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Position:Home>History> Does anyone know anything about the Jewish persecution in Russia?Question: Does anyone know anything about the Jewish persecution in Russia!? I recently saw my grandfather's certificate of naturalization, and it made me cry!. He came to America from Russia as a teenager during the early 20th century!. I know a lot of his family died there during a Jewish persecution conflict, but I don't know anything about this!.!.!. I'd really love to learn more about it, since it's such a huge part of my family heritage!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Tsar Nicholas I created the Pale of Jewish Settlement in April 1835 ("The Pale of!.!.!.") --- a limited geographical area where Jews were mandated to live!. The Pale included Lithuania, Poland, the south-western provinces, and White Russia with a few variations until its end in 1917 (Ritter)!. "The Pale was the single most destructive legal burden borne by Russian Jewry, and one of the most enduring," said Klier (5)!. Within the Pale, Jews were banned from most rural areas and some cities (Ritter); they were prohibited from building synagogues near churches and using Hebrew in official documents; barred from agriculture, they earned a living as petty traders, middlemen, shopkeepers, peddlers, and artisans, often working with women and children (Kniesmeyer and Brecher)!. After 1861, "the Pale became choked by a huge, pauperized mass of unskilled or semiskilled Jewish laborers, whose economic condition steadily worsened," said Klier (6)!. "Often repeated," said historian Shlomo Lambroza, "the official view was that Jews were a parasitic element in the Russian Empire who lived off the hard earned wages of the narod [people]" (219)!. By the time the term "anti-Semitism" was first used in the late 1870s, Jews in Europe were seen by many as alien to the nation or the people (Kniesmeyer and Brecher)!. The peasants in Russia viewed Jews as aliens; their religion, language, food, clothing, and manners were all different, strange, and mysterious—even the government discriminated against them (Aronson 49-50)!. Russian bureaucrats believed that the teachings of Judaism itself, especially as conveyed by the Tulmud, lead Jews into unproductive, parasitical, and exploitative commercial activities (Klier 7)!. During the decade before the pogroms of 1881, a growing atmosphere of crisis surrounded the Jewish Question in Russia!. Prompted by an increasingly militant Judeophobe press, Russian statesmen held their old prejudiced view of the Jews as a serious economic and social problem (Klier 11)!. The assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 threw the Russian government into chaos and directly preceded the first major outbreak of pogroms!. Rumors that Tsar Alexander III had issued a decree instructing the people to beat and plunder the Jews for having murdered his father and for exploiting the people encouraged the pogromists (Aronson 45)!. Beginning with Elizabetgrad, a wave of pogroms spread throughout the southwestern regions, totaling 200 in 1881 alone (Kniesmeyer and Brecher)!. Approximately 40 Jews were killed, many times that number wounded, and hundreds of women raped ("The Pale of!.!.!.")!. "Once aroused to violent action, the [peasants] may have felt justified that by destroying and plundering the Jews’ possessions they were merely appropriating property which did not rightly belong to the Jews," said historian Michael Aronson (50)!. The authorities condoned pogroms through their inaction and indifference, sometimes even showing sympathy for the pogromists (Kniesmeyer and Brecher)!. Works Cited * Aronson, Michael!. "The Anti-Jewish Pogroms in Russia in 1881!." Klier and Lambroza 44-61!. Klier, John D!. and Shlomo Lambroza, eds!. Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History!. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1992!. Kniesmeyer J!. and D!. Brecher!. "Beyond the Pale: The History of Jews in Russia!." Exhibit!. (1995): n!. pag!. Online!. Internet!. 29 Jan!. 1999!. Available http://www!.friends- partners!.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/en!.!.!. Ritter, Leonora!. "Nineteenth Century Russia!." Charles Sturt University-Mitchell!. (1998): n!. pag!. Online!. Internet!. 29 Jan!. 1999!. Available http://hsc!.csu!.edu!.au/modhist/courses/2u!.!.!. /russia/102/page122!.htm#anchor519803!. Rogger, Hans!. "Conclusion and Overview!." Klier and Lambroza 314-372!. "The Pale of Settlement and the Pogroms of 1881 in Russia!." The Zionist Exposition: Homeward Bound!. (1997): n!. pag!. Online!. Internet!. 29 Jan!. 1999!. Available http://village!.co!.il/leumi/archives/poli!.!.!. gatita_63109Www@QuestionHome@Com In the early 20th century there were a series of pogroms throughout Russia and were either sponsored by the government to terrorize the Jews or if done so by people it was ignored!. Pogroms were usually sponsored by the government to burned Jewish houses and synagogues even if there were people inside, basically make Jewish life a living hell!. This hate towards Jews in Russia continued throughout communist Russia though subtly like making Jews more of an ethnic group instead of a religion, because religion was outlawed in communist Russia and the government would not have been able to discriminate towards Jews if seen as a religion instead of an ethnic and racial group!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Look up Pograms and Black Hundreds!. Hope the links prove to be a useful starting pointWww@QuestionHome@Com |