Keywords
Jewish Community
Synagogue
Judaism
Anti-Cosmopolitanism Campaign
Khabarovsk Territory
Khabarovsk
Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Birobidzhan
Irkutsk
How to Cite
Abstract
The history of Jewish communities in Khabarovsk Territory from the mid-1940s to the 1950s has not previously been studied in Russian historiography within this chronological framework and on the basis of an extensive source base. The topic has a specific territorial scope. During this period, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO) was part of Khabarovsk Territory. The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the history of Jewish communities in Khabarovsk Territory from the mid‑1940s to the 1950s within the context of state policy toward religion. The primary historical sources for this study are documents from the State Archives of the Russian Federation (SARF), the State Archives of Khabarovsk Territory (SAKhK), and the State Archives of Irkutsk Region (SAIO). This analysis enables researchers to document the existence of Jewish communities in Khabarovsk Territory whose status was determined by state policy toward religion and by constant government control. The only officially registered Jewish community in Khabarovsk Territory was the community in Birobidzhan, the center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (1946). Unregistered Jewish communities also existed within the autonomous oblast. In Khabarovsk, there was a Jewish community with a history dating back to the pre-Soviet period, which demonstrated a desire to obtain official status. A “containment policy” was deliberately implemented toward the Jewish community of Birobidzhan. Unregistered Jewish communities of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast and the Jewish community of Khabarovsk were regarded by the authorities as communities that were expected to cease their activities. The campaign to combat cosmopolitanism in the USSR (1949–1953) contributed to a campaign against the Jewish communities of the region. Beginning in the late 1940s, the activity of the Jewish community in Birobidzhan gradually declined. The Jewish communities of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast and Khabarovsk ceased to exist in the early 1950s. The article is intended for researchers, academics, students, museum staff, and local history specialists.
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