Jews and Cossacks in the Jewish Autonomous Region Felix Ryansky At arecent congress, Cossacks of Eastern river. Jews were sent later to those parts children), the population of Amur Siberia and Far East of Russia demanded that remained undeveloped. Cossacks in this region was the abolition of the Jewish Autonomous approximately 15,000 by 1910. At that Region (JAR). Most zealous Zionists Act One: The Cossacks time the population of non-Cossacks in supported this demand, since their this region was only 2,000 to 3,000. The primary goal is to bring world Jewry to Cossacks constituted an important part Cossacks settled a narrow strip 30-40 krn Israel. However, the majority of the of the Czar's military forces. They paid wide along the Amur river. The region 200,000 Jews and non-Jews of the JAR, for their freedom from serfdomandtaxes surrounding the trans-Siberian railway including approximately one hundred with a lifetime service to the Czar, so never belonged to them but was owned so-called "Amur Cossacks," rejected this when the Czar sent them to settle the directly by the state. idea. The history of colonization of this middle Amur valley, they could not The Amur Cossacks violently tiny part of Russia, located on the left disobey. They first arrived there in 1854, opposed the Bolsheviks' rule and their bank of the Amur river, was very andbetween1857and1860 they founded policies of land redistribution and dramatic. There were hardships a number of still existing settlements collectivization. Their opposition to the throughout its history that continue Communist rule grew into a mass today. At a time when the JARistrying to uprisingin the spring of 1918. It is hard to rebuild its economy and construct new At a recent congress, estimate the number of those who political and social relations and culture, Cossacks of Eastern Siberia perished in the bloody civil war and some people raise their voices those who were still alive in 1921 when demanding its abolition. and Far East of Russia the Red Army occupied the Far East. The history of this region's demanded the abolition of According to some estimates, by 1923 settlement and development over the the Jewish Autonomous there were no more than 600 Cossacks last 150 years can be divided into two left in this region. They were those who acts. The first involves the Cossacks' Region (JAR). Most zealous either did not participate in the struggle settlement of the region. Most of them Zionists supported this against the Red Army or those who were killed or fled the region after the demand, since their primary concealed their participation. Cossack Revolution. The second act involves the stanitsi were virtually depopulated and creation of the Jewish Autonomous goal i&to bring world gradually settled by migrants from the Region. The history of Jewish settlement Jewry to Ismel. European part of the country, mainly is not devoid of violence either.There has Russians and Ukrainians. Koreans also also been a process of out-migration, but came to live there. Thus the Cossack this process has been considerably less along its left bank. A chain of small community as a territorial, linguistic, bloody and more gradual. villages-stanitsas-formed the Russian material and cultural unit with self- There are ,some Cossacks living frontier. identity was destroyed. outside the JAR who now demand that The beginning of the twentieth the Jewish Autonomous Region territory century brought some economic Act Two: Jews be returned to them. They argue that prosperity and military glory to the their ancestors arrived first and that Jews Amur Cossacks. They were grantedland In 1924 there were 2.2 million Jews in the came to already-colonized territories. In titles enabling them to farm. In addition, Soviet Union. They were amongthemost fact, as will be seen later, both they were responsible for policing the deprived ethnic groups in the country. communities have contributed their trans-Siberian railway and newly Their living standards were low and hard labour to colonization and discovered gold mines. As the Czar's possibilities for mobility extremely development of the region. Cossacks military force, they had to defend the limited. They were dispersed tluough- settled a narrow strip along the Amur borders. During the war of 1904-05, they out the country where they faced anti- defeated the Japanese "Black Dragon." Semitism on a daily basis. The Com- Even though Russia lost the war, the munist regime, which assumed the role Felix Ryansky is a geographer, geologist and Cossacks won all battles with the of a protective "older brother" to all Director of the institute of Complex Analysis of Japanese along the border. smaller nations, had to extend its" tender Regional Problems, Far East Campus of the Due to a relatively high birth rate care" to theseunfortunatepeople as well. Russian Academy of Science, Birobidjan, Russia. (each family had an average