OZET
Encyclopedia
OZET was public Society for Settling Toiling Jews on the Land in the Soviet Union
in the period from 1925 to 1938. Some English sources use the word "Working" instead of "Toiling".
were trade and small crafts. After the October Revolution
, the Russian Civil War
and instability and devastation that followed, these traditional occupations withered. Dictatorship of proletariat, War Communism
and command economy were accompanied by persecution of those deemed class enemies or exploiters. As a result, in the early 1920s more than a third of the Jewish population of the USSR were officially counted as lishenets
, disenfranchised people. Significant part of the population of schtetls (a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until the Holocaust), in former Pale of Settlement
moved to big cities.
In order to resolve socio-economic difficulties of the Russian Jews and promote agricultural labor among them, on January 17, 1925 the CPSU formally created a government committee, the Komzet
, and a complementary public society, the OZET.
While the land for new kolkhoz
es was contributed and distributed by the Soviet government via the Komzet, the job of the OZET was assisting in moving settlers to a new location, housebuilding, irrigation, training, providing them with cattle and agricultural tools, education, medical and cultural services. The funds were to be provided by private donations, charities and lotteries
.
The OZET was headed by respected Old Bolshevik
s, not all of them Jewish: Yuri Larin, and later Semyon Dimanstein, and its board included such figures as Solomon Mikhoels
and Vladimir Mayakovsky
.
By the end of 1920s, there were 160 Jewish selsovets (rural councils) in Ukraine
, 29 in the Crimean peninsula (Crimea did not belong to Ukraine at the time), and 27 in Belarus
. In Ukraine, three Jewish national regions were created: Kalinindorf, Stalindorf and Novo-Zlatopol. Crimea had two: Freidorf and Larindorf.
The Jewish settlers were given around 5,000 square kilometres of land (not counting Birobidzhan
). The plan was to settle 500,000 "toiling Jews" in 10 years. In reality, from 1925 to 1937 only 126,000 were resettled, and only 53,000 of them stayed.
In Feb. 1928, the OZET's activity in the European part of the USSR was put on hold in favor of implementing the Birobidzhan project in the Russian Far East
and the JAO
was created.
efforts in the West. Almost uniquely in the history of the USSR, it officially declared that it was not politically or ideologically affiliated. In November 1925 it even passed a resolution declaring its neutrality towards Zionism
, officially branded as a bourgeois nationalist
movement.
Until the 1930s, OZET was often represented in Soviet pavilions at international exhibitions and fairs. This won the USSR many supporters in the West. One particular success was the film A Jew on the Land («Еврей на земле») directed by Abram Room
and authored by Mayakovsky and Viktor Shklovsky
.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
(Joint) alone contributed $25 million to the OZET, and established Agro-Joint, an organization specifically dedicated to the project. It is unclear how much of the collected funds was spent on further public relations
campaigns, diverted to other projects, or pocketed by the government bureaucracy in the USSR, but the settlers were frequently left without necessities and had to survive by improvising.
To increase the prestige of settling the Far East, the Soviet government raised the status of the autonomy and in 1934 JAO was declared an autonomous republic; the city of Birobidzhan
became its capital and was to become the center of Jewish culture.
s, intensive industrialization and militarization programs in the USSR required educated human resources and many Jews were able to find employment. On the other hand, collectivization in the USSR resulted in the failure of Soviet agriculture and many starving peasants of all ethnic backgrounds found escape in cities.
By mid-1930s, the OZET lost its usefulness. In 1937, its leadership and ranks were decimated in the Great Purge
and in May 1938 the agency was liquidated by special order by the Central Committee of the CPSU as a "corner of various counter-revolutionary Bundist elements, turncoats and spies". International contacts, including the Agro-Joint, were discontinued. During 1938, Jewish national regions, councils, and schools were shut down.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in the period from 1925 to 1938. Some English sources use the word "Working" instead of "Toiling".
Background
The principal sources of livelihood of the Jews in the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
were trade and small crafts. After the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
and instability and devastation that followed, these traditional occupations withered. Dictatorship of proletariat, War Communism
War communism
War communism or military communism was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921...
and command economy were accompanied by persecution of those deemed class enemies or exploiters. As a result, in the early 1920s more than a third of the Jewish population of the USSR were officially counted as lishenets
Lishenets
A lishenets , from Russian word лишение, "deprivation", properly translated in this context as a disenfranchised, was a person stripped of the right of voting in the Soviet Union of 1918 — 1936...
