Kinderlach and Communists: or A Comparison between Soviet Ethnic Policy and Labour Zionism Through the Lens of the Infamous JAO
Humanities
Senior History Thesis
My project looks at the intersection of ethnic identity, governmental policies, and displacement of persons in Russia's Far East. Specifically, it looks at the Ashkenazi Jewish account of life in the former Soviet Union's only autonomous oblast (province): the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. It is supplemented by research undertaken here in Santa Cruz, as well as original research done in the JAO's capital city of Birobidzhan. Very little work has been done on this area of the former Soviet Union, despite it being one of only two areas in the world designated as a "jewish state", with the other being Israel. My thesis touches on the history of Russian and Soviet expansion into the Far East, as well as the Russian/Soviet Jewish narrative and its place within a larger framework of identity, human geography, social and political movements, and radical Jewish thinkers. I provide an account of Soviet Jewish life in the JAO, the obstacles that were faced by them, their responses, and the ultimate goal of a Jewish state through Labour (socialist) Zionism while also touching on the experiences of Russians and native Siberians in a historical framework.
