Download or view the original PDF version of this file
This article appeared in the original Brockhaus-Efron Jewish Encyclopedia 1908-1913. It has been
translated by Google and given minor edits.
The removal of Jews from villages in Russia, in the areas partitioned from Poland-Lithuania, was a
particularly oppressive policy that began sometime after the first partition and continued at various
times throughout the 19
th
century. The most extensive instance of this policy ensued after the
promulgation of the Statute of 1804. In this instance it was eventually rescinded due to its dire results.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Original title:
Выселение евреев в России
Vyseleniye yevreyev v Rossii
Eviction of Jews in Russia
The first attempts to evict all Jews from villages and hamlets (in the area of settlement) to cities
and towns began soon after the annexation of Belarus to Russia (1772). It was caused, on the one hand,
by the desire of Empress Catherine II to turn the towns into successful commercial and industrial
centers, and on the other hand by the desire of local authorities to reduce the drunkenness among the
peasants by eliminating the Jews from the production and trade of alcoholic drinks (see Rent in Russia,
Wine Business). However, multiple relevant orders never led to the goal. In 1801 even the Senate
decree did not force Belarusian Jews to relocate. The question of the removal of Jews from the
countryside was again put on the line and moreover, in an extremely acute form in the Statute on
Regulation of the Jews of 1804, according to which the entire Jewish population living in the counties,
at least 60 thousand families, was supposed to move to cities and towns within 2-3 years. Soon the
government had to make sure that this measure could not be implemented, since it was incompatible
with the social and economic conditions of the region (see Alexander I). If the Jews, compelled by
force, were removed from the villages there was no place for them to settle down: in cities and towns
there was neither a place nor a source of food for them. Thousands of hungry masses among which
there were diseases, began to threaten public welfare. Nevertheless, the higher authority did not want to
abandon the implementation of the law of 1804, despite the fact that both Jewish deputies and
governors, and Senator Alekseev, who were specially assigned to observe residency in the provinces,
along with a special committee of ministers formed for this case, found that eviction should be
suspended. And only when the Minister of Internal Affairs, Prince Kurakin repeated the arguments of
his predecessor, Prince Kochubey and pointed out that the Jews should be left in their places until they
could be transferred to public lands did the sovereign, by decree of December 29, 1808 order the
eviction to be suspended. Subsequently, the eviction was no longer undertaken as a general measure for
the whole area (Pale) of settlement, but only as special orders in certain localities and along with the
motive for protection of the peasants from hindrance by Jews. Thus, other reasons for eviction were
created and in 1821 an order was issued fοr the eviction of Jews from the state-owned estates of ther the eviction of Jews from the state-owned estates of the
Chernigov province (P. P. S. Z., no. 28821). In 1823, a personal decree demanded the resettlement of
Jews from district settlements in the Mogilyov and Vitebsk provinces (29420), and in 1827 a decree
was issued to remove them from the districts of the Grodno province. Moreover, in the latter case this
was done in the form of experience - in case of the circumstance that Jews and other neighboring
provinces had to undergo eviction (Β. Π. S. Z., No. 1582). Along with this, in order to curb smuggling,
from 1812 demands were made to remove Jews from localities near the border. All these measures
were carried out far from being fully for the same reason, and for which the law of 1804 was not
enforced. And the government itself sometimes opposed the removal of Jews from the counties. So for
example, when in 1829 the highest decree took place on the eviction of Jews from tavernkeeping in the
Podolsk province, the crown prince reported that he would carry out one only after it was determined
whether the same measure could be successfully completed in the Grodno province. And when in 1833
the governor-general again raised the question of the execution of the aforementioned highest
command, the Committee of Ministers decided to postpone the eviction until such time as a new statute
on the Jews was worked out and on the same basis, the eviction was suspended in Kiev province. From
the 1840s, the mass removal of Jews from the counties ceased until 1882, when the “Provisional Rules”
created conditions favorable for the forced relocation of Jews from their homes. In an effort to turn the
Jews into an exclusively urban population, the government for a long time not only did not put
obstacles to the settlement of Jews in the cities of the Pale of Settlement, but even struggled with
Christian harassment societies at the turn of the 19th century οr the eviction of Jews from the state-owned estates of then the eviction of Jews from cities (see
Kiev, Kovna). However, in 1827 the Christians of Kiev managed to ensure that the highest command
was followed to remove Jews from the city (V.P.S.Z., No. 1503). In 1829, already on its own initiative,
the government undertook the eviction of Jews from Sevastopol and Nikolaev, finding "the
inconvenient and harmful presence of non-serving Jews." In 1888 the mass removal of Jews from Yalta
also took place. Outside the Pale, the measure of eviction as a common event for the area was rarely
used. The most characteristic is the decree of 1825 on the removal of Jews from those places (and
neighboring ones) where a sect of subbotniks would appear. But it was precisely outside the Pale of
Settlement that predominantly continuous eviction of single Jews or relatively small groups occurred.
Complicated legislation on the right of residence due to the general disenfranchisement of Jews opens
up a wide scope for misinterpretation of the laws by the local administration results and sometimes
ignorance and deliberate violation of them is found. On April 3, 1880 the Minister of Interior suggested
that the governors should not resort to eviction to the Pale of Settlement of those Jews who, although
they do not have the right of residence in the area, have nevertheless settled there and managed to enter
industrial enterprises, the destruction of which would ruin both Jews and Christians in business
relations. On June 21, 1882 this circular was confirmed. But on January 14, 1893 circulars were
canceled, and then special rules were developed for the eviction of Jews, which tended to reduce the
damage that threatened the property interests of not only Jews, but also Christians (the latter received
numerous complaints about the order of January 14, 1893). While eviction should have been gradual,
those who had illegally settled outside the Pale of Settlement until 1880 were left in their places. The
eviction of those illegally residing outside the line (Pale) of settlement was suspended by a circular of
the Minister of Military Affairs March 6, 1904 in view of the Russian-Japanese war. The force of this
order was confirmed by a minister’s circular on May 22, 1907 (regarding those Jews who settled
outside the Pale of Settlement before August 1, 1906) which caused extreme displeasure in reactionary
circles. (In the early 1890s, by virtue of the new laws that had withdrawn Moscow from the operation
of general laws on the residence of the Jews, many thousands of Jews were evicted from there). Wed:
Levanda, “Complete Chronological collection, etc. "; Hesse, “Jews in Russia,” ch. V; Mouse, "Guide to
the Russian Laws of the Jews, 1904 227–31; Friede, "Laws on the Right of Residence of the Jews,"
1909, 175-92.
Yuly Isidorovich Gessen
Source: https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/ЕЭБЕ/Выселение_евреев_в_России