Misplaced Pages

#148851

51-658: Birobidzhansky District is located in the central of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. The main river in the district is the Bira River , which runs north-to-south through the district. About 20 km of the Amur River runs along the southern border of Birobidzhansky. The district is about 125 km west of the city of Khabarovsk , and the area measures 90 km (north-south) by 70 km (west-east). The administrative center, Birobidzhan, straddles

102-527: A moist climate . The largest companies in the region include Kimkano–Sutarsky Mining and Processing Plant (with revenues of $ 116.55 million in 2017), Teploozersky Cement Plant ($ 29.14 million) and Brider Trading House ($ 24 million). The region's well-developed transportation network consists of 530 km (330 mi) of railways, including the Tsarist-era Trans-Siberian Railway; 600 km (370 mi) of waterways along

153-492: A merger would be allowed pursuant to the Constitution of Russia and whether a merger would require a national referendum. JAO and its history have been portrayed in the documentary film L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin! . Released in 2002, the film tells the story of Joseph Stalin 's creation of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast and its partial settlement by thousands of Russian and Yiddish speaking Jews . As well as relating

204-620: A new Chabad -sponsored synagogue opened at the 14a Sholom-Aleichem Street, and the Sholem Aleichem Amur State University offers a Yiddish course. According to a 2015 article, kosher meat arrives by train from Moscow every few weeks, a Sunday school functions, and there is also a minyan on Friday night and Shabbat . A November 2017 article in The Guardian , titled, "Revival of a Soviet Zion: Birobidzhan celebrates its Jewish heritage", examined

255-561: A religion ran counter to the Bolshevik party 's policy of atheism and their crackdown on organized Jewish communities by closing synagogues and harassing believers, Vladimir Lenin also wanted to appease minority groups to gain their support and provide examples of tolerance. In 1924, the unemployment rate among Jews exceeded 30 percent, as a result of USSR policies against private property ownership, which prohibited them from being craftspeople and small businessmen as many had been prior to

306-636: A short border with China . Officially, the area had come under control of Russia in 1858 after the Treaty of Aigun with China. The treaty set the Amur River as border between the two countries. Settlers began drifting in, mostly from the Trans-Baikal area, over the following years. The village of Golovino reaching a population of 400 by the year 1891, with a school, a post office, and a chapel. Another wave of population growth came in 1890–1910 with

357-520: A socialist utopia there. In one instance, leaflets promoting Birobidzhan were dropped from an airplane over a Jewish neighborhood in Belarus. In another instance, a government-produced Yiddish film called Seekers of Happiness told the story of a Jewish family from overseas making a new life for itself in Birobidzhan. Early Jewish settlements included Valdgeym , dating from 1928, which included

408-866: Is a federal subject of Russia in the far east of the country, bordering Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast in Russia and Heilongjiang province in China . Its administrative center is the town of Birobidzhan . The JAO was designated by a Soviet official decree in 1928, and officially established in 1934. At its height, in the late 1940s, the Jewish population in the region peaked around 46,000–50,000, approximately 25% of its population. By 1959, its Jewish population had fallen by half, and by 1989, with emigration restrictions removed, Jews made up 4% of its population. By 2010, according to census data, there were only approximately 1,600 people of Jewish descent remaining in

459-481: Is a free economic zone . The oblast's mineral and building and finishing material resources are in demand on the Russian market . Nonferrous metallurgy , engineering, metalworking, and the building material , forest, woodworking , light industrial , and food industries are the most highly developed industrial sectors. Agriculture is the Jewish Autonomous Oblast's main economic sector owing to fertile soils and

510-533: Is a 2.215 km (1.38 mi) long, $ 355 million bridge that links Nizhneleninskoye in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast with Tongjiang in the Heilongjiang Province of China . The bridge opened in 2021 and transports more than 3 million tonnes (3.3 million short tons; 3.0 million long tons) of cargo and 1.5 million passengers per year. The population of JAO has declined by over 40% since 1989 due to massive exodus in 1989–1996, with

