Post-Soviets in Queens

While Russians are traditionally associated with Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, there are other, less obvious groups throughout the city. Several such communities are in Queens.

Russians - together with other former Soviet groups such as the Uzbeks, Lithuanians, Georgians and Ukrainians - have founded their own enclaves throughout the borough, in Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens and the Rockaways, for example.

There are many more Eastern European synagogues in Queens than there are Eastern European churches, however, since most of the Eastern Europeans who settled in Queens from the Soviet Union were Jewish. One notable exception is the Russian Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration in Maspeth.

Check out: In Search Of Freedom, A Community Finds A Home In Queens

(Photo of Maspeth Transfiguration Church from http://www.queenstribune.com/anniversary2002/russians.htm)