Jewish Autonomous Oblast

Federal subject of the Russian Federation in the Russian Far East

Autonomous oblast in Far Eastern, Russia

Jewish Autonomous Oblast

Autonomous oblast

Еврейская автономная область
Other transcription(s)
• Yiddish| ייִדישע אװטאָנאָמע געגנט‎

A wintery Tunguska River near Nikolaevka village.

Flag

Coat of arms

Coordinates: 48°36′N 132°12′E﻿ / ﻿48.600°N 132.200°E﻿ / 48.600; 132.200
Country| Russia
Federal district| Far Eastern[1]
Economic region| Far Eastern[2]
Administrative center| Birobidzhan[3]
Government

• Body| Legislative Assembly[4]
• Governor[6]| Rostislav Goldstein[5]
Area

[7]

• Total| 36,271 km2 (14,004 sq mi)
• Rank| 61st
Population

(2021 census)[8]

• Total| 150,453
• Estimate

(2018)[9]

| 162,014
• Rank| 80th
• Density| 4.1/km2 (11/sq mi)
• Urban

| 70.8%
• Rural

| 29.2%
Time zone| UTC+10 (MSK+7 [10])
ISO 3166 code| RU-YEV
License plates| 79
OKTMO ID| 99000000
Official languages| Russian[11]
Website| www.eao.ru

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO; Russian: Еврейская автономная область (ЕАО), romanized: Yevreyskaya avtonomnaya oblast' (YeAO), IPA: [jɪˈvrʲejskəjə ɐftɐˈnomnəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ (je a ˈo)]; Yiddish: ייִדישע אװטאָנאָמע געגנט, romanized: Yidishe avtonome gegnt, [ˈjɪdɪʃə avtɔˈnɔmə ˈɡɛɡn̩t])[note 1] 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.[13] 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.[14] 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 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.[15] 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, the other being Israel.[16] It is also the only territory in the world where Yiddish is an official language.

## History

[edit]

Main article: History of the Jews in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast

See also: History of the Jews in Russia and History of the Jews in the Soviet Union

### Background

[edit]

#### Annexation of the Amur Region by Russia

[edit]

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 the Russian Empire pursuant to the Treaty of Aigun (1858) and the Convention of Peking (1860).

#### Military colonization

[edit]

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.[17] This military colonization included settlers from Transbaikalia. Between 1858 and 1882, many settlements consisting of wooden houses were founded.[18] It is estimated that as many as 40,000 men from the Russian military moved into the region.[18]

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.[17]

#### Construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway

[edit]

Map of the Trans-Siberian Railroad: original route in red, Baikal-Amur Mainline in green.

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast with the administrative center of Birobidzhan underscored.

In 1899, construction began on the regional section of 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 the Amur at Khabarovsk.

During this time, before the 1917 revolution, most local inhabitants were farmers.[17] The only industrial enterprise was the Tungussky timber mill, although gold was mined in the Sutara River, and there were some small railway workshops.[17]

#### Russian Civil War

[edit]

In 1922, during the Russian Civil War, the territory of the future Jewish Autonomous Oblast became the scene of the Battle of Volochayevka.[19]

#### Soviet policies regarding minorities and Jews

[edit]

Although Judaism as 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.[20]

In 1924, the unemployment rate among Jews exceeded 30 percent,[21] 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 the revolution.[22] 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.[21] 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, 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.[17]

Crimea was initially considered in the early 1920s, when it already had a significant Jewish population.[17] Two Jewish districts (raiony) were formed in Crimea and three in south Ukraine.[21][23] However, an alternative scheme, perceived as more advantageous, was put into practice.[17]

A child playing in the JAO.

The Chapel of St. Dmitry Donskoy.

A monument to the Volochaevsky battle.

A Yiddish-Russian sign on the JAO government headquarters.

