History of the Jews in Odessa

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Main synagogue in Odessa
Jews in Odessa 1876
Isaak Babel , author of the Odessa stories

The story of the Jews in Odessa is the description of a rich Jewish culture and many tragic events. The first pogrom in recent European history took place in Odessa in 1821 . Odessa was one of the most important centers of Yiddish culture in Russia , the founding site of the Zionist movement, and a center of the early Jewish labor movement. Isaac Babel created a lasting monument to the city with his stories from Odessa .

history

Beginnings

In 1794, Odessa was founded as a strategically important port on the Black Sea by decree of Catherine II . The city was populated with people of various nationalities such as Russians , Ukrainians , Jews , Greeks and others. The Jews in Odessa were mainly active as businessmen and traders. In 1798 the first Jewish community was founded in Odessa and the first synagogue was built.

Riots 1821

At the funeral of Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople in 1821 there were first riots against Jews in Odessa, in which 14 Jews were killed. The actors were Greeks and other nationalities. The background lay in ethnic and economic rivalries between the two groups. Greeks dominated the trading and administration of the port city during this period. They also accused the Jewish population of being on the side of Ottoman rule in the Greek struggle for independence .

development

A Jewish school was opened in 1826. A Yiddish theater in Odessa is mentioned around 1840, one of the first ever. Between 1850 and 1855, Odessa became a main synagogue with the construction of the Or-Sameach Synagogue. In 1859 there was another pogrom against Jews.

Literature and theater

Odessa became one of the most important centers of Jewish journalism, literature and theater. In 1860 Hamelitz appeared , the first Hebrew-language newspaper in Russia. The editor was Alexander Zederbaum . In 1862 Kol Mewasser was the first Yiddish newspaper in Russia to appear as a supplement. Abraham Goldfaden worked as a teacher in the city after 1866 and published early prose.

In 1878 various actors of the Yiddish theater came to Odessa from Romania, such as Nachum Schaikewitsch , Israel Grodner , Israel Rosenberg , Moses Horowitz , Ossip Lerner . Jakob Adler . Authors like Mendele Moicher Sforim also lived and published here.

1881

After the massacres of 1881, a wave of emigration to Western Europe and the USA began. In 1883 theatrical performances were banned in the Russian Empire. Almost all Yiddish actors went to London and the USA.

Zionist movement

After the pogroms, the Zionist movement emerged in East Central Europe. She wanted the Jews to emigrate to Palestine . In 1884 Odessa became the seat of Chibbat Zion in Russia. Important actors were Leo Pinsker and Mosche Leib Lilienblum . In 1890 the “Society for the Support of Jewish Peasants and Craftsmen in Syria and Palestine” ( Odessa Committee ) was founded. In 1892 Sholem Alejchem came to Odessa. He also supported the Zionist movement. In 1902 one of the first local associations of the Zionist-socialist movement Poale Zion was founded in Odessa . In 1904 the Zionist Socialist Workers' Party emerged from its members .

1905 to 1917

Bundists with dead, Odessa 1905

The Russian census in 1897 showed a Jewish population of 30.83% in Odessa, which corresponds to around 125,000 people. Jews were the second largest population group in the city, after the Russians with 49.09% and significantly more numerous than the Ukrainians in Odessa (9.39%). In 1905 there were again serious riots against Jews.

After 1919, Soviet power created new opportunities for Jewish life. Isaak Babel published the stories from Odessa in 1931 and shaped the image of the city for many years. In 1939 there were around 200,000 Jews in Odessa, 33.3% of the population.

Murder of the Jews 1941–1944

In 1941 the German Wehrmacht conquered the city. When massacre Odessa many Jews were killed.

Soviet Union

After the Second World War, Odessa's Jewish community recovered. In 1959 again 16.2% of the Odessites were Jews. From the 1970s onwards, there was a strong Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union to Israel, the USA and Western Europe. Despite the sometimes restrictive measures with which the Soviet Union tried to prevent migration movements, the proportion of the Jewish population fell constantly over the years. In 1989, just under 66,000 Jews lived in Odessa, which made up 5.9% of the city's population.

Ukraine

After Ukraine gained independence, the majority of Odessa's remaining Jews also emigrated, to which the difficult economic situation of the now independent Ukraine also contributed.

In 2001 around 12,000 Jews lived in Odessa (1.2% of the population). There are still several synagogues, kosher restaurants and Jewish shops in the city.

Web links

literature

  • Steven Zipperstein, The Jews of Odessa: A Cultural History, 1794–1881. 1991, ISBN 0-8047-1962-4

Individual evidence

  1. a b Website of the Jewish community "Tikva - Or Sameach", Odessa ; accessed on August 8, 2015
  2. Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Serbs were Greek Orthodox, they were probably present at the funeral of the head of the Greek Orthodox Church.
  3. Archived copy ( memento of the original from August 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pop-stat.mashke.org
  4. http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/ussr_nac_39_ra.php?reg=336
  5. Кабузан В. М. Украинцы в мире динамика численности и расселения. 20-е годы XVIII века - 1989 год Форм. этн. и политических границ укр. этноса. Ин-т рос. истории РАН .. - Наука, 2006. - 658 с.
  6. 2001 census
  7. http://forward.com/news/156496/odessa-still-throbs-with-jewish-life/ Odessa Still Throbs With Jewish Life, The Forward , June 21, 2012