born on September 5th, 1989, in a

large Ukrainian town known as Shepetovka. With the birth of their daughter, Yelena and Roman

knew they needed to leave Ukraine for a safe life with their child. Marina was around the age of

six when the Satlers left Ukraine on February 13th, 1995, making her foundation of life in the

United States immensely challenging. 

Prior to Ukraine’s independence, the Soviet Union exploited Ukraine for “agricultural

production, defense industries, and military, including the Black Sea Fleet and some of the

nuclear arsenal” (Masters para. 4). This was the reason for Ukraine’s delayed separation from the

Soviet Union, pushing closer to the Western powers after the Cold War. For many years after

fighting for sovereignty, the independence of Ukraine caused many more difficulties like the

“political…turmoil…centered around jockeying for power,” in turn causing the economy to

suffer (Sutela para. 9). Failed attempts at restoring the economy, such as establishing a common

currency in 1990, “the hryvnia,” underlined a dangerous cycle regarding political instability that

affected the economic crisis (Sutela para. 10). Only when Ukrainians forged positive market

competitions and connections with other foreign nations for investments did they truly

experience an improving economy. Government intervention, such as the transition from

corruption to a free market, led the way to progress for Ukraine up to the modern day.

Marina’s life in the United States was far from an American dream. In first grade during

1996, for example, she recalled a time when her language barrier prevented her from learning in

school. She spoke of how she knew one other child, Michael, in her class who was Ukrainian,

but her teachers “wouldn’t seat [them] next to each other” so she awkwardly stood up and

walked to the other side of the classroom each time she had a question for him. Not only was she
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the first-generation daughter who was obliged to make her family proud, but the disappointment

of telling Yelena and Roman about her educational struggles was unmatched. The challenge to

attain perfection never left as she grew up.

The United States immigration policies have been enduring for many generations.

Nativism was planted into the nation’s history, influencing the feelings towards non-native

inhabitants for a long time. From legislation like “the quota system,” to other means of deterring

“Asian, European, and Mexican migration after 1929,” the percentage of the US population was

one of the lowest for immigrants since the year 1850 (Young 225). Long-standing clashes with

job-market competition and several other outlets of xenophobia resulted in the United States’

continuous debate on immigration waves. For example, spikes of “anti-Muslim nativism” due to

September 11 caused the entirety of the group to be “linked to the threat of terrorism in the

American public sphere” (Young 228). Due to the stigma associated with immigrants, many

faced prejudice despite most having no connections with extremist groups whatsoever. Looming

nativism like this still exists today for many Americans because of the deep-rooted feelings

toward immigration in the United States.

Although Marina eventually assimilated to the language and other American ideals

thrusted upon her, the need to be the model of the household while also being “the star student,”

as she called it, never stopped gleaming. Parents want the best for their children, however, a

recent study discovered that “as compared with the other groups, first-generation immigrants had

the highest levels of perfectionism and threat overestimation” (Pozza, et al. p. 1). This underlines

how, though immigrant parents dream of a better life for their children, Marina suffered one of

the most painstakingly difficult tasks there is in an immigrant family – the pressure to attain
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perfection, an unattainable task. Over time, Yelena and Roman would see that she was just trying

her best, however, the lasting effects it made could never be changed.
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Works Cited

Bezo, Brent, and Stefania Maggi. “Living in ‘Survival Mode:’ Intergenerational Transmission of
Trauma from The Holodomor Genocide of 1932–1933 in Ukraine.” Social Science &
Medicine, vol. 134, 2015, pp. 87–94., doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.04.009. 

Lundberg, Marina. Personal Interview. Conducted by Leona Satler. October 11, 2021

Masters, Jonathan. “Ukraine: Conflict at the Crossroads of Europe and Russia.” Council on

Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, 5 Feb. 2020,
www.cfr.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-crossroads-europe-and-russia. 

Pozza, Andrea, et al. “Obsessive Beliefs and Subtypes of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

amongst Immigrant Children and Early Adolescents.” 2021, doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-
285168/v1. 

Satler, Yelena. Personal Interview. Conducted by Leona Satler. October 10, 2021

Sutela, Pekka. “The Underachiever: Ukraine's Economy since 1991.” Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, 9 Mar. 2012, carnegieendowment.org/2012/03/09/underachiever-
ukraine-s-economy-since-1991-pub-47451. 

Young, Julia G. “Making America 1920 Again? Nativism and US Immigration, Past and
Present.” Journal on Migration and Human Security, vol. 5, no. 1, 2017, pp. 217–235.,
doi:10.1177/233150241700500111.