Per Aspera ad Astra: Birobidzhan: A Hapless Embryo of a Jewish Land

Birobidzhan: A Hapless Embryo of a Jewish Land

Prof. Gennady Estraikh, New York University

(Moderator: Noa Tsaushu)

Ninety-five years ago, in March 1928, the Soviet government announced its plan of building a Jewish territorial unit in Russia’s Far East, on the border with China. Birobidzhan, initially the name of the territory, later was turned into the name of a new city, the center of the Jewish Autonomous Region. Both the city of Birobidzhan and the JAR are still atavistically present on the map of contemporary Russia. The talk ­­– based on the 2023 book The History of Birobidzhan: Building a Soviet Jewish Homeland in Siberia­ – will focus on the factors that hindered the project’s development from start to finish.