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irobidzhan
Map of the Birobidzhan region.
complete absence of roads and land suitable for agriculture,
insufficient and poor living accommodations, harsh climatic
conditions, “gnus” (local name for bloodsucking insects), and
unsanitary conditions. The Soviet decision to select Birobidzhan
for Jewish settlement was influenced by several factors,
the decisive one being the desire to strengthen the security of
the Soviet Far East, in view of its proximity to Japan and the
danger of penetration by the Chinese. The settlement of Birobidzhan
became of particular importance to the U.S.S.R.
after the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931–32. Since
the Soviet government attempted in the late 1920s and early
1930s to improve its relations with the West, the Birobidzhan
project could have also played a role in influencing Jewish and
pro-Jewish public opinion there. The association of Jews with
the settlement of Birobidzhan was also meant to obtain financial
support from their conationals abroad, and thus alleviate
the allocation of Soviet resources for this purpose. Moreover,
such settlement seemed to provide a partial solution to
the economic difficulties facing Soviet nationalities. To some
of those active in the *Yevsektsiya (the Jewish Section of the
Communist Party), Birobidzhan seemed to constitute an ideological
alternative to the Zionist idea. The first official step
toward implementation of the project was the dispatch of a
scientific delegation to Birobidzhan in the summer of 1927, to
investigate the feasibility of an agricultural settlement there.
Its recommendations led to a resolution by the presidium of
the central executive committee of the Soviet Union on March
28, 1928, to entrust Komzet (committee for settling Jews on the
land) with the supervision of Jewish settlement in the region.
On May 7, 1934, the “Birobidzhan county” (rayon), which had
been established in 1930, was granted the status of the “Jewish
Autonomous District” (JAD), by a decree of the central
executive committee.
Jewish immigration to Birobidzhan began in April 1928
and continued at a varying rate. Colonization proceeded under
most difficult conditions, especially at the beginning. The
first year proved particularly difficult, with heavy rains, floods,
and an outbreak of anthrax (horse disease). In the following
years a comparatively large number of Jewish settlers arrived
in Birobidzhan. However, the inadequate facilities and diffi-
cult climatic conditions seriously affected the rate of those who
stayed there permanently. Out of prospective settlers who arrived
between 1928 and 1933, more than half left. (See the table
“Birobidzhan, Jewish Population.”) The Birobidzhan project
aroused a controversy among those active in Jewish settlement
in the U.S.S.R. and among Yevsektsiya leaders. Among
its critics were Mikhail (Yuri) *Larin and Abraham Bragin,
both active in the Jewish settlement movement. Larin argued
that other areas of the Soviet Union, especially the Crimea,
were far more suitable for Jewish colonization. The Birobidzhan
project found an ardent supporter in Mikhail Kalinin,
the titular head of state. In a speech delivered at a congress of
the society for Jewish agricultural settlement, Ozet, in 1926,
before the Birobidzhan project was born, he had declared:
“The Jewish people now faces the great task of preserving its
nationality. For this purpose a large segment of the Jewish
population must transform itself into a compact farming population,
numbering at least several hundred thousand souls.”
In a reception given to representatives of Moscow workers
and the Yiddish press in May 1934, he suggested that the creation
of a Jewish territorial center in Birobidzhan would be
the only way to normalize the national status of Soviet Jews.
He also expressed his hope that “within a decade Birobidzhan
will be the most important and probably the only bulwark of
national Jewish socialist culture.” and that “the transformation
of the region into a republic is only a question of time.”
The visit of Lazar *Kaganovich, a Jew and member of the Politburo,
to Birobidzhan in February 1936 greatly encouraged
the Jewish leadership of the region. Birobidzhan aroused wide
interest in world Jewry, especially among those who believed
in Jewish *territorialism. The fact that Jewish settlement in
Birobidzhan coincided with the intensification of anti-Jewish
repressions in Nazi Germany also contributed to support
of the idea by Jews outside the Soviet Union. Almost all sectors
of the Zionist movement opposed it. Jewish organizations
outside the U.S.S.R. which participated in Jewish colonization
projects in the Soviet Union, such as Agro-Joint (American
Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation) and the *Jewish Colonization
Association (ICA), generally took a neutral stand. The
*Ort-Farband gave limited assistance to the development of
industry and workshops. Those Jewish organizations abroad
whose membership consisted mostly of Communists and their
sympathizers supported the plan without reservation. Among
the most active organizations was Icor (the American Association
for Jewish Colonization in the Soviet Union), which
cooperated closely with Ozet. In 1929 Icor organized a scientific
delegation consisting of American specialists in agriculture
and settlement to investigate the possibilities for further
colonization of Birobidzhan. Ambidjan (American Committee
for the Settlement of Foreign Jews in Birobidzhan) supported
Jewish settlement in Birobidzhan for a short period in
the mid-1930s and after World War II. Jewish organizations
supporting Birobidzhan existed in Canada, Western Europe,
and South America. Representatives of the Argentinian Jewish
organization Procor (Society to Assist the Productivization of
718 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3