Jewish Colonization Association
Encyclopedia
The Jewish Colonization Association (JCA, in Yiddish ייִק"אַ) was created on September 11, 1891 by the Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Its aim was to facilitate the mass emigration of Jews from Russia
and other Eastern Europe
an countries, by settling them in agricultural colonies on lands purchased by the committee, particularly in North
and South America
(especially Argentina
and Brazil
).
in southern New Jersey
, Ellington, Connecticut
(Congregation Knesseth Israel), and elsewhere.
A Canadian
Committee of the JCA was established in November 1906 to assist in the settlement of the thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Russia, and to oversee the development of all the JCA settlements in the country.
The JCA also established two agricultural colonies in the first two decades of the 20th century in what now is Turkey
. In 1891 JCA bought land near Izmir in Turkey and established an agricultural training center, Or Yehudah, on an area totaling 30 km² by 1902. The center was closed in 1926 owing to numerous difficulties. A group of Romanian Jews in Anatolia were assisted by JCA in the early 20th century to establish an immigration bureau in Istanbul in 1910. The JCA also bought land in the Asian part of Istanbul and founded Mesillah Hadassah agricultural colony for several hundred families. In 1928 the colonies were practically liquidated with only the immigration bureau remaining to assist migrants in transit to Palestine (see also: PICA
).
The JCA also established several colonies in Argentina
. One such colony is Colonia Lapin
founded in 1919 in the Buenos Aires Province
. At least one colony was established in Brazil
, at Quatro Irmaõs .
, led to the dissolving of all the western Canadian colonies by the end of World War II. Thereafter concentrating its work in the east, the Canadian JCA purchased farms or made loans to farmers in Ontario and Quebec:
in 1978, and the remainder of its documents (the "S" collection) there in 1989.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and other Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an countries, by settling them in agricultural colonies on lands purchased by the committee, particularly in North
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
(especially Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
).
History
Colonies were founded within the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in southern New Jersey
South Jersey
South Jersey comprises the southern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the lower Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation is a colloquial one, reflecting not only geographical but perceived cultural differences from the northern part of the state, with no official...
, Ellington, Connecticut
Ellington, Connecticut
Ellington is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. Ellington was incorporated in May, 1786, from East Windsor. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 12,921...
(Congregation Knesseth Israel), and elsewhere.
A Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Committee of the JCA was established in November 1906 to assist in the settlement of the thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Russia, and to oversee the development of all the JCA settlements in the country.
Colonies established prior to 1906
- SaskatchewanSaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
- Hirsch (1892)
- Qu'AppelleQu'Appelle, SaskatchewanQu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, is a small village and formerly in ecclesiastical terms a city, with considerable historic significance located on Trans-Canada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline, some east of the provincial capital of Regina.Qu'Appelle was for a time the terminus of the...
or LiptonLipton, Saskatchewan-See also:* List of communities in Saskatchewan* Villages of Saskatchewan-External links:********-Footnotes:...
(1901) - CuparCupar, Saskatchewan-See also:* List of communities in Saskatchewan* List of towns in Saskatchewan-External links:* *...
near Regina (1901) - EdenbridgeEdenbridge, SaskatchewanEdenbridge was a Jewish farming settlement northeast of Melfort.Its first residents came from Lithuania via South Africa.The name is an anglicization of Yid'n Bridge , for a nearby bridge over the Carrot River....
east of Prince Albert (1906) - Sonnenfeld west of Estevan (1906)
- Manitoba
- Bender Hamlet or NarcisseNarcisse, ManitobaNarcisse, Manitoba is a rural hamlet in the Rural Municipality of Armstrong, in the Interlake region , in the province of Manitoba. It was originally settled in 1914, two years after the arrival of the now defunct Canadian Northern Railway. The railway tracks were removed in the 1990s...
north of Winnipeg (1903)
- Bender Hamlet or Narcisse
- Quebec
- La Macaza (1904) north of Montreal
- Ste-Sophie (1904) north of Montreal
- Alberta
- TrochuTrochu, Alberta-Demographics:The population of the Town of Trochu according to its 2009 municipal census is 1,113.In 2006, Trochu had a population of 1,005 living in 450 dwellings, a 2.7% decrease from 2001...
(1906) halfway between Calgary and Edmonton - Rumsey (1906) halfway between Calgary and Edmonton
- Pine LakePine Lake-United States:Communities* Pine Lake, Georgia* Pine Lake, Wisconsin, a town* Pine Lake, Iron County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community* Pine Lake Township, Cass County, Minnesota* Pine Lake Township, Clearwater County, Minnesota...
(1892) near Red Deer, Alberta.
- Trochu
Colonies established after 1906
- ManitobaManitobaManitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
- Pine Ridge (1907) not far from Winnipeg
- Bird's HillBirds Hill, ManitobaBirds Hill is a community in the Canadian province of Manitoba located a few kilometers north east of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the Rural Municipality of East Saint Paul. The town is a few kilometers east of the Red River. A large property in the area was owned by James Curtis Bird, a retired Hudson...
(1911) east of Winnipeg - Camper or New Hirsch (1911) 150 kilometres north of Winnipeg
- SaskatchewanSaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
- Eyre (1910) near Alsask in Saskatchewan
- Montefiore (1911) near Alsask in Saskatchewan
- RosetownRosetown, Saskatchewan-History:On September 14, 1905, James and Anne Rose migrated from Lancashire, England to an area of Saskatchewan, Canada. They were the first settlers in the area now known as Rosetown. Later, in 1907, a group of people from the area, wanting a post office, made an application for one...
