SELETS, BELARUS

                Селец

   Main

   Maps and Satellite Views

Maps_%26_Satellite_Views.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0
   History of Agricultural Colonies

 

  

        

  

The idea of colonizing the Jews as agriculturists in Russia originated with the Polish historian Czacki and Nathan Nata (Notkin), who in turn inspired the poet Derzhavin, whom Emperor Paul sent to White Russia in 1799 to investigate the famine in that government and to take proper measures of relief. "To check the selfish occupations of the Jews," Derzhavin recommended that a special class of agriculturists be formed and transferred to the governments of Astrakhan and New Russia, hoping thus to relieve White Russia of a portion of its dense population.

On October 9, 1802, a special commission, the first of its kind in Russia, was organized by the benevolent Emperor Alexander I., to consider Derzhavin's recommendation and to draft a plan for improving the condition of the Jews. One Jewish delegate from each government of the Pale of Settlement was elected to confer with the representatives of the government. As a result of the two years' work of this commission an "Enactment concerning the Jews" was sanctioned by the czar, and promulgated December 9, 1804. It contained the following provisions: (1) The Jews of Russia were to be grouped into five classes, viz., agriculturists, manufacturers, artisans, merchants, and minor burgesses. (2) The agriculturists were permitted to buy and rent lands in all the western and southwestern provinces and to cultivate their farms themselves or with hired help. (3) For those without means the government pledged itself to provide 30,000 deciatines (1 deciatine = 2.70 acres) of land in the western and southern governments. (4) All Jews that wished to become colonists were required to submit certificates of their physical fitness for agricultural pursuits; and each family had to give proof of the possession of not less than 400 rubles with which to pay for the land, implements, and household necessaries for settlement.

First Colonies.

In 1806 many Jewish families from the governments Vitebsk and Mohilev on the Dnieper removed to southern Russia and founded the first seven agricultural colonies in the government of Kherson. They were named: Nahar-Ṭob, Har Shefer, SedeMenuḥah, Bobrovy-Kut, Jefeh-Nahar, Jaazer, and Kamenka. These lands had previously been inspected by Nahum Finkenstein and Lieberman, who were commissioned to do so by the Jews of Vitebsk and Mohilev, with the consent of the minister of the interior (Nikitin, "Yevreiskiya Zemledelcheskiya Kolonii," 12).

The authorities in charge of colonization were directed to establish settlements in territories well adapted for agricultural purposes. The colonies were to be founded at certain distances from Christian settlements, and the Jewish colonists were denied the right to purchase land in Christian villages. Every occupation not in the line of agriculture was strictly prohibited. The colonial authorities were to lend the Jews all possible assistance and protection. Unfortunately for the settlers, the officials selected territories more adapted for cattle-breeding and agriculture on a large scale than for small farms; and those colonists who had settled on their own account were left almost without the necessary means to purchase implements and food. Exhausted by the long and weary journey, and unaccustomed to the climate of the sparsely settled South Russian steppes, many fell ill and died; while others sold their estates for next to nothing and returned to their old homes or left the country altogether. Only the poorest remained in the colonies; and these led a miserable existence, hoping in vain for the support promised by the government.

Second Era.

The second period in the history of Jewish colonization in Russia begins with the edict concerning the Jews issued by Czar Nicholas I. on April 13, 1835. From this it was manifest that the czar intended to colonize New Russia with Jews, who were to be settled there in great numbers. Briefly the provisions of the edict were as follows: (1) Jews were permitted to join the peasant class in New Russia without being compelled to do so. (2) Forty candidates were entitled to the right of founding a colony. (3) Jews were granted the right to buy or rent lands from Christian owners or from the crown in territories where Jews were allowed to live. (4) Jews joining the peasant class were relieved from certain taxes and duties. (5) Jews colonizing fifty Jewish families on their estates were entitled to honorary citizenship, and those colonizing one hundred families were entitled to be raised to the nobility. (6) Colonists were granted the right to send their children to all public schools, gymnasiums, academies, and universities ("Russian Code," pp. 24-27, 104-117). Notwithstanding these privileges, the Jews, remembering the trials and sufferings encountered by the first colonists, showed but little enthusiasm for the scheme; and the czar, disappointed at the complete failure of his well-meant project, ordered a special commission, under the presidency of Count Kankrin, minister of finance, to investigate the matter. This commission attributed the failure to climatic reasons, and recommended the fertile territories of Siberia, with their healthful climate, as more suitable for colonization.

In 1836 the czar issued an order assigning 15,154 deciatines of land in the governments of Tobolsk and Omsk for colonization by Jews. This order had an unexpected and remarkable result. The enthusiasm of the Jews, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, knew no limits. Jewish scholars—I. B. Levinsohn, B. Mandelstamm, and others—supported the government plan by contributions to the press and by public speeches. Almost equal sympathy was shown by the Christian population of all classes.


Extracted from JewishEncyclopedia,com





History of Jewish Agricultural Colonies in Russia

Copyright © 2009 Bob Ruskin

SELETS, BELARUS