Jews and Their Social Status in the Society of Siberia in XIX Century

• Main Author: Vladimir N. Shaidurov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sochi State University 2014-06-01
• Series: Bylye Gody
• Subjects: Siberian Jews; Second Siberian Committee; N. N. Muraviev-Amurskiy; social classes (soslovie); exiled settlers; state peasants; middle class urbanites (meshchane); merchants; honorary freemen; Cossacks
• Online Access: http://bg.sutr.ru/journals_n/1403110566.pdf

Individual Jewish communities formed due to administrative exile and independent replacement in Siberia in the first quarter of the 19th century. Until 1824, they existed within the general Russian legal framework. However, since December 1824, foundation was laid for “prohibitory” laws concerning Siberian Jews. In Nicholas I’s reign, this practice was continued; the scarce Jewish population, living in Siberian provinces, had access only to specific social classes. The mid-19th century brought about the initiation of the process to emancipate the Jewish, that involved Siberia as well. Bourgeois reforms undertaken by Alexander II contributed to rejecting the segregation policy and legally converging various social groups. Based on legal and record keeping documents, this article will analyse the evolution in the civil status of the Jewish population outside the pale of settlement (as illustrated in the case of Western Siberia).