(1911) near the town of the same name in Saskatchewan.
The JCA also established two agricultural colonies in the first two decades of the 20th century in what now is Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. In 1891 JCA bought land near Izmir in Turkey and established an agricultural training center, Or Yehudah, on an area totaling 30 km² by 1902. The center was closed in 1926 owing to numerous difficulties. A group of Romanian Jews in Anatolia were assisted by JCA in the early 20th century to establish an immigration bureau in Istanbul in 1910. The JCA also bought land in the Asian part of Istanbul and founded Mesillah Hadassah agricultural colony for several hundred families. In 1928 the colonies were practically liquidated with only the immigration bureau remaining to assist migrants in transit to Palestine (see also: PICA
Palestine Jewish Colonization Association
The Palestine Jewish Colonization Association, commonly known by its Hebrew acronym PICA , was established in 1924 and played a major role in supporting the Yishuv in Palestine until its disbandment in 1957....
).
The JCA also established several colonies in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. One such colony is Colonia Lapin
Colonia Lapin
Colonia Lapin is a settlement located near the town of Rivera in the southwest region of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the Municipality of Adolfo Alsina.- History :Jewish immigrants founded Colonia Lapin on November 6, 1919...
founded in 1919 in the Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
. At least one colony was established in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, at Quatro Irmaõs .
Later colonies
Economic factors, notably the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, led to the dissolving of all the western Canadian colonies by the end of World War II. Thereafter concentrating its work in the east, the Canadian JCA purchased farms or made loans to farmers in Ontario and Quebec:
- Ontario colonies:
- Niagara PeninsulaNiagara PeninsulaThe Niagara Peninsula is the portion of Southern Ontario, Canada lying between the south shore of Lake Ontario and the north shore of Lake Erie. It stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario in the west. The population of the peninsula is roughly 1,000,000 people...
- Brantville-WoodstockWoodstock, OntarioWoodstock is a city and the county seat of Oxford County in Southern Ontario, Canada. Woodstock is located 128 km southwest of Toronto, north of Highway 401 along the historic Thames River...
region - SpencervilleSpencerville, OntarioThe village of Spencerville is a rural community located in Eastern Ontario, about 80 kilometres southwest of downtown Ottawa on Highway 416. The village lies within the amalgamated municipality of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal in the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.The twinning of former Highway 16...
-KemptvilleKemptville, OntarioKemptville is a community located in the Municipality of North Grenville in Southern Ontario, Canada in the northernmost part of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville...
region - BeamsvilleBeamsville, OntarioThe community of Beamsville is part of the town of Lincoln in the province of Ontario in Canada. It is located along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and lies within the fruit belt of the Niagara Peninsula...
region
- Niagara Peninsula
- Quebec
- Saint-HyacintheSaint-Hyacinthe, QuebecSaint-Hyacinthe is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 55,823. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérégie region, and is traversed by the Yamaska River which flows...
- Saint-DamaseSaint-Damase, QuebecSaint-Damase, Quebec may refer to:*Saint-Damase, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec, in La Matapédia Regional County Municipality*Saint-Damase, Montérégie, Quebec, in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality...
- Saint-Jean-BaptisteSaint-Jean-BaptisteSaint-Jean-Baptiste is a neighbourhood of Quebec City, the capital of the province of Quebec in Canada. It is known for its shopping and restaurants....
- FrelighsburgFrelighsburg, QuebecFrelighsburg, is a municipality located in the Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality, which is part of the administrative region of the Montérégie. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 1,030...
- Clarenceville
- Saint-Hyacinthe
Closure
The JCA Canadian Committee made no more loans after 1970 and ceased all legal existence in 1978. The JCA deposited the major part of its papers at the National Archives of the Canadian Jewish CongressCanadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
in 1978, and the remainder of its documents (the "S" collection) there in 1989.
See also
- TerritorialismTerritorialismTerritorialism, also known as Statism , was a Jewish political movement calling for creation of a sufficiently large and compact Jewish territory , not necessarily in the Land of Israel and not necessarily fully autonomous.-Development of territorialism:Before 1905 some Zionist leaders took...
- B'nai Brith CanadaB'nai Brith CanadaB'nai Brith Canada is the Canadian section of B'nai Brith . It was founded in 1875 and is the country's oldest Jewish service organization.-Members:...
- Canada-Israel CommitteeCanada-Israel CommitteeThe Canada-Israel Committee was the official representative of the organized Canadian Jewish community on matters pertaining to Canada-Israel relations....
- Canadian Jewish CongressCanadian Jewish CongressThe Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
- Canadian Jewish Political Affairs CommitteeCanadian Jewish Political Affairs CommitteeThe Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee , is a Canadian political organization.The Executive Director of CJPAC is Mark Waldman, who has been active with the organization since its establishment....
- Organization for Jewish Colonisation in the Soviet UnionOrganization for Jewish Colonisation in the Soviet UnionThe Organization for Jewish Colonization in Russia , commonly known by its transliterated acronym of ICOR, was a Communist-sponsored mass organization in North America devoted to supporting settlement in the Jewish socialist republic of Birobidzhan in the Soviet Union...
- Kolonja IzaakaKolonja IzaakaKolonja Izaaka was a small Jewish farming village in what is now Belarus, founded in 1849 through government land grants to 26 poor Jewish families for the purpose of engaging in agriculture. The settlement existed continuously until liquidated by the Nazis in November, 1942...