### Early history

[edit]

#### Establishment

[edit]

Eventually, Birobidzhan, in what is now the JAO, was chosen by the Soviet leadership as the site for the Jewish region.[24] The choice of this area was a surprise to Komzet; the area had been chosen for military and economic reasons.[20] 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.[25] The Soviet government wanted to increase settlement in 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 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 was permitted. It was an autonomous area, but a bare frontier, not a political center."[26]

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."[27] The decree meant "a possibility of establishment of a Jewish administrative territorial unit on the territory of said region".[17][27]

The new territory was initially called the Birobidzhan Jewish National Raion.[20]

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 the oblast to get a free farm.[28]

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.[20] In the summer of 1928, there were torrential rains that flooded the crops and an outbreak of anthrax that killed the cattle.[29]

On 7 May 1934, the Presidium of the General Executive Committee accepted the decree on its transformation into the Jewish Autonomous Region within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.[17] In 1938, with the formation of the Khabarovsk Territory, the Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR) was included in its structure.[27]

#### Growth of Jewish communities in the early 1930s

[edit]

Market near the village of Nikolaevka.

A menorah dominates the front of Birobidzhan's railway station.

Vladimirovka village.

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 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.[17]

Early Jewish settlements included Valdgeym, dating from 1928, which included the first collective farm established in the oblast,[30] Amurzet, which was the center of Jewish settlement south of Birobidzhan from 1929 to 1939,[31] 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.[17][32] Some 1,200 non-Soviet Jews chose to settle in Birobidzhan.[17][24]

As 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.[33]

#### Stalin era and World War II

[edit]

The Jewish population of JAO reached a pre-war peak of 20,000 in 1937.[34] According to the 1939 population census, 17,695 Jews lived in the region (16% of the total population).[27][35]

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.[14]

#### Cold War

[edit]

The census of 1959 found that the Jewish population of the JAO had declined by approximately 50%, down to 14,269 persons.[35]

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.[36]

In 1980, a Yiddish school was opened in Valdgeym.[37]

In 1987, the reformist Soviet government led by Mikhail Gorbachev pardoned many political prisoners and told the American Jewish community that it would allow the emigration of 11,000 Jewish refuseniks.[38] 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.[20]

### Post-Soviet history

[edit]

Birobidzhaners arriving in Israel, 23 March 1993.

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 the Soviet Union and the remaining Jews constituted fewer than 2% of the local population.[33] In early 1996, 872 people, or 20% of the Jewish population at that time, emigrated to Tel Aviv via chartered flights.[39] As of 2002, 2,357 Jews were living in the JAO.[35] A 2004 article stated that the number of Jews in the region "was now growing".[40] As of 2005, Amurzet had a small active Jewish community.[41] An April 2007 article in The Jerusalem Post claimed that 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.[42] 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 the total population), while ethnic Russians made up 93% of the JAO population.[43]

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.[44] A 2006 article in The Washington Times stated that Yiddish is taught in the schools, a Yiddish radio station is in operation, and the Birobidzhaner Shtern newspaper includes a section in Yiddish.[45]

Memorial for Jewish poet Isaac Leibovich Bronfman.

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.[46]

According to an article published in 2010, Yiddish 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.[47][48]

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.[47]

According to a 2012 article, "only a very small minority, mostly seniors, speak Yiddish", a new Chabad-sponsored synagogue opened at the 14a Sholom-Aleichem Street, and the Sholem Aleichem Amur State University offers a Yiddish course.[36]

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.[49]

A November 2017 article in The Guardian, titled, "Revival of a Soviet Zion: Birobidzhan celebrates its Jewish heritage", examined 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.[50]

#### 2013 proposals to merge the JAO with adjoining regions

[edit]

In 2013, there were proposals to merge the JAO with Khabarovsk Krai or with Amur Oblast.[17] The proposals led to protests,[17] and were rejected by residents,[51] as well as the Jewish community of Russia. There were also questions as to whether a merger would be allowed pursuant to the Constitution of Russia and whether a merger would require a national referendum.[17]

## Culture

[edit]

JAO and its history have been portrayed in the documentary film L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin!.[52] 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 the history of the creation of the proposed Jewish homeland, the film features scenes of life in contemporary Birobidzhan and interviews with Jewish residents.

## Geography

[edit]

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 the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. The southern and eastern section is part of the Amur valley, with only a few small residual ridges.[53]

### Climate

[edit]

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.

