What happened to Russia's Jews?

 

·         In 1880, there were 5 million Jews in the Russian Empire. They were the largest Jewish community in the world. (Let’s include Ukraine and Belarus together with Czarist Russia).

·         Between 1880 and 1920, the majority of the Russian Jews (about 3 million) immigrated to the USA. This was mostly a response to the Czarist pogroms which killed about 10,000 Russian Jews. Most American Jews are the descendants of these Russian Jewish immigrants.

·         The remaining Jewish population in Russia slowly grew back to 3 million over time.

·         Right after WWI, the Ukrainian nationalists and Russian Whites killed 100,000 Jews in terrible massacres. This is a forgotten tragedy. Another wave of desperate Russian Jews then immigrated to USA, till the Communists sealed the Soviet borders in 1922.

·         In 1941, the Nazis invaded. With the help of the Ukrainian nationalists, they shot 1 million Jews living in the western USSR. 2 million Jews were living in the eastern USSR and they survived the war there.

·         After WWII, Stalin orchestrated an intense wave of antisemitism. Historians conclude that he was planning to exile all the Russian Jews to Siberia. His death in 1953 was a blessing.

·         In the 1970's, masses of American Jews protested publically for Soviet Jews. 150,000 Soviet Jewish activists were able to immigrate to Israel thru American intervention. God bless Skip Jackson! The Iron Curtain had lifted a bit but then it closed again.

·         In 1990, the Soviet Union collapsed and there was an upsurge of antisemitism. A wave of 1.2 million former Soviet Jews immigrated to Israel. 300,000 immigrated to the USA. 100,000 immigrated to Germany.

·         It’s hard to estimate exactly how many Jews have remained behind. At least 100,000 in Russia; at least 100,000 in Ukraine. Just a tiny remnant compared to 1880.

·         Since 2022, many Jews are now fleeing the Russia-Ukraine war and immigrating to Israel. They are fortunate to have a great country like Israel to go to. They have a Jewish homeland that welcomes them.