The pale of settlement, in other words the boundary of territory where respresentatives of Jewish faith could live, which existed in the Russian Empire from 1791 to its collapse, wasn't something impenetrable for Jews. However, in order to cross it, you had to fulfill at least one of difficult conditions, analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza agency Matvey Katkov said during "National Question" program on Vesti.FM.
"National Question" is a weekly program of Vesti.FM, during which Gia Saralidze and Vladimir Averin discuss various aspects of national relations, primarily in Russia. Today's broadcast was dedicated to the topic of the anniversary of the official abolition of the pale of settlement, which occurred on March 20, 1917, shortly after the February revolution.
Matvey Katkov recalled that at the end of the 19th century, there were about 5 million Jews in the Russian Empire. 200 thousand of them had the right to be outside the territory of permanent Jewish pale of settlement.
"The total population, according to the census of 1897, amounted to 125 million people, 11% of whom were middle-class, and 77% - peasants. Most of the population lived in rural areas, so the issue of the pale of settlement almost wasn't considered by the official authorities. This issue became more and more urgent for Jewish subjects of the Russian monarchy , especially after emancipation reform of 1861," he said.
Emperor Alexander II, who became liberator of Russian peasantry, didn't do the same thing for Jews. Nevertheless, by the end of his reign, Jews had several ways to get out of the pale of settlement.
"The most obvious and at the same time difficult choice was to become a Christian, since the ban concerned only Jews. However, in practice the fate of people who did this was tragic: they often became outcasts in their own environment, without the ability to adapt to the new environment," the expert stressed.
Besides that, the pale of settlement didn't apply to merchants of the first guild, but this group only included elite. "To enter the first guild, you had to pay 500 rubles a year just to get a certificate. Plus there were many other additional payments. So the total amount of money was pretty huge, especially if we take into account the fact that Jews couldn't engage in certain activities," he said.
There was also a third way - studying at the university. "Another way to get out of the pale of settlement was to get higher education, but there was a limit in the universities. Universities of the capital cities couldn't enroll too many representatives of this religion," he concluded.