## Government

[edit]

Life expectancy at birth in the JAO.

Proportion of Jews in the general population of the JAO by year.

Article 65 of the Constitution of Russia provides that the JAO is Russia's only autonomous oblast.

### Administrative divisions

[edit]

Main article: Administrative divisions of the Jewish 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.

## Economy

[edit]

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is part of the Far Eastern Economic Region; it has well-developed industry and agriculture and a dense transportation network. Its status as a free economic zone increases the opportunities for economic development. The oblast's rich mineral and building and finishing material resources are in great 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.[54]

Agriculture is the Jewish Autonomous Oblast's main economic sector owing to fertile soils and 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).[55]

### Transportation

[edit]

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 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.

#### Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge

[edit]

Main article: Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge

The Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge 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[56] 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.[57]

## Demographics

[edit]

Historical populationYear| Pop.| ±%

|
|

1926| 35,540| —
1939| 108,900| +206.4%
1959| 162,856| +49.5%
1970| 172,449| +5.9%
1979| 190,219| +10.3%
1989| 215,937| +13.5%
2002| 190,915| −11.6%
2010| 176,558| −7.5%
2021| 150,453| −14.8%
Source: Census data

The population of JAO has declined by over 40% since 1989 due to massive exodus in 1989–1996, with the numbers recorded being 215,937 (1989 Soviet census)[58] and 150,453 (2021 Census);[59]

### Ethnic groups

[edit]

Ethnicities in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in 2021[60] Ethnicity  | Population | Percentage

|
|

Russians | 133,625 | 88.8%
Ukrainians | 1,292 | 0.9%
Jews | 837 | 0.6%
Tatars | 431 | 0.3%
Azerbaijanis | 411 | 0.3%
Tajiks | 371 | 0.2%
Other ethnicities  | 2,712 | 1.8%
Ethnicity not stated  | 10,774 | 7.2%

In the late 1940s, the Jewish population in the region peaked around 46,000–50,000, approximately 25% of its population.[14] The census of 1959 found that the Jewish population of the JAO had declined by approximately 50%, down to 14,269 persons.[35] In 1987, the reformist Soviet government led by Mikhail Gorbachev pardoned many political prisoners and told the American Jewish community that it would allow the emigration of 11,000 Jewish refuseniks.[38] 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.[20] 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 the Soviet Union and the remaining Jews constituted fewer than 2% of the local population.[33][61] In early 1996, 872 people, or 20% of the Jewish population at that time, emigrated to Tel Aviv via chartered flights.[39] As of 2002, 2,357 Jews were living in the JAO.[35] A 2004 article stated that the number of Jews in the region "was now growing".[62] An April 2007 article in The Jerusalem Post claimed that 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.[42]

Vital statistics for 2022:[63][64]

* Births: 1,430 (9.3 per 1,000)
* Deaths: 2,272 (14.8 per 1,000)

Total fertility rate (2022):[65]
1.62 children per woman

Life expectancy (2021):[66]
Total — 66.12 years (male — 61.73, female — 70.58)

### Languages spoken

[edit]

Yiddish is taught in three of the region's schools, but the community is almost exclusively Russian-speaking.[67]

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.[68] A 2006 article in The Washington Times stated that Yiddish is taught in the schools, a Yiddish radio station is in operation, and the Birobidzhaner Shtern newspaper includes a section in Yiddish.[45]

### Religion

[edit]

Religion in Jewish Autonomous Oblast as of 2012 (Sreda Arena Atlas)[69][70]

|  |
Russian Orthodoxy |

| 23%
Other Orthodox |

| 6%
Other Christians |

| 10%
Islam |

| 1%
Judaism |

| 1%
Spiritual but not religious |

| 35%
Atheism and irreligion |

| 22%
Other and undeclared |

| 3%

According to a 2012 survey, 23% of the population of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast adhere to Russian Orthodoxy, 6% are Orthodox Christians of other church jurisdictions or Orthodox believers who are not members of any church, and 9% are unaffiliated or generic Christians.[69] Judaism, despite being the associated religion of the oblast's titular ethnoreligious group, is practiced by just 1% of the population, which is only slightly higher than the national average and is close to that of communities in other federal subjects. In addition, 35% of the population identify as "spiritual but not religious", and 22% profess atheism, making the Jewish Autonomous Oblast one of the least religious regions in Russia. A total of 5% of the population follows other religions or declined to answer the question.[69]

Archbishop Ephraim (Prosyanka) (2015) is the head of the Russian Orthodox Eparchy (Diocese) of Birobidzhan (established 2002).