561-459: Is estimated that as many as 40,000 men from the Russian military moved into the region. Expeditions of scientists, including geographers, ethnographers, naturalists, and botanists such as Mikhail Ivanovich Venyukov , Leopold von Schrenck , Karl Maximovich , Gustav Radde , and Vladimir Leontyevich Komarov promoted research in the area. In 1899, construction began on the regional section of

SECTION 10

#1732781077149

612-531: Is incorporated separately from the district as Birobidzhan Urban Okrug. Bira River The Bira ( Russian : Бира ) is a river in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast , Russia . The name derives from the Jurchen and Manchu word bira meaning "river". It is 261 kilometres (162 mi) long, and has a drainage basin of 9,580 square kilometres (3,700 sq mi). It is one of

663-400: Is one of the five in the autonomous oblast. The town of Birobidzhan serves as its administrative center , despite being incorporated separately as a town of oblast significance —an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division , the district is incorporated as Birobidzhansky Municipal District . The town of oblast significance of Birobidzhan

714-732: Is taught in the schools, a Yiddish radio station is in operation, and the Birobidzhaner Shtern newspaper includes a section in Yiddish. In 2002, L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin! , a documentary on Stalin's creation of the Jewish Autonomous Region and its settlement, was released by The Cinema Guild . In addition to being a history of the creation of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, the film features scenes of contemporary Birobidzhan and interviews with Jewish residents. According to an article published in 2010, Yiddish

765-515: Is the language of instruction in only one of Birobidzhan's 14 public schools. Two schools, representing a quarter of the city's students, offer compulsory Yiddish classes for children aged 6 to 10. As of 2012, the Birobidzhaner Shtern continues to publish 2 or 3 pages per week in Yiddish and one local elementary school still teaches Yiddish. According to a 2012 article, "only a very small minority, mostly seniors, speak Yiddish",

816-634: The Constitution of Russia provides that the JAO is Russia's only autonomous oblast . The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is divided into five districts , including Birobidzhan, a town which has district status ; the oblast has one other town ( Obluchye ) and a further 11 urban-type settlements . The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is part of the Far Eastern Economic Region ; it has industry and agriculture and its transportation network involves roads, rail and water ways. Although landlocked, it

867-686: The Russian Empire pursuant to the Treaty of Aigun (1858) and the Convention of Peking (1860). In December 1858, the Russian government authorized the formation of the Amur Cossack Host to protect the south-east boundary of Siberia and communications on the Amur and Ussuri rivers. This military colonization included settlers from Transbaikalia . Between 1858 and 1882, many settlements consisting of wooden houses were founded. It

918-537: The Trans-Siberian Railway connecting Chita and Vladivostok . The project produced a large influx of new settlers and the foundation of new settlements. Between 1908 and 1912, stations opened at Volochayevka, Obluchye , Bira , Birakan , Londoko , In , and Tikhonkaya . The railway construction finished in October 1916 with the opening of the 2,590-metre (8,500 ft) Khabarovsk Bridge across

969-458: The 1939 population census, 17,695 Jews lived in the region (16% of the total population). After the war ended in 1945, there was renewed interest in the idea of Birobidzhan as a potential home for Jewish refugees. The Jewish population in the region peaked at around 46,000–50,000 Jews in 1948, around 25% of the entire population of the JAO. The census of 1959 found that the Jewish population of

1020-552: The American Jewish community that it would allow the emigration of 11,000 Jewish refuseniks . According to the 1989 Soviet Census, there were 8,887 Jews living in the JAO, or 4% of the total JAO population of 214,085. In 1991, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast became the federal subject of Russia and thus was no longer subordinated to Khabarovsk Krai . However, by that time, most of

