HomeIn 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.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/Home/News/biro/
An educational slideshow covering the emergence of Soviet plans to create a dumping ground for Russian Jews in the far east of Russia (Eastern Siberia). Discussing it's brief history, outside interest and eventual destruction at the hands of the USSR it self.
Its a very sad affair, but i guess it highlights the lengths that some will go to enforce their ideas on others. Its such a shame that the Jews of the Pale (many who went further east into Europe and America) were subject to this state project and manipulated into pursuing a goal that was ultimately designed to extract them from the Soviet Union altogether. I can't beleive that American Jews supported the idea. It's no wonder that Americans thought Jews were communist aliies.
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