Getting Out of the Ghetto: What is to Become of a Jew beyond the Pale?

This study is based on the documents from the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg. Chronologically the work covers eighteen thirties through eighteen fifties. The reason for the Imperial project on “improving the life of the Jews” was, on the one hand, religious prejudice against Judaism. The documents contain various reports of the officials on measures to “educate Jews” against their “religious bigotry” and prejudice. That was the reason for the active assimilation attempts, projects of expulsion of the Jewish converts to Christianity from the Jewish Pale into the heartland provinces of the Empire. According to the officials of the Synod, only forced deportation from the ghetto and resettlement among Russian population, administrative supervision could guarantee the success of these projects.

Another reason for the blurring of the boundaries of the ghetto and, as a consequence, permission to live outside the Pale of Settlement, was an economic and political bias of the authorities against the Jews. The economic activity of the Jews was assessed by the authorities in purely negative terms as a financial scheme designed to ruin Russian peasants. The government was considering projects of enlisting Jewish labor for agriculture in Siberia (assuming partial deportation) and a ban on commercial activities outside of the Pale. However, the officials of the Ministry of Properties were opposed to the implementation of repressive policies citing a high potential of damage to the economy.