1071-532: The Amur and Tunguska rivers; and 1,900 km (1,200 mi) of roads, including 1,600 km (1,000 mi) of paved roads. The most important road is the Khabarovsk-Birobidzhan-Obluchye-Amur Region highway with ferry service across the Amur. The Birobidzhan Yuzhniy Airfield , in the center of the region, connects Birobidzhan with Khabarovsk and outlying district centers. The Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge

SECTION 20

#1732781077149

1122-674: The Amur at Khabarovsk . During this time, before the 1917 revolution , most local inhabitants were farmers. The only industrial enterprise was the Tungussky timber mill, although gold was mined in the Sutara River, and there were some small railway workshops. In 1922, during the Russian Civil War , the territory of the future Jewish Autonomous Oblast became the scene of the Battle of Volochayevka . Although Judaism as

1173-525: The Bira River in the north but is not administratively part of the district. Bira River valley of the district is surrounded by foothills of the Lesser Khingan mountains. the area has deposits of brown coal and peat. The district is bordered on the north and west by Obluchensky District , on the east by Smidovichsky District , on the south by Leninsky District, Jewish Autonomous Oblast and

1224-407: The JAO (or just under 1% of the total population of the JAO and around 1% of Jews in the country), while ethnic Russians made up 93% of its population. According to the 2021 census, there were only 837 ethnic Jews left in the JAO (0.6%). Article 65 of the Constitution of Russia provides that the JAO is Russia's only autonomous oblast . It is one of two officially Jewish jurisdictions in the world,

1275-464: The JAO had declined by approximately 50%, down to 14,269 persons. A synagogue was opened at the end of World War II, but it closed in the mid-1960s after a fire left it severely damaged. In 1980, a Yiddish school was opened in Valdgeym . In 1987, the reformist Soviet government led by Mikhail Gorbachev pardoned many political prisoners and told the American Jewish community that it would allow

1326-564: The Jewish Autonomous Oblast. The southern and eastern section is part of the Amur valley , with only a few small residual ridges. The territory has a monsoonal / anticyclonic climate , with warm, wet, humid summers due to the influence of the East Asian monsoon, and cold, dry, windy conditions prevailing in the winter months courtesy of the Siberian high-pressure system . Article 65 of

1377-632: The Jewish Autonomous Region within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic . In 1938, with the formation of the Khabarovsk Territory , the Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR) was included in its structure. In the 1930s, a Soviet promotional campaign was created to entice more Jewish settlers to move there. The campaign partly incorporated the standard Soviet promotional tools of the era, including posters and Yiddish-language novels describing

1428-404: The Jewish population grew, so did the impact of Yiddish culture on the region. The settlers established a Yiddish newspaper, the Birobidzhaner Shtern ; a theatre troupe was created; and streets being built in the new city were named after prominent Yiddish authors such as Sholom Aleichem and I. L. Peretz . The Jewish population of JAO reached a pre-war peak of 20,000 in 1937. According to

1479-542: The Jewish population had grown to about 4,000. The article cited Mordechai Scheiner , the Chief Rabbi of the JAO from 2002 to 2011, who said that, at the time the article was published, Jewish culture was enjoying a religious and cultural resurgence. By 2010, according to data provided by the Russian Census Bureau, there were only approximately 1,600 people of Jewish descent remaining in the JAO (1% of

1530-522: The Jews had emigrated from the Soviet Union and the remaining Jews constituted fewer than 2% of the local population. In early 1996, 872 people, or 20% of the Jewish population at that time, emigrated to Israel. As of 2002, 2,357 Jews were living in the JAO. A 2004 article stated that the number of Jews in the region "was now growing". An April 2007 article in The Jerusalem Post claimed that

1581-461: The Soviet Union and the remaining Jews constituted fewer than 2% of the local population. In early 1996, 872 people, or 20% of the Jewish population at that time, emigrated to Tel Aviv via chartered flights. As of 2002, 2,357 Jews were living in the JAO. A 2004 article stated that the number of Jews in the region "was now growing". As of 2005, Amurzet had a small active Jewish community. An April 2007 article in The Jerusalem Post claimed that

