Odesa is the capital of the Odesa district, Ukraine. In the 19th century, it became the industrial and commercial center of southern Russia. In 1865 a university was founded. Odesa was an important center of the Russian revolutionary movement.
...
From the 1880s until the 1920s the Jewish community of Odesa was the second largest in the whole of Russia (after *Warsaw, the capital of Poland, then within czarist Russia) and it had considerable influence on the Jews of the country. The principal characteristics of this community, and responsible for its particular importance, were the rapid and constant growth of the Jewish population and its extensive participation in the economic development of the town, the outstanding "Western" character of its cultural life, and numerous communal institutions, especially educational and economic institutions, the social and political activity of the Jewish public, the mood of tension and struggle which was impressed on its history, and the Hebrew literary center which emerged there.
...
During the Soviet period, the Jewish population continued to grow: in 1926, 153,243 (of a total population of 420,862), and 200,981 in 1939 (out of 604,217). It was then the second largest Jewish population in Ukraine, after Kiev.
...
From the start, the Jews of Odesa engaged in retail trade and crafts. Their representation in these occupations remained important. In 1910, 56% of the small shops were still owned by Jews; they also constituted 63% of the town's craftsmen. Jewish economy in Odesa was distinguished by the role played by Jews in the export of grain via the harbor, in wholesale trade, banking and industry, the large numbers of Jews engaged in the liberal professions, and the existence of a large Jewish proletariat in variegated employment.
...
By 1838, Jews were well represented among the officials of the exchange, and as classifiers, sorters, weighers, and even loaders of grain. From the 1860s, however, Jewish enterprises won a predominant place in grain export and succeeded in supplanting the export companies of foreign merchants from their monopolist positions. During the early 1870s, the greater part of the grain exports was handled by Jews, and by 1910 over 80% of grain export companies were Jewish-owned, while Jews were responsible for almost 90% (89.2%) of grain exports.
...
Jews also held an important share of the wholesale trade; about one-half of the wholesale enterprises were owned by Jews in 1910. During the 1840s most of the bankers and moneychangers were Jews, and at the beginning of the 20th century, 70% of the banks of Odesa were administered by them.
...
The social and political awakening of the Jewish masses was also widespread in Odesa. Odesa Jews played an extensive and even prominent part in all trends of the Russian liberation movement. The Zionist movement also attracted masses of people.
...
From the inception of the *Ḥibbat Zion movement, Odesa served as its chief center. From here issued the first calls of M.L. *Lilienblum ("The revival of Israel on the land of its ancestors") and L. Pinsker ("Auto-Emancipation") which gave rise to the movement, worked for its unity ("Zerubbavel," 1883), and headed the leadership which was established after the *Kattowitz Conference ("Mazkeret Moshe," 1885–89). The *Benei Moshe society (founded by *Aḥad Ha-Am in 1889), which attempted to organize the intellectuals and activists of the movement, was established in Odesa. Odesa was also chosen as the seat of the settlement committee (the *Odesa Committee, called officially The Society for the Support of Agricultural Workers and Craftsmen in Syria and Palestine), the only legally authorized institution of the movement in Russia (1890–1917). Several other economic institutions for practical activities in Palestine (Geulah, the Carmel branch, etc.) were associated with it. Jewish emigration from Russia to Ereẓ Israel also passed through Odesa, which became the "Gateway to Zion."
The social awakening of the masses gave rise to the popular character of the Zionist movement in Odesa. It succeeded in establishing an influential and ramified organization, attracting a stream of intellectual and energetic youth from the townlets of the Pale of Settlement to Odesa – the center of culture and site of numerous schools – and provided the Jewish national movement with powerful propagandists, especially from among the ranks of those devoted to Hebrew literature.
...
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/odessa
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty
Connect With Us