Alla Aberson grew up in a family that was critical of Communist Party rule. Her father belonged to a small group of dissidents that tried to reform the government after Joseph Stalin's death. When those efforts failed, he and his friends were convinced that emigration was their only option. Yet when they and later their children applied for exit visas, they were stripped of citizenship and then denied permission to leave. They were known as refuseniks—individuals denied the right to emigrate. Alla describes what it was like to be treated as a potential traitor in one‘s own country and how it affected her daily life and her plans for the future.