Russia's Jewish autonomous oblast

[Sebastianus Rex]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Autonomous_Oblast

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO; Russian: Евре́йская автоно́мная о́бласть (ЕАО), romanized: Yevreyskaya avtonomnaya oblast; Yiddish: ייִדישע אװטאָנאָמע געגנט, romanized: yidishe avtonome gegnt, IPA: [jɪdɪʃɛ avtɔnɔmɛ ɡɛɡnt])[note 1] is a federal subject of Russia situated 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]

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]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birobidzhan

Birobidzhan (Russian: Биробиджа́н, IPA: [bʲɪrəbʲɪˈdʐan]; Yiddish: ביראָבידזשאַן, Birobidzhan) is a town and the administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia, located on the Trans-Siberian Railway, near the China–Russia border. As of the 2010 Census, its population is 75,413, and its official language is Yiddish.[6] Birobidzhan is named after the two largest rivers in the autonomous oblast: the Bira and the Bidzhan. The Bira, which lies to the east of the Bidzhan Valley,[17] flows through the town. Both rivers are tributaries of the Amur.

[gixajo]

I brought up the subject shortly after entering this forum. Apparently at this point few Jews remain in the "Jewish oblast" the vast majority emigrated to Israel.

In reality it was more of a covert deportation and a way to populate a very sparse border area.

[gixajo]

I found it very interesting topic at the time, and several Jewish members here and in another forum gave me less superficial data than most of what is found on the internet at first glance.



Only the very disadvantaged moved voluntarily, the majority of Jews went there "convinced by the state", sometimes because they obtained benefits, and in others because the state practically forced them to.

It was never an attempt to create a state of Israel outside of Israel, nor was it a way to get rid of the Jews of western Russia or/and Soviet Union, it was an intermediate thing that ultimately did not have the success they had hoped for.

[Sebastianus Rex]

I brought up the subject shortly after entering this forum. Apparently at this point few Jews remain in the "Jewish oblast" the vast majority emigrated to Israel.

In reality it was more of a covert deportation and a way to populate a very sparse border area.

Well, it was probably an experiment from the Stalinistic regime, possibly to get rid of Trotskists who were overwhelmingly jews. Anyway just a small minority of the soviet jews moved to that remote siberian oblast. I found it more historicaly significant for the fact that it was the first modern autonomous jewish (micro) state.

[Mopi Licinius Crassus]

I wanna do the trans-Siberian railway trip, when Russia opens up again

I hope to do this journey before I get too old

[Russki]

I wanna do the trans-Siberian railway trip, when Russia opens up again

Russian visas are still issued to the British citizens, and British visas are still issued to the Russian citizens.