Jews in the Russian Empire
(Part 3 of 8)
Alexander II – a “Brief Spring”
The Reign of Alexander II brings fundamental changes for the Russian society at large, notably the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. For Russian Jews, it marks a period of great expectations now that the most oppressive measures are relaxed. On the first anniversary of Alexander's coronation the hated Cantonist system is repealed. Bit by bit, small groups of Jews considered "useful" are allowed to settle outside the Pale: merchants, medical doctors and artisans.
At your right, a front page of a minutes or records book (pinkas) of the Mishna Study Society at the Klaus Synagogue in Medzhibozh (Podolia) for the year 5620 (=1860). The pinkas contains the findings and list of membership of the society.
In the middle, the banker Baron Horace Ginzburg of St. Petersburg, a spokesman for Russian Jewry and promoter of the arts.
At your left, the Great
Synagogue of St. Petersburg, also called "Baron Ginzburg synagogue"
after its benefactor, opened in 1893.
The Jewish communities of
St. Petersburg, Moscow and Odessa grow rapidly, and Jews start to participate
in the intellectual and cultural life. The industrial development of the 1860s,
following the disastrous Crimean War, creates opportunities for a small group
of Jewish entrepreneurs, particularly in banking and the export trade, in mining
and in the construction of railroads.
But the sudden appearance of Jewish lawyers, journalists and entrepreneurs causes
a sharp reaction. After the suppression of the Polish uprising in 1863, the
position of all minorities in Russia is weakened, and the movement for Jewish
emancipation suffers a serious setback. Anti-Semitic agitation, expressed in
newspapers like Novoye Vremya, increases after a wave of Slavophile nationalism
in the 1870s. Jews are accused of forming "a state within the state"
and seen as aliens trying to dominate Russia. Even the old myth of the Blood
Libel, outlawed by Alexander I in 1817, is brought to life again in Kutais in
1878.