## See also

[edit]

* Antisemitism in the Soviet Union
* Beit T'shuva synagogue
* East Asian Jews
* In Search of Happiness, 2005 documentary
* Boris Kaufman (rabbi)
* Proposals for a Jewish state

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ In standard Yiddish: ייִדישע אױטאָנאָמע געגנט, Yidishe oytonome gegnt

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Президент Российской Федерации. Указ №849 от 13 мая 2000 г. «О полномочном представителе Президента Российской Федерации в федеральном округе». Вступил в силу 13 мая 2000 г. Опубликован: "Собрание законодательства РФ", No. 20, ст. 2112, 15 мая 2000 г. (President of the Russian Federation. Decree #849 of May 13, 2000 On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in a Federal District. Effective as of May 13, 2000.).
2. ^ Госстандарт Российской Федерации. №ОК 024-95 27 декабря 1995 г. «Общероссийский классификатор экономических регионов. 2. Экономические районы», в ред. Изменения №5/2001 ОКЭР. (Gosstandart of the Russian Federation. #OK 024-95 December 27, 1995 Russian Classification of Economic Regions. 2. Economic Regions, as amended by the Amendment #5/2001 OKER. ).
3. ^ Charter of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Article 5
4. ^ Charter of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Article 15
5. ^ Official website of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Alexander Borisovich Levintal Archived April 17, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Governor of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (in Russian and Yiddish)
6. ^ Charter of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Article 22
7. ^ "Сведения о наличии и распределении земель в Российской Федерации на 01.01.2019 (в разрезе субъектов Российской Федерации)". Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography. Archived from the original on February 9, 2022. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
8. ^ "Оценка численности постоянного населения по субъектам Российской Федерации". Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
9. ^ "26. Численность постоянного населения Российской Федерации по муниципальным образованиям на 1 января 2018 года". Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
10. ^ "Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). June 3, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
11. ^ Official throughout the Russian Federation according to Article 68.1 of the Constitution of Russia.
12. ^ Charter of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Article 4
13. ^ Eran Laor Cartographic Collection. The National Library of Israel. "Map of Manchuria and region, 1942".
14. ^ a b c David Holley (August 7, 2005). "In Russia's Far East, a Jewish Revival". Los Angeles Times.
15. ^ "Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region In Siberia 'Ready' To House European Jews". Radio Free Europe. January 20, 2016.
16. ^ "'Sad And Absurd': The U.S.S.R.'s Disastrous Effort To Create A Jewish Homeland". NPR.org. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Asya Pereltsvaig (October 9, 2014). "Birobidzhan: Frustrated Dreams of a Jewish Homeland".
18. ^ a b Ravenstein, Ernst Georg (1861). The Russians on the Amur: its discovery, conquest, and colonization, with a description of the country, its inhabitants, productions, and commercial capabilities ... Trübner and co. p. 156.
19. ^ Anniversary of the Battle of Volochayevka
20. ^ a b c d e f "Nation Making in Russia's Jewish Autonomous Oblast" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 2, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
21. ^ a b c Kipnis, Mark. "Komzet". Jewish Virtual Library. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Archived from the original on January 16, 2017.
22. ^ Masha Gessen (September 7, 2016). "'Sad And Absurd': The U.S.S.R.'s Disastrous Effort To Create A Jewish Homeland". NPR.
23. ^ Yaacov Ro'i (2004). Jews and Jewish Life in Russia and the Soviet Union. Frank Cass & Co. p. 193\. ISBN 9780714646190.
24. ^ a b Arthur Rosen (February 2004). "Birobidzhan – the Almost Soviet Jewish Autonomous Region".
25. ^ Nora Levin (1990). The Jews in the Soviet Union Since 1917: Paradox of Survival, Volume 1. New York University Press. p. 283\. ISBN 9780814750513.
26. ^ Pavel Sudoplatov and Anatolii Sudoplatov, with Jerrold L. Schecter and Leona P. Schecter, Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness – A Soviet Spymaster, Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co., 1994, p. 289.
