Visiting Jewish Autonomy in Russia

Schnitzelwaffen
Published on Feb 1, 2025
In summer 2022 I went to Jewish Autonomous Oblast to try to understand how did life of Jewish minorities of the Russian Far East go. Jewish Autonomous Region is one of two official Jewish jurisdictions in the world, the other being Israel. It seems to be an ordinary region of Russian Federation but I managed to find some cultural peculiarities along with the stories of people who live in Birobidzhan since their early ages.

Timecodes:

00:00 - Obluchye - the Trans-Siberian town of railway workers
02:50 - How many Jews live in Jewish Autonomous Oblast?
03:40 - Exploring Birobidzhan - the capital city of the region
07:24 - Tasting Jewish Food
08:18 - Yiddish Language in modern days
10:23 - The story of the Literature professor Roman Fain and his experience in Yiddish

In 1924, the unemployment rate among Jews exceeded 30%, partially as a result of pogroms (attacks on Jews in the Russian Empire) but also as a result of the policies of the USSR, which prohibited them from being craftspeople and small businessmen. With the goal of getting Jews back to work to be more productive members of society, the government established the committee for the agricultural settlement of Jews. The Soviet government entertained the idea of resettling all Jews in the USSR in a designated territory where they would be able to pursue a lifestyle that was "socialist in content and national in form". The Soviets also wanted to offer an alternative to Zionism, the establishment of Mandate of Palestine as a Jewish homeland.

The establishment of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Birobidzhan in 1928 was ordered by Stalin only as an effort to strengthen the Far Eastern border region with an outpost, not as a favour to the Jews. The status of this region was defined shrewdly as an autonomous district, not an autonomous republic, which meant that no local legislature, high court, or government post of ministerial rank was permitted. It was an autonomous area, but a bare frontier, not a political center.

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