Tatyana Semyrog is not a professional politician or lawyer. She is a widow, mom of three young daughters, and a refugee of the former Soviet Union.
Tatyana earned her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Pacific Lutheran University and has worked in several Congressional offices, including U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s office. She lost her husband three years ago in a horrific car accident. Six days before his death, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her incredible story shows her strength and the kind of fighter she is. This spirit of perseverance will help Tatyana fight for the true values of the people she represents, at all cost. She will do it for the sake of this great state, the 6th Plymouth District and especially for the future of our children.
As a refugee of the former Soviet Union, Tatyana greatly values our freedoms. Her parents escaped communism and severe persecution when they brought Tatyana and her 7 siblings to the United States in 1988. The Berlin Wall was still intact and Gorbachev was preaching Perestroika. After suffering for many generations, going back to Stalin, her family finally fled to this beautiful country and its promise of freedom. Tatyana grew up with stories of how her grandfather was in the Siberian Gulags for 20 years. He was a Protestant Christian who was found guilty of possessing illegal literature at the time of a surprise raid on his home. That illegal literature was the Bible. He and his brothers were condemned to execution for their faith and its preaching. While his brothers were executed within a couple of days, he awaited his own death inside the death chamber for 40 days, expecting for his name to be called every time the door opened. Luckily, every time, it was someone else’s name and in the end his execution was replaced by 20 years in the Gulag Labor Camps in Siberia. Her grandfather’s suffering didn’t end there. When they took him away, his wife and children were thrown out of their home and left to wander the streets. During the bitter cold, they dug a hole in the river bank and lived in it for seven years. They ate potato peels trying to survive. Four children died during these hard times.
Religious persecution was rampant even when Tatyana was born. Her father was not allowed to go to the university because of his Christian faith. He refused to become a member of the Communist Komsomol Party. Every day at school Tatyana also suffered bullying by fellow classmates and teachers for her faith. Her two brothers were regularly beaten by their teacher in front of their class while being asked – “Where is your Jesus?”
Coming to America was the greatest gift for Tatyana. The freedom this country gives is a miracle. Sadly, it’s being chipped away and Tatyana is greatly concerned by what she is seeing happening to our beloved country. Freedom is so easy to lose and is nearly impossible to get back, as is evident in her former homeland. Our conservative values and Christian beliefs are being attacked every day, the same beliefs and values of our Founding Fathers. It’s nowhere more evident than what is happening on Beacon Hill. Massachusetts is the cradle of liberty and yet it is high-jacked by a tyrannical party that does not represent the values of the people of this district or state. That is why Tatyana is running. She believes that people deserve a legislator who will be their voice on Beacon Hill.