27. ^ a b c d Behind Communism
28. ^ Richard Overy (2004). The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia. W.W. Norton Company, Inc. p. 567. ISBN 9780393020304.
29. ^ Gessen, Masha (2016). Where the Jews Aren't: The Sad and Absurd Story of Birobidzhan, Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region. ISBN 9780805242461.
30. ^ "Stalin's forgotten Zion: the harsh realities of Birobidzhan". Swarthmore.
31. ^ "A Jew Receives State Award in Jewish Autonomous Republic". Birobidjan, RU: The Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS. August 31, 2004. Archived from the original on July 20, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2009.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
32. ^ Michael Walsh (May 2009). "George Koval: Atomic Spy Unmasked". Smithsonian.
33. ^ a b c Henry Srebrnik (July 2006). "Birobidzhan: A Remnant of History" (PDF). Jewish Currents.[permanent dead link]
34. ^ A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581–1990
35. ^ a b c d e Russian Political Atlas – Political Situation, Elections, Foreign Policy[permanent dead link]
36. ^ a b Ben G. Frank (April 15, 2012). "A Visit to the 'Soviet Jerusalem'". CrownHeights.info.
37. ^ Pinkus, Benjamin (1990). "The Post-Stalin period, 1953–83". The Jews of the Soviet Union: the History of a national minority. Cambridge University Press. p. 272\. ISBN 978-0-521-38926-6. Retrieved February 18, 2009.
38. ^ a b Doder & Branson 1990, p. 195.
39. ^ a b James Brook (July 11, 1996). "Birobidzhan Journal;A Promised Land in Siberia? Well, Thanks, but ..." The New York Times.
40. ^ Julius Strauss (August 17, 2004). "Jewish enclave created in Siberia by Stalin stages a revival". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022.
41. ^ "Remote Far East Village Mobilizes for Purim". Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS. March 10, 2005. Archived from the original on February 4, 2009.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
42. ^ a b Haviv Rettig Gur (April 17, 2007). "Yiddish returns to Birobidzhan". The Jerusalem Post.
43. ^ "Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region In Siberia 'Ready' To House European Jews". Radio Free Europe. January 20, 2016.
44. ^ Steen, Michael (January 13, 2000). "Soviet-era Jewish homeland struggles on". Utusan Online. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
45. ^ a b "Jewish life revived in Russia". The Washington Times. January 7, 2006.
46. ^ Kehr, Dave (January 31, 2003). "Film Review; When Soviet Jews Sought Paradise in Siberian Swamps and Snow". The New York Times.
47. ^ a b David M. Herszenhorn (October 3, 2012). "Despite Predictions, Jewish Homeland in Siberia Retains Its Appeal". New York Times.
48. ^ Alfonso Daniels (June 7, 2010). "Why some Jews would rather live in Siberia than Israel". Christian Science Monitor.
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50. ^ Walker, Shaun (September 27, 2017). "Revival of a Soviet Zion: Birobidzhan celebrates its Jewish heritage". The Guardian.
51. ^ Ilan Goren (August 24, 2013). "In Eastern Russia, the Idea of a Jewish Autonomy Is Being Brought Back to Life". Haaretz.
52. ^ Kehr, Dave (January 31, 2003). "Film Review; When Soviet Jews Sought Paradise in Siberian Swamps and Snow". The New York Times.
53. ^ "Еврейская автономная область - Географическое положение и рельеф". Archived from the original on December 20, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
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55. ^ Выписки ЕГРЮЛ и ЕГРИП, проверка контрагентов, ИНН и КПП организаций, реквизиты ИП и ООО. СБИС (in Russian). Retrieved October 20, 2018.
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58. ^ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров [All Union Population Census of 1989: Present Population of Union and Autonomous Republics, Autonomous Oblasts and Okrugs, Krais, Oblasts, Districts, Urban Settlements, and Villages Serving as District Administrative Centers]. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года [All-Union Population Census of 1989] (in Russian). Институт демографии Национального исследовательского университета: Высшая школа экономики [Institute of Demography at the National Research University: Higher School of Economics]. 1989 - via Demoscope Weekly.
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## Sources

