Kostik

Life for the Russian peasant under Czar Nicholas in 1910—and especially the czarina—was not pleasant. Any show of dissent was met quickly with violent consequences from the Cossacks, the czar’s not-so-secret police.

Kostik Kopituk, a native of a village near Pinsk, Byelorussia, became a bricklayer apprentice in one of the czar’s construction companies at age eleven. Over the next four years, he began to consider going to America at the suggestion of his schoolmate friend, Itzahkh Cohen.

Kostik knew that if the Cossacks caught him trying to escape, he’d likely be beheaded, but with his friend, he decided to leave behind his family, country, and culture.

Kostik and Itzahkh somehow made it to Ellis Island, New York, where they split up—never to see each other again. From Ellis Island, Kostik continued on to his destination in New Jersey. He was by himself in America, having just reached the age of sixteen.

Discover what it means to be an immigrant trying to escape a repressive regime to achieve the American dream in Kostik.