Jews

Subject / Ethnic culture/Ethnic communities
Jews (their own native name in Hebrew is yegudim, in Yiddish - yid or ayid) are an ethnic community which is a part of the population of the Leningrad Oblast. The Hebrew language is related to the Semitic group of the Afrasian language family; the Yiddish, which is widespread among Jews of Russia, is related to the Germanic group of the Indo-European language family. The religious Jews are Judaists, some Jews adopted the Orthodoxy. Jews settled on the territory of the Leningrad Oblast since the 19th century. An increase in the number of Jews was impeded with restriction on settling beyond "cherta osedlosti" ("the Pale") (its final boundary was determined in 1835), where the west gubernyas of Russian Empire were. It was allowed to retired soldiers and their descendants to settle beynd ""cherta osedlosti" ("the Pale") (in 1827-56 there was a practice of admission of Jewish children to the schools of cantonists and their serving in the army in future). Since the 1850-60s it was allowed to merchants of the top guild, holders of academic ranks, some groups of craftsmen. In 1897 the Saint Petersburg Gubernia 4 thousand Jews lived. They mainly settled in towns (including the suburbs of S.Petersburg which are its parts now). The most of them were related to the petty bourgeoisie.
The Jewish communities were in Tikhvin, Vyborg (in the 1890s - 261 people). In the 1920-30s the number of Jews in Leningrad and its suburbs increased considerably. After the beginning of the Russo-Finnish War (the Winter War) the Jews of Vyborg (about 300 people) were evacuated together with the rest citizens of Finland to the internal regions of this country. In the period from 1941 to 1944 the Jews, who found themselves on the territory occupied by German armies, were subjected to repression (according to the assessments of the researchers 3,6 thousand Jews became the victims of the Holocaust in the Leningrad Oblast). In the second half of the 20th century there was a gradual dicrease of the number of Jews because of assimilation and migration. In 2002 in the Leningrad Oblast 1,7 thousand Jews lived. There are some Jewish societies working on the territory of the Leningrad Oblast. In Vyborg there is a Jewish culture society, in Kirishi there is a Jewish culture society called "Nadezhda" ("Hope" ("Atikva")), in Boksitogorsk there is a family club called "Mir" ("Peace"). Some Jewish communities are also registered in Vsevolozhsk, Gatchina, Luga. Chistyakov, Anton Yuryevich
Neighbouring Territories/Finland
Leningrad Oblast, the/Gatchina District/Gatchina Town
Leningrad Oblast, the/Luga District/Luga Town
Leningrad Oblast, the/Tikhvin District/Tikhvin Town
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vsevolozhsk District/Vsevolozhsk Town
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vyborg District/Vyborg Town
Плоткин К.М. Ленинград – зона холокоста. URL: http://school.ort.spb.ru, http://school.ort.spb.ru/library/torah/shoa/plotkin.htm#_edn20
Jewish Culture Society (Vyborg town), the
"Mir" ("The Peace"), a Jewish Family Club (Boksitogorsk town)
"Nadezhda" ("The Hope") ("Atikva"), a Jewish Culture Society (Kirishi town)