Under the rule of Nicholas 1, Tsar of Russia, policies towards Jewish communities fluctuated between acts of liberation and suppression, making the period around the 1880s very volatile for Jews. 

Pogrom - A word meaning to wreak havoc in Russia and was historically used as a term to refer to violent attacks on Jewish people in Russia.

To counteract the suppression of the Russian government, the Russian Haskalah group, comprising critical Jewish figures, made a deal to allow the integration of Russian Jews into society. This deal was relatively weak, though, making Jews fear Russian resistance could break out again, harming Jewish communities. Under this deal, members of the Haskalah worked with essential groups such as the Ministry of Education to develop state-sponsored systems to improve secular and religious learning in Jewish schools.

As the Haskalah movement progressed, adding secular education and Russian teaching, many traditional Jews, especially Hasidic groups, began to speak up in opposition. These groups did not like the government controlling what Jews learned, as they believed secular learning was an invitation to convert Jews to Russian Orthodoxy. This led to fewer Jewish children going to these schools. 

Nicholas I, would go on to create Jewish conscription policies that forced Jewish boys and men from ages 12-18 forcing them to work 25 years of “Russification” aimed at converting them.

In 1881, the assassination of the Tsar led to a revolution that occurred in Jewish communities throughout Russia. While the assassination went unproven, many Jews were blamed even though, in actuality, only one jew, Hasia Helfman, was in attendance. In April of 1881, the first pogrom or anti-Jewish riot began in Elisavetgrad, starting what would become thousands of riots throughout every part of Russia against the existence of Jews.

Officials in the Russian government set their scope on the exploitation of Jews by passing measures to remove Jews from the countryside and bring them to urban areas(a place where pogrom rioters could get to them) and restricting all Jewish commerce and trade. These measures would be called the “May Laws,” which many Jewish philosophers saw as legislative pogroms, revealing even the government was against the survival of Jews in Russia.

Berlin salons that developed in the late 18th century owe their existence and development to Jewish women.

They resulted from the interrelation between the German enlightenment, Haskalah, and young, educated Jewish women from well-off families that wanted a role in life outside of the patriarchal structures of their families.

Such salons have been criticized for being a symptom of failing Jewish tradition, but they also have been welcomed as a phenomenon of emancipation and acculturation.

They have highlighted salon culture and the process of women’s emancipation in Germany.

In the mid-18th century, social classes in Berlin remained strictly separated and Jews were discriminated against by Prussian law and were socially stigmatized.

The rich yet small Jewish upper class in Berlin had a protected status in exchange for the financial and economic services to the crown they provided. After the end of the Seven Years War their lifestyle became aristocratic. Daughters of these families became the first Jewish salon women.

Most important were - the Itzig daughters: Sara Levy in Berlin, and Fanny von Arnstein in Vienna.

The very first Berlin salons by Jewish women though, were of the more modest Bildungsbürgertum model, which later became common for Berlin salons.

Starting in 1780, Christians and Jews sat together at the tea-tables of gifted and enthusiastic (upper) middle-class Jewish women who had grown up in the Mendelssohn era. Many enjoyed an excellent education, and others developed a passion for reading and learning on their own, with help from their husbands and friends (such as Henriette Herz and Rahel Levin Varnhagen.)

Henriette Herz can be regarded as the first salonnière in Berlin.

Salon circles welcomed the American fight for freedom and early stages of the French Revolution

Berlin Salons: Late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Century | Jewish Women's Archive (jwa.org)

In 1894, Dreyfus was arrested and accused of spying. He was accused of selling French military secrets to the Germans

Dreyfus was a rich Jew from Alsace which is on the border of France, it was ceded to Germany. After, Dreyfus moved to Paris. This caused a lot of conspiracy if Dreyfus was German or French and if he was loyal to his country.

Colonel Henry, a French military intelligence agent, stated that he had information that proved that Dreyfus was guilty, but this information could not be revealed since it was a military secret.
Dreyfus was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island.

In March 1896, the French discovered another piece of paper in the same German office which declared that someone else was giving French military secrets away. It couldn’t be Dreyfus since he was imprisoned on Devil’s Island. Handwriting experts traced it to another officer, Walter Esterhazy.

After learning about this. Colonel Henry feared that the army’s credibility was at stake. A group of liberal senators charged the army with “undermining one of the very foundations of republican government, equality before the law,” and they demanded a retrial.

The army had no choice but to bring Esterhazy to court and despite evidence against him, the army voted to protect him. 

The Dreyfus affair became a national public scandal. The press was filled with papers on both sides. 

The Military court called Henry and demanded the secret Dreyfus evidence that exiled him. The evidence was exposed as a forgery and Henry was thrown in jail where he later killed himself.

The Dreyfus affair is an example of Anti-semitism in Europe. Even though Dreyfus was an assimilated Jew, people viewed him as an outsider.

https://www.jstor.org/site/johnshopkins/alfred-dreyfus-collection/lecalvaireduninnocent-34495909/?so=item_title_str_asc&searchkey=1713270258092

1. 1903, Kishineff Russia 

4.  Jews began to grow and become more integrated into russian society

3. The massacre was organized and started by  local and central authorities who were backed by the minister. 

3. There was also civilian participation which was the result of relentless propaganda led by  P. Krushevan, head of a russian newspaper 

2. It was kicked off by the body of a young christian woman was found in a jewish hospital having committed suicide. 

3. The newspapers circulated stories about it and it led to a riot which escalated 

2. Resulted in Over 2,000 displaced families, 49 dead, over 500 injuries 

4. Sparked the first jewish protest in america 

The russian gov wouldn’t take the petition so it was sent to the vault as public literature 

political cartoon from the time showcasing the world's outrage 

Honors - Primary Source

• https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/russian-immigration-table