, disenfranchised people. Significant part of the population of schtetls (a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until the Holocaust), in former Pale of Settlement
Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement was the term given to a region of Imperial Russia, in which permanent residency by Jews was allowed, and beyond which Jewish permanent residency was generally prohibited...
moved to big cities.
Tasks and leadership
Komzet
Komzet was the Committee for the Settlement of Toiling Jews on the Land in the Soviet Union. The primary goal of the Komzet was to help impoverished and persecuted Jewish population of the former Pale of Settlement to adopt agricultural labor...
, and a complementary public society, the OZET.
While the land for new kolkhoz
Kolkhoz
A kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...
es was contributed and distributed by the Soviet government via the Komzet, the job of the OZET was assisting in moving settlers to a new location, housebuilding, irrigation, training, providing them with cattle and agricultural tools, education, medical and cultural services. The funds were to be provided by private donations, charities and lotteries
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
.
The OZET was headed by respected Old Bolshevik
Old Bolshevik
Old Bolshevik , also Old Bolshevik Guard or Old Party Guard, was an unofficial designation for those who were members of the Bolshevik party before the Russian Revolution of 1917, many of whom were either tried and executed by the NKVD during Stalin era purges or died under suspicious...
s, not all of them Jewish: Yuri Larin, and later Semyon Dimanstein, and its board included such figures as Solomon Mikhoels
Solomon Mikhoels
Solomon Mikhoels ; was a Soviet Jewish actor and the artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. Mikhoels served as the chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee during the Second World War...
and Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
.
Geography and membership
Unlike many Soviet organizations of the time, there was no requirement for a member to be of proletarian ancestry. By the time of its first assembly in Moscow in 1926, the OZET counted over 60,000 members. At its height in the 1930s, it reached 300,000, but in many cases the membership was mandatory and/or formal.By the end of 1920s, there were 160 Jewish selsovets (rural councils) in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, 29 in the Crimean peninsula (Crimea did not belong to Ukraine at the time), and 27 in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. In Ukraine, three Jewish national regions were created: Kalinindorf, Stalindorf and Novo-Zlatopol. Crimea had two: Freidorf and Larindorf.
The Jewish settlers were given around 5,000 square kilometres of land (not counting Birobidzhan
Birobidzhan
Birobidzhan is a town and the administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Trans-Siberian railway, close to the border with the People's Republic of China....
). The plan was to settle 500,000 "toiling Jews" in 10 years. In reality, from 1925 to 1937 only 126,000 were resettled, and only 53,000 of them stayed.
In Feb. 1928, the OZET's activity in the European part of the USSR was put on hold in favor of implementing the Birobidzhan project in the Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
and the JAO
Jewish Autonomous Oblast
The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated in the Russian Far East, bordering Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast of Russia and Heilongjiang province of China. Its administrative center is the town of Birobidzhan....
was created.
Propaganda and funding
In order to mobilize public opinion, the OZET undertook significant propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
efforts in the West. Almost uniquely in the history of the USSR, it officially declared that it was not politically or ideologically affiliated. In November 1925 it even passed a resolution declaring its neutrality towards Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, officially branded as a bourgeois nationalist
Bourgeois nationalism
Bourgeois nationalism is a term from Marxist phraseology. It refers to the alleged practice by the ruling classes of deliberately dividing people by nationality, race, ethnicity, or religion, so as to distract them from possible class warfare...
movement.
Until the 1930s, OZET was often represented in Soviet pavilions at international exhibitions and fairs. This won the USSR many supporters in the West. One particular success was the film A Jew on the Land («Еврей на земле») directed by Abram Room
Abram Room
Abram Room was aRussian film director.Room's best known film is Bed and Sofa . In the film, a woman who is married to a construction worker has an affair with their lodger. The film tracks the evolution of a housewife into a strong liberated woman, which was very unusual for its time...
and authored by Mayakovsky and Viktor Shklovsky
Viktor Shklovsky
Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky was a Russian and Soviet critic, writer, and pamphleteer.-Life:...
