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This article originally appeared in the Brockhaus-Efron Jewish Encyclopedia 1906-1913. It has been 
translated by Google and offered here with minor edits. 
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Original title: Гетто в России
Getto v Rossii
The Ghetto in Russia. In the Russian empire the “ghetto” is found only as a particular
phenomenon, and not as a firmly and widely developed establishment. In the 30s of the 19th century
the government intended to introduce a whole ghetto system, but this intention was not implemented.
The ghetto existed in different forms in Vilna, Kovna, Kamenets-Podolsk, Kiev, Moscow, Zhytomyr,
and Riga (the rule is still in force, by which Jews, with the exception of privileged groups, must live in
certain areas). With the accession of Emperor Alexander II began the reform of the Jewish Committee
(1856) which “paid special attention to the fact that  separating of Jews into special neighborhoods, not
conforming to the spirit of the time or the types of merging of Jews with the general population, is
harmful not only for Jews, but also for Christians and even for the government”, since the prohibition
to acquire houses in a known part of the city drops their value. In this regard, the remains of the ghetto
were gradually destroyed.  The ghetto bore a different character in the Kingdom of Poland where it was
an old institution than in the empire. By early 19th century Jewish quarters disappeared apparently, in
many places. But during the years of the existence of the Duchy of Warsaw, measures were taken to
restore Ghettos in the form of quarters - “reviers”, outside of which only certain groups that satisfied
special conditions and class qualifications could live. This new order was established in 1809 in
Warsaw, and became in this respect a prototype, with minor changes, for other cities. In 1811,  the
Ghetto was introduced in Plock, and the following year the government began to agitate in favor of
introducing Ghettos in major cities, but the death of the Duchy prevented its implementation. However,
in 1821, the Warsaw government headed by Zaionchek, again put in turn the question of introducing
the Ghetto. In Warsaw the number of forbidden streets for Jews was increased; thereupon the Ghetto
was established in a number of cities: Brest, Whiskitki, Wlotslavsk, Gostynin, Yezhov, Zakrochim,
Zgerzh, Inovlodz, Kamenchyk, Koval, Lipno, Lowitz, Lodz, Lomza, Lyatovich, Mlawa, Neshava,
Ostrolenka, Przasnysh, Przdec, Pultusk, Radzeev, Rationzh, Skierniewice, Sompolno, Sieradz,
Suwalki, Tarcin and Czestochowa. Persons were released from the obligation to live in the Jewish
quarter who did not differ in appearance from other populations and who knew one of the languages -
Polish, German or French and so on. And, having at the same time a net worth of three to six thousand
rubles, depending on the area, moreover, no more than three privileged families could live on the

forbidden streets. The Highest Decree of September 7/19, 1848 introduced relief in the sense that on
the forbidden streets of Warsaw, the number of which was reduced, not only three privileged families
but five could live and in other cities  any number were permitted and the size of the capital required
was reduced. In 1862, the Ghetto was abolished in the cities of the Kingdom of Poland.
Yuli Isidorovich  Hesse n  "Ghetto in Russia", "The Jewish world ", 1910.
Source: https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/ЕЭБЕ/Гетто_в_России