Announcement
In celebration of World Refugee Day on June 20th, the IRC in Silver Spring profiled four individuals who came to the U.S. as refugees and went on to make significant contributions to our society.
Albert Einstein
Came to the U.S. in 1933. Originally from Munich, Germany.
Einstein fled to the U.S. in 1933 after becoming the target of increasingly virulent Nazi persecution. He was singled out by the Nazi regime as someone who was both a Jew and a renowned public figure. When he fled to the U.S., Einstein feared for his life.
Widely considered to be the most influential physicist of the 20th century, Einstein’s accomplishments need no introduction. In addition to winning the Nobel Prize for physics, Einstein founded the International Rescue Committee in 1933 and went on to help countless European Jews escape persecution.
Sergey Brin
Came to the U.S. in 1979. Originally from Moscow, Russia.
Brin came to the U.S. at the age of six with his parents and brother. As Jews living in the Soviet Union, his family suffered anti-Semitic discrimination in their day-to-day lives. The family resettled in Maryland and Brin later went on to attend the University of Maryland as an undergraduate student.
Named the fifth most powerful person in the world by Forbes magazine in 2016, Brin co-founded the internet search engine, Google. Brin is now an outspoken supporter of refugee resettlement to the United States.
Ilhan Omar
Came to the U.S. in 1995. Originally from Mogadishu, Somalia.
Omar fled civil war in Somalia with her family after the country’s former dictator was ousted in 1991. Her family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya and before finally resettling in Virginia when she was 12 years old. When Ilhan arrived in the U.S., she did not speak any English. The civil war in Somalia is ongoing to this day, and has claimed over half a million lives since 1991.
In November 2016, Ilhan became the first Somali-American elected to legislative office in the United States when she was elected to the Minnesota State Legislature.
Gloria Estefan
Came to the U.S. in 1960. Originally from Havana, Cuba.
When Fidel Castro rose to power in Cuba in 1960, Estefan fled to the U.S. with her parents. Her father had connections to the former Cuban leader and feared for the family’s safety. She was three years old at the time. Her family resettled in Miami, Florida.
In the U.S., Estefan became a celebrated singer and songwriter with several number one hits and albums. Estefan has won seven Grammy awards, and is on both VH1’s and Billboard’s list of the top 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 for her contributions to American Music.