Religious Communities in Harbin and Ethnic Identity of Russian Emigres

The atmosphere of religious and national tolerance that reigned in the extraterritorial zone of the Chinese Eastern Railway attracted representatives of non-Russian ethnic groups and also groups of non-Orthodox denominations from within Russia. It contributed to the fast formation of national colonies in Harbin.¹ As the number of colonists grew, those communities experienced a need for internal consolidation and self-administration, which led to the creation of various ethnic people’s associations.

Ethnocultural self-expression and preservation of identity among the settlers from Russia manifested itself in different areas, including religion, charitable causes, culture and education, politics, and economics. As a rule, however, first came denominational unity. In most cases, organizations created in the ethnic Russian colonies in Harbin either would be of a mixed religious/secular nature or the religious organizations would be formed first, later to be followed by secular ones.

This was natural because conditions of the time made practicing religion an inalienable necessity of daily life, and denominations were among the most important elements of the national culture. Religious communities usually embraced the colonies in their entirety, while secular organizations encompassed only parts of them, and often only a fairly narrow circle of people. It is important to note that in the prerevolutionary period in Russia, including in the extraterritorial zone of the Chinese Eastern Railway, other types of social activity based on ethnicity were simply impossible or were limited.

Nevertheless, even the role of the church in the life of different ethnic groups of Russian natives was not unequivocal. The greatest ethnodenominational consolidation was characteristic of mono-ethnic denominational communities or of those in which one ethnic group was overwhelmingly prevalent, that is, where ethnic identity was equal to the religious one. Such were the Judaic/Jewish, the Muslim/Turkic-Tartar, and the Armenian/Gregorian communities. The church and the denominational communities in these groups were integral structural parts of ethnic social associations.

Traditionally the Jewish religious community was characterized by the same high degree of self-policing that had long helped the Jewish diaspora to withstand the assimilation process and persecutions in countries of residence. In Manchuria this socioethnic activity of the Jews found favorable soil. Compared with the conditions that existed within the borders of the Russian Empire, where Jews represented one of the most oppressed parts of the population, Manchuria did not restrict their freedom to live where they chose, to travel, or to receive an education.

The first Jewish social organization in Harbin was Judaic—the Jewish religious community of Harbin (KhEDO), which registered in 1903 and existed until 1964. Compared to other denominational groups, KhEDO had the most ramified network of social organizations. In the prerevolutionary period it incorporated the Main Synagogue (1907), the Funeral Fraternity (1907), the Jewish Ladies’ Charitable Society (1907), and the Committee for Social Security (1916), which financed a free canteen. It also included provisional organizations, such as the Committee for Support of the Orphans of the War in the Far East (1912–14) and the Committee for Support of the Jewish Victims of the War (1914–20).

After the Bolshevik Revolution other structures were added to KhEDO: the second synagogue (1919 or 1921);² the Association for Medical Aid to Needy and Sick Jews (1920), which in 1921 opened a clinic of its own and in 1933 built a hospital for Jewish immigrants; the Committee for Assistance to Invalids and Elderly Jews (1921); and the Provisional Charity Committee for the Jewish victims of the flood (1932).

KhEDO carried out notary services and registration of births, deaths, marriages, and divorces.³ In other communities this function was carried out by church parishes. Even the conversion of representatives of other nationalities to Judaism, which became possible for Russian natives only after 1919, was within the purview of KhEDO and not the synagogues. There were, however, only a few such conversions...