[edit]

* №40-ОЗ 8 октября 1997 г. «Устав Еврейской автономной области», в ред. Закона №819-ОЗ от 25 ноября 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в статью 19 Устава Еврейской автономной области». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Биробиджанская звезда", №125 (15577), 4 ноября 1997 г. (#40-OZ October 8, 1997 Charter of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, as amended by the Law #819-OZ of November 25, 2015 On Amending Article 19 of the Charter of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Effective as of the official publication date.).
* Doder, Dusko; Branson, Louise (1990). Gorbachev: Heretic in the Kremlin. London: Futura. ISBN 978-0708849408.

## Further reading

[edit]

* American Committee for the Settlement of Jews in Birobidjan, Birobidjan: The Jewish Autonomous Territory in the USSR. New York: American Committee for the Settlement of Jews in Birobidjan, 1936.
* Melech Epstein, The Jew and Communism: The Story of Early Communist Victories and Ultimate Defeats in the Jewish Community, USA, 1919–1941. New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, 1959.
* Henry Frankel, The Jews in the Soviet Union and Birobidjan. New York: American Birobidjan Committee, 1946.
* Masha Gessen, Where the Jews Aren’t: The Sad and Absurd Story of Birobidzhan, Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Region, 2016.
* Ber Boris Kotlerman and Shmuel Yavin, Bauhaus in Birobidzhan. Tel Aviv: Bauhaus Center, 2009.
* Nora Levin, The Jews in the Soviet Union Since 1917: Paradox of Survival: Volume 1. New York: New York University Press, 1988.
* James N. Rosenberg, How the Back-to-the-Soil Movement Began: Two Years of Blazing the New Jewish "Covered Wagon" Trail Across the Russian Prairies. Philadelphia: United Jewish Campaign, 1925.
* Anna Shternshis, Soviet and Kosher: Jewish Popular Culture in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2006.
* Henry Felix Srebrnik, Dreams of Nationhood: American Jewish Communists and the Soviet Birobidzhan Project, 1924–1951. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2010.
* Robert Weinberg, Stalin's Forgotten Zion: Birobidzhan and the Making of a Soviet Jewish Homeland: An Illustrated History, 1928–1996. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

* Official website of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Archived January 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
* Stalin's Forgotten Zion: Birobidzhan and the Making of a Soviet Jewish Homeland: An Illustrated History, 1928–1996
* A 1939 Soviet pamphlet about the JAO
* SOVIET ZION: The New Musical Drama - a contemporary opera set in the Jewish Autonomous Region.

* Meeting of the Frontiers: The Birobidzhan Album (1920s–1930s photographs of Birobidzhan)

* v
* t
* e

Administrative divisions of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast

Administrative center: Birobidzhan • Rural localities

| Districts|

* Birobidzhansky
* Leninsky
* Obluchensky
* Oktyabrsky
* Smidovichsky

Towns|

* Birobidzhan
* Obluchye

Urban-type settlements|

* Bira
* Birakan
* Izvestkovy
* Khingansk
* Kuldur
* Londoko
* Nikolayevka
* Priamursky
* Smidovich
* Teploozyorsk
* Volochayevka-2

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Subdivisions of Russia

Federal subjects

Oblasts (48)|

* Amur
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* Astrakhan
* Belgorod
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* Chelyabinsk
* Irkutsk
* Ivanovo
* Kaliningrad
* Kaluga
* Kemerovo
* Kherson1
* Kirov
* Kostroma
* Kurgan
* Kursk
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* Magadan
* Moscow
* Murmansk
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* Novgorod
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* Tula
* Tver
* Tyumen
* Ulyanovsk
* Vladimir
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* Vologda
* Voronezh
* Yaroslavl
* Zaporozhye1