.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is a worldwide Jewish relief organization headquartered in New York. It was established in 1914 and is active in more than 70 countries....
(Joint) alone contributed $25 million to the OZET, and established Agro-Joint, an organization specifically dedicated to the project. It is unclear how much of the collected funds was spent on further public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
campaigns, diverted to other projects, or pocketed by the government bureaucracy in the USSR, but the settlers were frequently left without necessities and had to survive by improvising.
Birobidzhan project
The Birobidzhan project appeared in 1928. By 1932, out of 20,000 settlers only 7,000 remained and by 1938 the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO) hosted 20,000 Jews constituting 25% of total population.To increase the prestige of settling the Far East, the Soviet government raised the status of the autonomy and in 1934 JAO was declared an autonomous republic; the city of Birobidzhan
Birobidzhan
Birobidzhan is a town and the administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Trans-Siberian railway, close to the border with the People's Republic of China....
became its capital and was to become the center of Jewish culture.
Demise
The first five year planFive-Year Plan (USSR)
The Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the Soviet Union were a series of nation-wide centralized exercises in rapid economic development in the Soviet Union. The plans were developed by a state planning committee based on the Theory of Productive Forces that was part of the general...
s, intensive industrialization and militarization programs in the USSR required educated human resources and many Jews were able to find employment. On the other hand, collectivization in the USSR resulted in the failure of Soviet agriculture and many starving peasants of all ethnic backgrounds found escape in cities.
By mid-1930s, the OZET lost its usefulness. In 1937, its leadership and ranks were decimated in the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
and in May 1938 the agency was liquidated by special order by the Central Committee of the CPSU as a "corner of various counter-revolutionary Bundist elements, turncoats and spies". International contacts, including the Agro-Joint, were discontinued. During 1938, Jewish national regions, councils, and schools were shut down.
See also
- Organization for Jewish Colonisation in the Soviet Union (IKOR)Organization 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...
- Committee for the Settlement of Toiling Jews on the Land (KOMZET)KomzetKomzet was the Committee for the Settlement of Toiling Jews on the Land in the Soviet Union. The primary goal of the Komzet was to help impoverished and persecuted Jewish population of the former Pale of Settlement to adopt agricultural labor...
- History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet UnionHistory of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet UnionThe vast territories of the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest populations of Jews in the diaspora. Within these territories the Jewish community flourished and developed many of modern Judaism's most distinctive theological and cultural traditions, while also facing periods of...
- Jews and Judaism in the Jewish Autonomous OblastJews and Judaism in the Jewish Autonomous OblastThe history of the Jews in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast , Russia, began with the early settlements of 1928.Yiddish, along with Russian, are the two official languages in the JAO.-Early settlement:...
- American Jewish Joint Distribution CommitteeAmerican Jewish Joint Distribution CommitteeThe American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is a worldwide Jewish relief organization headquartered in New York. It was established in 1914 and is active in more than 70 countries....
Further reading
- Robert Weinberg. Stalin's Forgotten Zion. Birobidzhan and the Making of a Soviet Jewish Homeland: An Illustrated History, 1928-1996 (University of California Press, 1998)) ISBN 978-0-520-20990-9
- Jonathan L. Dekel-Chen. Farming the Red Land: Jewish Agricultural Colonization and Local Soviet Power, 1924-1941 (Yale University Press, 2005) ISBN 978-0-300-10331-1
External links
- OZET lottery posters and tickets featured in Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
's online exhibition "Stalin's Forgotten Zion: Birobidzhan and the Making of a Soviet Jewish Homeland." - Joseph Rosen's papers (1911-1943б bulk 1922-1938) Processed by Marek Web with the assistance of a grant from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Center for Jewish History)
- Up From the "Ash Heap"? A Lost Chapter of Interwar Jewish History by Jonathan Dekel-Chen (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) from Colombia Journal of Historography Great Jewish resettlement at Sem40 Soviet state policies of 1920s concerning the Jews Transformation of shtetl in the USSR in 1930s by E. Shkolnikova (Jewish heritage Society) OZET (Short Jewish Encyclopedia: КЕЭ, том 6, кол. 139–142)