A Documentation of the Jewish Heritage in Siberia

Informationen der Bet Tfila – Forschungsstelle für jüdische Architektur in Europa bet-tfila.org/info Nr. 18 1+2/15 Fakultät 3, Technische Universität Braunschweig / Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem SPECIAL EDITION “Siberia” – SONDERAUSGABE „Sibirien“ “From Jerusalem to Birobidzhan” – A Documentation of the Jewish Heritage in Siberia In August 2015, the team of the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University Erstmalig erscheint aus aktuellem Anlass of Jerusalem undertook a research expedition to Siberia. Over the course of 21 eine Sonderausgabe von bet tfila.org/info: Im days, the expedition spanned 6,000 km. Overall, the CJA team visited 16 sites August 2015 konnte sich das deutsch-israe- in Siberia and the Russian Far East: Tomsk, Mariinsk, Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk, lische Team des Center for Jewish Art und Kansk, Nizhneudinsk, Irkutsk, Babushkin (former Mysovsk), Kabansk, Ulan- der Bet Tfila – Forschungsstelle einen lange Ude (former Verkhneudinsk), Barguzin, Petrovsk Zabaikalskii (former Petrovskii gehegten Wunsch erfüllen und das jüdische Zavod), Chita, Khabarovsk, Birobidzhan, and Vladivostok. Erbe in Sibirien und im „Fernen Osten“ Russlands dokumentieren. In drei Wochen 16 synagogues and 4 collections of ritual objects were documented alongside a legten die fünf Wissenschaftler (Prof. Aliza survey of 11 Jewish cemeteries and numerous Jewish houses. The team consisted Cohen-Mushlin, Dr. Vladimir Levin, Dr. of Prof. Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, Dr. Vladimir Levin, Dr. Katrin Kessler (Bet Tfila, Katrin Keßler, Dr. Anna Berezin und Archi- Braunschweig), Dr. Anna Berezin, and architect Zoya Arshavsky. The expedi- tektin Zoya Arshavsky) auf ihrer Reise von tion was made possible with the generous donations of Mrs. Josephine Urban, Tomsk nach Vladivostok über 6.000 km zu- London, and an anonymous donor. rück. Sie dokumentierten 16 Synagogen, elf jüdische Friedhöfe und zahlreiche Ritualob- Bet Tfila plans to publish the results of this expedition in its series of publica- jekte jüdischer Gemeinschaften, deren Erbe tions – presenting the little known Jewish heritage of Siberia in actual and in der westlichen Welt bislang weitgehend historic photographs, descriptions and plans. The publication will be the first unbekannt geblieben ist. to present the preserved Jewish ritual buildings, tombstones and ritual objects found in this vast and remote region. Please help us with your donation to ac- Diese Sonderausgabe gibt einen ersten complish this publication project! Überblick über die reichen Funde des Teams. Einige der gezeigten Synagogen wurden seit den 1990er Jahren durch jüdische Gemeinden wiederbelebt, andere stehen leer und sind vom Verfall bedroht. Es ist geplant, die Ergebnisse der Expe- dition in der Schriftenreihe der Bet Tfila – Forschungsstelle zu publizieren. Dafür möchten wir Sie herzlich um Ihre finan- zielle Hilfe bitten! 1 Tomsk: The Soldiers’ Synagogue, window frame of the upper floor showing a Star of David. Wall Paintings bet-tfila.org/info – 2/14 2 2 3 2–3 Tomsk: The Soldiers’ Synagogue, view from southwest (2), staircase leading to the former women’s section (3). Introduction “A majority of prayer houses in Siberia are of stone, spacious Jewish presence in Siberia has been sporadically recorded since buildings. Though they are not radiant with beauty, Siberian the 18th century, but established Jewish settlements appeared Jewish communities are proud of them. Some members also in the region only in the early 19th century. Russian authorities love to adorn their cemeteries and erect beautiful gravestones prohibited Jews from settling in Siberia in 1837, after which to their deceased. This custom is well-established in Siberia.” time the Jewish population consisted mainly of those who (Iu. Ostrovskii, Sibirskie evrei [St. Petersburg, 1911], p. 39). were forcefully sent there. One type were Jews who performed crimes in the Pale of Settlement and were sentenced to a life- After the Revolution of 1917, the Russian Civil War of time of exile in Siberia. Initially the authorities dispersed them 1918–21, and the firm establishment of Soviet rule in Siberia, in villages, but later there was an influx of many exiles into new developments began. On the one hand, many Jews emi- rapidly developing towns, where they established themselves grated abroad to escape Communist rule. On the other, new as successful businessmen. The second type of Jewish set- Jews arrived from the former Pale of Settlement, especially in tlers were cantonists – teenage Jewish recruits to the Russian the 1930s, when Stalin’s industrialization policy turned some Imperial Army in the time of Nicholas I (1827–55). They were conscripted for a 25-year long service and stationed in the towns with military garrisons. The majority of cantonists were forcefully baptized, but those who remained faithful to Judaism could practice religious rituals during their military service. After they retired, they usually stayed in the same towns and formed a significant part of the local communities. By the