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7 The Possibility of the Impossible: Pogroms in Eastern Siberia LILIA KALMINA Siberia as a whole, and even more specifically, eastern Siberia, the vast colonial borderlands of the Russian Empire, would seem the least likely area for anti-Jewish pogroms.1 Virtually none of the factors advanced to explain pogroms in the Pale of Settlement was present. Jews were few, constituting no more than 1 percent of the population of Siberia , and were widely dispersed. Moreover, none of the typical complaints leveled against the Jews of the Pale—economic exploitation, religious fanaticism, the secret machinations of the kahal, ancient traditions of religious or ethnic rivalry—was applicable in Siberia. Far from being seen as “exploiters”—despite occasional ritualistic claims on this score—Jews were generally welcomed for their contribution to the economic development of the region. There was no danger, for example, of an “overconcentration ” of Jewish tradesmen or artisans. Siberian Jews fully exemplified the “assimilation narratives” identified by Gabriella Safran: they quickly adapted to an alien culture and displayed their ability to think and look just like representatives of the dominant nationality.2 Background As a rule, Jews arrived in Siberia unwillingly, as convicted criminals who came as exiles starting in the eighteenth century. During the reigns of Tsars Nicholas I and Alexander II, other categories of Jews were also allowed there. Even with the temporary migrations of these nonconvicts, exiles remained the first, most numerous, and most stable group of Siberian Jews. Opposition arose to this trend among Siberian governors-general, who consistently were against the exile of Jews because it increased the Jewish population. The “problem” was aggravated by the fact that exiled Jews were followed by members of their families, whose numbers equaled or surpassed those of the exiles themselves. By 1898, there were 7,946 Jews in the territory of the Irkutsk governorship (encompassing virtually the 132 REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES whole of eastern Siberia), including 4,197 people who had come there of their own free will.3 By the end of the nineteenth century, the profile of Jewish exiles had changed drastically. At this time, those exiled for antigovernment activities joined the existing motley combination of thieves, robbers, and vagrants . The numbers of the more “political” newcomers soon exceeded those of previously exiled Jews who had been sent to the east because of petty crime. As a result of the Jews’ active role in all the revolutionary parties, the proportion of Jews among all exiles increased from 13.8 to 18.6 percent between 1908 and 1914, while the percentage of other ethnic categories steadily diminished.4 In some regions, the percentage was even higher: between 1878 and 1905, a total of 455 Jews were exiled to Yakutiia on political grounds—more than half of all political exiles during that period.5 A second group of Siberian Jews was composed of cantonists (child soldiers) and soldiers who had completed their active service and wished to remain in the area. They possessed the strongest claims to civil rights among Siberia’s Jews because they were permitted to leave the Pale of Settlement after their service was completed. Having preserved their religious identity during their military service, they were the most committed members of the Siberian Jewish religious communities. Other Jewish groups were not numerous. These included a few agricultural settlers who had come to develop Siberian lands on the basis of a law dated 20 November 1835 stating that Jews willing to be engaged in agriculture were to be given plots in Tobolsk guberniia (a province ruled by a civilian governor) and Omsk oblast (an area ruled by a military governor) in Siberia. They numbered only 1,317 persons and their descendants later dispersed all over Siberia. In addition, a scattering of craftsmen and traders had “arrived accidentally” in Siberia under various circumstances.6 A law dated 15 May 1837 sought to limit the Jewish population of Siberia, prohibiting access to the region for all categories of Jews except criminal exiles and soldiers on active duty. The provisos of the law stipulated that exiled Jews be settled separately to the east of Lake Baikal and Yakutsk province, far from “native” Siberian peoples. But from the very beginning it was evident that it was impossible to apply the law in Yakutiia . All uninhabited lands were unfit for human habitation, and to the east of Lake Baikal, Jewish settlers, mainly elderly people, were doomed to starvation, as they were unable to pursue farming in the harsh Siberian climate...

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