Stalin's Forgotten Zion

Courtesy Of Swarthmore College

Birobidzhan and The Making Of A Soviet Jewish Homeland

In 1928, Jews from across the Soviet Union traveled to the Russian Far East. They were trying to build themselves a promised land. They brought their families, set up schools and created a community there. It took years of hard work but finally they built a capital city. It’s called Birobidzhan.

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Find out more about Russia’s Jewish autonomous region from James Brown on RT.

In 1934 the Soviet Government established the Jewish Autonomous Region, popularly known as Birobidzhan, in a sparsely populated area some five thousand miles east of Moscow. Designated as the national homeland of Soviet Jewry, Birobidzhan was part of the Kremlin's effort to create an alternative to Palestine.

The Jewish Autonomous Region still exists today. Drawing on photograph collections never seen outside Birobidzhan, this exhibit explores both the Kremlin's efforts to create a socialist Jewish homeland and reasons for the failure of the Birobidzhan experiment. The story of the Soviet Zion sheds light on a host of important historical and comtemporary issues regarding Jewish identity, community, and culture. Continue