Birobidzhansky District - Misplaced Pages Continue

1632-462: The area was growing in importance and was supplying food to the war effort. At the time, there were 5,883 people in the district, on 1683 farms and 12 collectives. Late in 1942, the village of Valdgame contributed 250,000 rubles to support the squadron "Jewish Farmer". Agriculture improved in the post-war years with the introduction of fertilizers, pesticides, and crop rotation. Within the framework of administrative divisions , Birobidzhansky District

1683-462: The area, as the heavy summer rains interfered with harvests and the soils and climate were different from European Russia. Until the 1930s, there were few roads and transportation centered on a 60-horsepower steamer that worked up and down the Bira from the Amur to the town of Birobidzhan. Good roads did not begin to appear until the 1950s-1960s. The current district administration was formed in 1942 as

1734-585: The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Amur Cart Road ; these migrants were mostly from Central Russia and Volga regions. New villages spread north from the Amur along the Bira River. The first large migration of Jews began in the 1920s, who founded at least half a dozen villages in the district. They established an Experimental Farm (later the Research Institute of Agriculture) to develop farming practices more appropriate to

1785-448: The current status of the city and suggested that, even though the Jewish Autonomous Region in Russia's far east is now barely 1% Jewish, officials hope to woo back people who left after Soviet collapse. In 2013, there were proposals to merge the JAO with Khabarovsk Krai or with Amur Oblast . The proposals led to protests, and were rejected by residents, as well as the Jewish community of Russia. There were also questions as to whether

1836-406: The emigration of 11,000 Jewish refuseniks . According to the 1989 Soviet Census, there were 8,887 Jews living in the JAO, or 4% of the total JAO population of 214,085. In 1991, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast became the federal subject of Russia and thus was no longer subordinated to Khabarovsk Krai . However, by that time, most of the Jews had emigrated from

1887-571: The establishment of the Mandate of Palestine as a Jewish homeland. Socialist Zionists such as Ber Borochov were gaining followers at that time, and Zionism was the favored ideology in the world's political economy to the Yiddish interpretations, which were essentially incompatible with the USSR because of the Yiddish movement's growing opposition (e.g. Emma Goldman ) to the very ethno-nationalism which constituted and structured Soviet states. Crimea

1938-551: The first collective farm established in the oblast, Amurzet , which was the center of Jewish settlement south of Birobidzhan from 1929 to 1939, and Smidovich . The Organization for Jewish Colonisation in the Soviet Union , a Jewish Communist organization in North America, successfully encouraged the immigration of some US residents, such as the family of the future spy George Koval , which arrived in 1932. Some 1,200 non-Soviet Jews chose to settle in Birobidzhan. As

1989-520: The history of the creation of the proposed Jewish homeland , the film features scenes of life in contemporary Birobidzhan and interviews with Jewish residents. The northern and western section of the oblast is mountainous, with the Lesser Khingan and the Bureya Range , among others. At 1,421 metres (4,662 ft) Mount Studencheskaya , located in the Bureya Range, is the highest point of

2040-962: The largest, left tributaries of the Amur . Some of the cities that lie along the river are Birakan , Teploozyorsk , Londoko , Bira , Birobidzhan and Nadezhdinskoye. This Jewish Autonomous Oblast location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in the Russian Far East is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Jewish Autonomous Oblast The Jewish Autonomous Oblast ( JAO ; Russian: Еврейская автономная область (ЕАО) , romanized : Yevreyskaya avtonomnaya oblast , IPA: [jɪˈvrʲejskəjə ɐftɐˈnomnəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ (ˌje‿ˌa‿ˈo)] ; Yiddish : ייִדישע אװטאָנאָמע (אױטאָנאָמע) געגנט ‎ , romanized :  Yidishe avtonome (oytonome) gegnt , cyrillized : Йидише автономе (ойтономе) гегнт, IPA: [ˈjɪdɪʃə avtɔˈnɔmə (ɔɪtɔˈnɔmə) ˈɡɛɡn̩t] )

