Jews

Categories / Population/Ethnic Groups
JEWS, an ethnic community within the St. Petersburg population. Hebrew is related to the Semitic group of Afrasian languages, Yiddish (was spread throughout the majority of eastern Russia) is related to the Germanic group of Indo-European family of languages. They are mostly followers of Judaism, though some have converted to Christianity. Converted Jews were among the associates of Tsar Peter the Great (diplomat P.P. Shafirov, Gen. Polismaster A.M. Devier). From the 1780s in St. Petersburg, Jewish merchants began to settle (T.N. Notkin, A.I. Peretz). However, the rights of Jews to live in the capital were restricted by special legislation. From the mid-19th century the Jewish community began to grow rapidly: in 1869, there were approximately 6,600 Jews; in 1910 - more than 35,100. Among the Jews minor craftsmen and traders predominated, but there were also doctors, lawyers, journalists and entrepreneurs. From the 1860s Jewish charitable societies operated, publishing papers in Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian. The Ginzburg Barons, rendered great assistance to the Jewish community. In 1893 a choral synagogue opened. In 1802-75 Jews were buried in a different part of Volkovskoe Lutheran Cemetery, from 1875 at their own Jewish cemetery. After October 1917, Jews received access to state organizations and city government, (significant posts were held by G.E. Zinovyev, М.S. Uritsky, V. Volodarsky). From 1908-30 there existed the Jewish Historical-Ethnographic Society. In the 1920s-30s the Jewish House of Education ran (10 Nekrasova Street), the Jewish University (1918-25), the Jewish Workers Faculty attached to the Leningrad State University, a series of Jewish theatres (the State Ensemble of Jewish Comedy existed until 1941). In the Soviet period mixed marriages spread, and assimilation tendencies strengthened (Russian became the mother tongue for many Jews). A high level of education was characteristic for Jews. In the end of the 1960s Jewish emigration began. In 1989 there were 106,100 Jews living in Leningrad. At the end of the 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) a series of Jewish nationalist organizations and foundations arose, amongst them the Society of Jewish Culture; the Jewish Association of St. Petersburg; the society St. Petersburg Jewish University; the Petersburg Institute of Jewish Studies, the society Khalom (Dream) which engaged in the teaching of Hebrew, publishing the paper Ami (My People) and shedding light on the life of the Jewish community in St. Petersburg. In 1996 the Jewish National Cultural Autonomy was established.

References: Бейзер М. Евреи в Петербурге. Иерусалим, 1989; Его же. Евреи Ленинграда, 1917-1939: Нац. жизнь и советизация. М.; Иерусалим, 1999; Гессен В. Ю. К истории Санкт-Петербургской еврейской религиозной общины: От первых евреев до XX в. СПб., 2000.

A. Y. Chistyakov. Devier (De Vierra) Anton Manuilovich
Notkin N.H.
Peretz Abram Izrailevich
Peter I, Emperor
Shafirov Peter Pavlovich, Baron
Uritsky Moisey Solomonovich
Volodarsky V. (Moisey Markovich Goldstein)
Zinovyev Grigory Evseevich
Nekrasova St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 10
Бейзер М. Евреи в Петербурге. Иерусалим, 1989
Бейзер М. Евреи Ленинграда, 1917-1939: Нац. жизнь и советизация. М.; Иерусалим, 1999
Гессен В. Ю. К истории Санкт-Петербургской еврейской религиозной общины: От первых евреев до XX в. СПб., 2000 Merchants
Handicraft (overview)
Synagogue Grand Choral
Jewish Cemetery
Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Society
State University, St. Petersburg