Ethnological aspects of the history of the legislation of the Russian Empire regarding Jews (1762–1818) Cover Image

Aspecte etnologice ale istoriei legislaţiei Imperiului Rus referitoare la evrei (anii 1762–1818)
Ethnological aspects of the history of the legislation of the Russian Empire regarding Jews (1762–1818)

Author(s): Irina Shikhova, Iulii Palihovici
Subject(s): History, Ethnohistory, Political history, Social history
Published by: Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural al Academiei de Științe a Moldovei
Keywords: History; ethnology; Jews; legislation; Pale of Settlement; Russian Empire; Bessarabia; Bessarabian region;

Summary/Abstract: The article for the first time in Romanian examines the Jewish ethnological aspect of the history of law in the Russian Empire. The authors, using specific primary material of legislative acts, as well as other historical sources, investigate the history of the appearance of Jews within the borders of the Russian Empire, the history of the creation and functioning of the Jewish Pale of Settlement and the evolution of the official attitude towards them. The authors reveal three fundamental positions on which the entire policy of the Russian Empire regarding the Jews was built: Jews within the Russian Empire have the right to settle only in certain regions; they are attached to the kahals (later – Jewish societies), which are collectively responsible to the state; taxes from Jews are higher than from other citizens of the empire, regardless of their economic status. The particular study is devoted to the short period of liberalization in the first years of the reign of Alexander I, whose "Polojenie o evreiah" at the declarative level gave Jews almost equal rights with the rest of the citizens of the Empire and encouraged them to cultural and economic integration.. The research focuses as well on the regional aspect: history, population, territories of the modern Republic of Moldova and Romania. The chronological framework of this article is from the beginning of the reign of Catherine the Great (1762) to the creation of the Bessarabian region (1818). In the future the study will continue historically, until the collapse of the Russian Empire and the abolition of the Pale of Settlement.

  • Issue Year: XXIX/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 61-66
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Romanian