Doktorand/ The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Stipendium im Rahmen des vom DAAD geförderten IQN-Programms
Forschungsaufenthalt: 01.08. – 31.10.2003
East European Powers and Jewish Settlements in Borderlands. A Comparison of Russian and Austrian policy to Jewish settlement in New Russia and Voevodina in the 18th century
Comparison of Russian and Austrian policy to Jewish settlement in New Russia and Voevodina in the 18-th century
The subject of my planning research is comparison of Habsburg authorities’ policy to the Jewish emigration to Voevodina since the first half of the 18-th century with Russian policy to the Jewish emigration to New Russia in the second half of the 18-th century.
Voevodina (or South Panonia) was finally captured by the Habsburg Empire during 1716-1718 war against the Ottoman state. That time in Voevodina lived only a small community of Sefard Jews. The big Jewish emigration in the region began in the middle of the 18-th century when Jewish comminutes from Germany and from different regions of the Balkan began to come and settle in the fast developing Voevodina region.
Russian intervention and settlement in the New Russia (Novorossia) lands in South Ukraine began in the early 50-es of the 18 century but a full control on this lands the Russia Empire got just after Kutchuk-Kainardji peace with Turkey in 1772. First Jews merchants were invited to settle in this wild lands by order of Catherine the Great in 1769.
In both cases authorities of the two largest East European empires dealt with huge thinly populated territories conquest after successful wars against the Ottoman Empire. Both countries were deeply interesting in the development and populate new lands. In order to achieve this aim both governments, Austria and Russia, from the beginning supported colonization of the new lands by foreign emigrants and by interior migrants.
In both Empires Jews were traditionally unwelcome, but in this case economical interests prevailed over long time tradition in Jewish Policy and Jews were invited to settle in new lands too.
This comparative research let us to present studying one of the important episode of the Jewish history. It gives us an opportunity to demonstrate the policy of East European Bureaucratic Empires for the developing of the Europe border lands that in the 18-th century had just entered in the orbit of their influence. We can study on this example transformation of these lands from the reality of military border to peaceful life and process of creation multi-ethnic society in Voevodina and New Russia.
We are going also analyze difference in policy that originated from the specific difference between Russian and Austrian Empire.