end of the 19th century, the Jewish population of Siberia reached almost 35,000 people (the same number of Jews lived in Vitebsk, for example). Jews constituted a significant portion of the population in many towns (from 6 to 15 %). Syna- gogues (mostly wooden) and cemeteries existed in the majority of Siberian towns. In the beginning of the 20th century, many communities were already so affluent that they could afford to erect spacious stone synagogues. The construction of a synagogue in the Russian Empire was not only a matter of funding, like everywhere else, but also demanded permission from the authorities, which was not easily achieved. Iu. Ostrovskii, who published a book about the Jews in Siberia in 1911, described Jewish communities, their synagogues and cemeteries thus: 4 Tomsk: The Soldiers’ Synagogue, upper floor (the former women’s gallery, now subdivided into rooms) with original ceiling, windows and pillars. 4 3 5 6 5–6 Tomsk: The Choral Synagogue, view from northeast (5), interior towards the Torah ark (6). of the Siberian towns into important industrial centers. In were preserved (Tomsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok) the revived 1928, the Birobidzhan area at the Soviet-Chinese border was communities then took possession and reconstructed them. In proclaimed the Jewish Autonomous Region, and a substantial the cities where the former prayer house did not survive, new number of Jews settled there, engaging in agriculture. synagogues were erected (Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk). A new influx of Jews to Siberia occurred in the 1940s. After the annexation of Western Ukraine, Western Belorussia, Mol- Tomsk (Figs. 1–7) dova, Lithuania, and Latvia in 1939–40, tens of thousands of “bourgeois” Jews were exiled by the Soviet authorities to In Tomsk, the starting point of our expedition, Jews arrived in various remote regions including Siberia. With the beginning the first half of the 19th century as convicts and as cantonists. of the war between Nazi Germany and the USSR in June In the late 19th century, Tomsk was already a home to a Jewish 1941, refugees arrived from the occupied areas as well as from community of 3,000 (6.4 % of its total population). There the regions threatened with a similar fate, e. g., Moscow and were three synagogues, a Jewish cemetery and numerous Jew- Leningrad. Thus, the pattern of Jewish settlement in Siberia ish institutions. Today there are about 600 Jews and an active changed dramatically in the 20th century: Jews abandoned religious community. The community life is concentrated smaller towns and villages and concentrated in the large cities. around the Choral Synagogue (Fig. 5). It was established in 1850 and its current building was erected in 1902. Soviet Soviet authorities conducted strict anti-religious policies. authorities closed the synagogue in 1929 and used the build- After a decade of anti-religious propaganda in the 1920s, the ing to house various administrative institutions. They also majority of synagogues, mosques and churches were shut removed the cupola, which emphasized the interior placement down in the early 1930s. The buildings were then used for other purposes. However, the fate of churches and synagogues differed in many cases. While churches were mostly destroyed, former synagogues housed various branches of the Soviet administration. Thus, in some towns the stone synagogue remained the highest and largest building, dominating single-story wooden houses. During the Soviet period, many Jewish cemeteries were demolished (as were Christian and Muslim ones), but Jewish sections were allocated in the new municipal cemeteries. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a significant portion of Siberian Jews emigrated to Israel and the USA. At the same time Jewish communities were re-established, some of them by the initiative of local Jews, others with the help of Chabad rabbis. In those cities where the synagogue buildings 7 7 Tomsk: The Choral Synagogue, Torah scrolls inside the Torah ark. bet-tfila.org/info – 2/14 Wall Paintings 4 8 9 8–9 Mariinsk: Synagogue, view from southwest (8), interior towards west (9). of the Torah ark. In 1999, the re-established Jewish com- The earliest tombstones in the section date back to 1942, munity reclaimed the building of the former synagogue. As marking the graves of Jewish soldiers who passed away in part of a large reconstruction the community re-installed the military hospitals during WW II. The majority of those graves cupola and rearranged the interior, since the original one was had only tin plaques, which disappeared over the course of completely lost (Figs. 6–7). time. Many headstones from the 1950s have long epitaphs in Hebrew and Jewish symbols. These mark the graves of the From a historic, artistic and emotional standpoint the former Jews exiled by Stalin to Siberia from the areas annexed by the Soldiers’ Synagogue was the highlight of our visit to Tomsk Soviet Union in 1940, including Lithuania, Bessarabia (Mol- (Figs. 1–4). It was built from wood in 1907, converted into an dova), and Bukovina.

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