of five or six For this purpose, the Executive of the Soviet of Nationalities formed the Refuge, Vol. 12, No. 4 (October 1992) 19 Committee on Land Distribution to Jewish organization, which eased the efforts to please Moscow that they Working Jews (KOMZET). The pains of early settlement. exceeded the required quota for agrarian committee's mandate was to find a In 1930 Birsko-Bidjan was officially population. Even among Jews residing territory for Jewish settlement and help declared the Jewish National (not yet in Birobidjan-which was the Jews migrate and settle there. autonomous) Region. A group of 650 administrative, cultural and industrial The population of the Far East was Jews arrived soon after. They cleared the centre of the JAR--60 percent of the always low, but it experienced a marshesin the lowlands surroundingthe population was agricultural. dramatic decline during the years trans-Siberian railway. It was expected By the end of World War 11 and the followingthe civil war. Considering the that meridians of Jewishvillages crossing years that followed it, the country's region's geopolitical significance, it is no the taiga and the marshes would connect economic priorities were oriented wonder that the Soviet state took serious the trans-sibenan railwaywiththe Amur towards restoring the industries measures to settle it. It seemed that Jews River. Tikhinkaya Station was the centre destroyed in the war and encouraging who had no territory of their own in of the Jewish settlement. Later it became their growth in new regions of the Russia would be happy to make the Far the capital city, Birobidjan. country. In this context, the idea of East their new home. The newcomers faced extremely "agriculturating" the Jews came to an We do not agree with the popular harsh living conditions that many were end, and they started moving into more image of the "expulsion" of Jews to the not prepared to accept, and the return familiar urban occupations. Birobidjan Far East. The Jewish case is very different migration was significant.Nevertheless, became the nucleus that attracted them. from that of Volga Germans or Crimean in 1937 the Jewish population reached Tartars. The latter two groups were moved forcefully to anew territory.Jews, on the other hand, had a choice and in Strictly speaking, anti-Semitism is not evident in the JAR. The fact most of them preferred to stay in region's multicultumrl nature, its high degree of intermumiage their places of origin. They were exposed and representation of Jews at all levek of the socio-economic to ardent propaganda, but there was no coercion. Some high-ranking govem- ladder, have all prevented the growth of anti-Semitism. Yet the ment officialstied to lure them to the Far rise of rtationalism and anti-Semitism in other parts of Russia East by painting a rosy picture of their alerts Jews residing in the JAR as well. future. In 1926 Kalinen, the president of the U.S.S.R., stated publicly that the government was interested in founding 17,000, or 25 percent of the region's entire During the period of Gorbachev's a Jewish republic [sic] in the Birsko- population. reforms, the JAR'S Jewish community Bidjan region. (Until now its adminis- The idea of a Jewish sovereign underwent an amazing metamorphosis. trative status has never been more than region, despite its limited autonomy and First, it became clear that the community that of a region.) distance from the historic homeland, numbered many more than the 8,900 The idea of creating a Jewish region attracted numerous Jews from abroad. officially-registered Jews. In Birobidjan was rejected by Zionists and assimila- Among them were 116 Argentinian, 101 alone, 20,000 people claimed to be Jews. tionists among Soviet Jewry. For Lithuanian, 88 French, 83 Latvian, 65 In addition, there were other settlements different reasons, both tied to prevent it, German, 61 Belgian, 43 American and 30 in the area densely populated by Jews. but some Russian Jews saw in it a Polish Jews. The most interesting fact is Second, a number of Jewish organi- possibility of acquiring a "promised that among them were 74 people from zations emerged, including some for land." These enthusiasts saw a parallel Palestine. youth, women, culture and others.Third, between their movement to the Amur However, by the beginning of Jews residing in the JAR got a chance to River and their remote ancestors' exodus World War 11, the migration of Jews to learn Yiddish. Yiddish was even taught from Egypt. For them it was also a viable the region virtually came to an end as did in kindergartens and spoken on TV. alternative to the settlement of Palestine, their dream of Jewish autonomy.Jews of There was an attempt to rebuild a which was violently opposed by Arabs the region were forced to become synagogue that was destroyed in a fire and mistrusted by the Turkish and later agricultural producers in collective thirty years earlier.