2091-470: The numbers recorded being 215,937 ( 1989 Soviet census ) and 150,453 ( 2021 Census ) ; In the late 1940s, the Jewish population in the region peaked around 46,000–50,000, approximately 25% of its population. The census of 1959 found that the Jewish population of the JAO had declined by approximately 50%, down to 14,269 persons. In 1987, the reformist Soviet government led by Mikhail Gorbachev pardoned many political prisoners and told

Birobidzhansky District - Misplaced Pages Continue

2142-559: The oblast to get a free farm. In the spring of 1928, 654 Jews arrived to settle in the area; however, by October 1928, 49.7% of them had left because of the severe conditions. In the summer of 1928, there were torrential rains that flooded the crops and an outbreak of anthrax that killed the cattle. On 7 May 1934, the Presidium of the General Executive Committee accepted the decree on its transformation into

2193-516: The other being Israel . It is also the only territory in the world where Yiddish is a recognized minority language . Prior to 1858, the area of what is today the Jewish Autonomous Oblast was ruled by a succession of Chinese imperial dynasties . In 1858, the northern bank of the Amur River , including the territory of today's Jewish Autonomous Oblast, was split away from the Qing Chinese territory of Manchuria and became incorporated into

2244-518: The remote Russian Far East , especially along the vulnerable border with China. General Pavel Sudoplatov writes about the government's rationale behind picking the area in the Far East: "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 area

2295-462: The revolution. With the goal of getting Jews back to work to be more productive members of society, the government established Komzet , 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 Russians also wanted to offer an alternative to Zionism ,

2346-593: The territory of said region". The new territory was initially called the Birobidzhan Jewish National Raion. Birobidzhan had a harsh geography and climate: it was mountainous, covered with virgin forests of oak, pine and cedar, and also swamplands, and any new settlers would have to build their lives from scratch. To make colonization more enticing, the Soviet government allowed private land ownership. This led to many non-Jews settling in

2397-526: The total population), while ethnic Russians made up 93% of the JAO population. According to an article published in 2000, Birobidzhan has several state-run schools that teach Yiddish, a Yiddish school for religious instruction and a kindergarten. The five- to seven-year-olds spend two lessons a week learning to speak Yiddish, as well as being taught Jewish songs, dance, and traditions. A 2006 article in The Washington Times stated that Yiddish

2448-585: Was a surprise to Komzet; the area had been chosen for military and economic reasons. This area was often infiltrated by China , while Japan also wanted Russia to lose the provinces of the Soviet Far East . At the time, there were only about 30,000 inhabitants in the area, mostly descendants of Trans-Baikal Cossacks resettled there by tsarist authorities, Koreans, Kazakhs, and the Tungusic peoples . The Soviet government wanted to increase settlement in

2499-479: Was constantly penetrated by Chinese and White Russian resistance groups, and the idea was to shield the territory by establishing a settlement whose inhabitants would be hostile to white Russian émigrés , especially the Cossacks. 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

2550-477: Was initially considered in the early 1920s, when it already had a significant Jewish population. Two Jewish districts ( raiony ) were formed in Crimea and three in south Ukraine. However, an alternative scheme, perceived as more advantageous, was put into practice. Eventually, Birobidzhan , in what is now the JAO, was chosen by the Soviet leadership as the site for the Jewish region. The choice of this area

2601-479: Was permitted. It was an autonomous area, but a bare frontier, not a political center." On 28 March 1928, the Presidium of the General Executive Committee of the USSR passed the decree "On the attaching for Komzet of free territory near the Amur River in the Russian Far East for settlement of the working Jews." The decree meant "a possibility of establishment of a Jewish administrative territorial unit on

SECTION 50

#1732781077149
#148851