Republics (24)|

* Adygea
* Altai
* Bashkortostan
* Buryatia
* Chechnya
* Chuvashia
* Crimea1
* Dagestan
* Donetsk1
* Ingushetia
* Kabardino-Balkaria
* Kalmykia
* Karachay-Cherkessia
* Luhansk1
* Karelia
* Khakassia
* Komi
* Mari El
* Mordovia
* North Ossetia–Alania
* Sakha
* Tatarstan
* Tuva
* Udmurtia

Krais (9)|

* Altai
* Kamchatka
* Khabarovsk
* Krasnodar
* Krasnoyarsk
* Perm
* Primorsky
* Stavropol
* Zabaykalsky

Autonomous okrugs (4)|

* Chukotka
* Khanty-Mansi2
* Nenets3
* Yamalo-Nenets2

Federal cities (3)|

* Moscow
* Saint Petersburg
* Sevastopol1

Autonomous oblast (1)|

* Jewish

* 1Considered by most of the international community to be part of Ukraine.

* 2Administratively subordinated to Tyumen Oblast.

* 3Administratively subordinated to Arkhangelsk Oblast.

Non-constitutional official divisions by various institutions

* Federal districts (by President)
* Economic regions (by Ministry of Economic Development)
* Military districts (by Ministry of Defence)
* Judicial districts

* v
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* e

Russian Far East

Topics|

* Cities and towns
* Far Eastern Federal District
* Far Eastern economic region
* Far Eastern Republic
* Indigenous peoples of Siberia
* Eastern Military District

Federal subjects|

* Amur Oblast
* Buryatia
* Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
* Jewish Autonomous Oblast
* Kamchatka Krai
* Khabarovsk Krai
* Magadan Oblast
* Primorsky Krai
* Sakha
* Sakhalin Oblast
* Zabaykalsky Krai

Largest cities|

* Vladivostok
* Khabarovsk
* Ulan-Ude
* Chita
* Komsomolsk-on-Amur
* Blagoveshchensk
* Yakutsk
* Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
* Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
* Nakhodka
* Ussuriysk
* Magadan
* Birobidzhan

* v
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* e

Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union

Russian SFSR|

* Adyghe
* Checheno-Ingush
* Chechen
* Ingush
* Chuvash
* Gorno-Altai
* Jewish
* Kabardino-Balkarian
* Kalmyk
* Kara-Kirghiz
* Karachay-Cherkess
* Cherkess
* Karachay
* Kara-Kalpak
* Komi-Zyryan
* Khakas
* Mari
* North Ossetian
* Tuvan
* Udmurt

Georgian SSR|

* South Ossetian

Azerbaijan SSR|

* Nagorno-Karabakh

Tajik SSR|

* Gorno-Badakhshan

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF
* 2
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Israel

Other|

* IdRef

* v
* t
* e

Jews and Judaism in the Soviet Union

History|

* The Holocaust in the Soviet Union
* Jewish autonomy in Crimea
* Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO)
* Birobidzhan
* Jewish history in the JAO

Organizations|

* Jewish Communist Party (EKP)
* Jewish Communist Youth Union (EKSM)
* Yevsektsiya
* Komzet
* OZET
* Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee

Soviet antisemitism|

* 1931 Menshevik Trial
* Night of the Murdered Poets
* Doctors' plot
* Rootless cosmopolitan
* Anti-cosmopolitan campaign
* Joseph Stalin and antisemitism

Zionism|

* Soviet anti-Zionism
* Anti-Zionist Committee
* 1970s Soviet Union aliyah
* Refusenik
* Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking

International activism|

* Organization for Jewish Colonization in Russia
* Soviet Jewry movement
* National Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry
* Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry
* Cleveland Council
* Nativ
* Freedom Sunday
* Jackson–Vanik amendment

Media and publications|

* Am Yisrael Chai
* Jews on Land
* The Black Book of Soviet Jewry

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