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Master's Thesis Masé January 2012 All Inclusive Student Migration of Jews from Tsarist Russia to the Universities of Bern and Zürich, 1865-1914. “These student colonies were an interesting and characteristic feature of Western Europe in the days of czarist Russia. In Berlin, Berne, Zurich, Geneva, Munich, Paris, Montpellier, Nancy, Heidelberg, young Russian Jews, driven from the land of their birth by persecution, by discrimination and by intellectual starvation, constituted special and identifiable groups.” (Chaim Weizmann, 1949: 50.) „Dos is di berner “koloni” mit tswontsik jor tsurik. Hunderter yunge layt, di grester mehrhayt yiden; selten ven m’treft an emes rusishen ponim. Un dos ruv seynen dos meydlakh. Meydlakh, wos hobn ge‘endikt a gymnasie un vil’n weyter shtudir’n, - gevehnlekh oyf a doktor, - in rusland is nito far sey keyn ort, for’n sey in der shvayts […].“ [Such was the Bern „colony“ of twenty years ago. Rarely did one encounter a genuine Russian face among the hundreds of young persons, the overwhelming majority of whom were Jews. There was a preponderance of girls, girls who had finished the gymnasium and wished to continue their studies – generally medicine – who came to Switzerland because there was no place for them in Russia.] (Vladimir Medem, 1923: 278 – English translation according to Portnoy 1979.) Master’s Thesis January 4, 2012 Aline Masé Utrecht University Untere Eienstrasse 50 Faculty of Humanities 4417 Ziefen Research Institute for History and Culture Switzerland Research Master Programme [email protected] “History: Cities, States and Citizenship” Student ID 3477215 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ido de Haan THANKS TO… Composing a Master’s Thesis is no walk in the park, but many people have made sure that I would not lose track (and my mind). I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Ido de Haan of Utrecht University for not despairing vis-à-vis my rather chaotic approach and my impatient nature. Professor Michael Brenner of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München merits particular mention for the opportunity he gave me to present my project in his colloquium. The Institut für Jüdische Studien der Universität Basel also allowed me to expose my thesis to criticism; and I am especially thankful to Dr. Tamar Lewinsky for her encouragement and her useful hints with regard to literature and source material. Professor Leo Lucassen, Dr. Laura Polexe and Sandrine Mayoraz, M.A., have provided valuable input regarding theoretical concepts and source material. Finally, I could not have completed the work if it was not for the help of my friends and family who read through the text, criticized it, and who provided me with a stable social network. In particular, I owe much to Carla Cordin and her knowledge of the Russian language and history, to Anne Mittelhammer for her careful reading and analytic skills, and to Rita Goldberg for making sure that my English sounds better than it is. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. .................................................................................... 5 1 THEMATIC PROLOGUE. ..................................................................................................................................... 5 2 MIGRATION HISTORY AND STUDENT MIGRATION. ........................................................................................... 5 3 STATE OF THE ART: STUDENT MIGRATION OF JEWS FROM IMPERIAL RUSSIA. .................................................. 8 4 RELEVANCE, INNOVATION, RESEARCH QUESTIONS. ....................................................................................... 10 5 METHODS AND APPROACH. ............................................................................................................................ 13 6 SOURCES AND LITERATURE. ........................................................................................................................... 14 7 NOTES ON TERMINOLOGY, TRANSLITERATION AND DATE FORMAT. .............................................................. 17 8 SECTION OVERVIEW. ...................................................................................................................................... 18 PART I: EASTERN EUROPE. ................................................................ 19 1 RUSSIAN JEWRY IN THE 19TH CENTURY. .......................................................................................................... 19 1.1 General Social, Economic, and Political Conditions. ............................................................................ 19 1.2 Russification, Secular Education and Protest. ....................................................................................... 22 1.3 The ‘Crisis of 1881/82’ and the Emergence of a Modern Jewish Identity. ............................................ 24 2 STUDENT EMIGRATION. .................................................................................................................................. 26 2.1 Access to Universities in Tsarist Russia and Beginnings of Student Emigration. .................................. 26 2.2 Emigration of the Russian-Jewish Student Youth. .................................................................................. 28 2.3 Student Emigration to Switzerland. ........................................................................................................ 31 PART II: SWITZERLAND. .................................................................... 33 1 LEGAL STATUS OF STUDENT MIGRANTS......................................................................................................... 33 2 LIBERAL ADMISSION POLICIES. ...................................................................................................................... 35 3 UNIVERSITY OF ZÜRICH. ................................................................................................................................. 36 3.1 Institutional History, Politics, and the Student Body.............................................................................. 36 3.2 The Russian-Jewish Students. ................................................................................................................. 40 Number of Students over Time .................................................................................................................................. 40 Faculties ..................................................................................................................................................................... 42 Duration of Studies .................................................................................................................................................... 44 Regional and Social Background ............................................................................................................................... 45 Residence ................................................................................................................................................................... 46 Colony Life ................................................................................................................................................................ 47 4 UNIVERSITY OF BERN. .................................................................................................................................... 51 4.1 Institutional History, Politics, and the Student Body.............................................................................. 51 2 4.2 The Russian-Jewish Students. ................................................................................................................. 54 Number of Students over Time .................................................................................................................................. 54 Faculties ..................................................................................................................................................................... 55 Duration of Studies .................................................................................................................................................... 57 Regional and Social Background ............................................................................................................................... 58 Residence ................................................................................................................................................................... 59 Colony Life ................................................................................................................................................................ 60 5 PATTERNS AND OBSERVATIONS APROPOS BERN AND ZÜRICH. ....................................................................... 64 Similarities and Differences ....................................................................................................................................... 64 Inter-University Movement ....................................................................................................................................... 67 Friendship and Love .................................................................................................................................................. 68 Anti-Semitism ............................................................................................................................................................ 69 6 THE RUSSIAN-JEWISH STUDENT MIGRATION AS PARTICULAR PHENOMENON. ..............................................
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