Nadene Goldfoot
Peter the Great, reigned in Russia from May 7,1682 to February 8, 1725. Peter’s father, Romanov czar Alexis Mikhailovich, married twice. Both his wives bore him children, giving rise to a bitter and bloody succession struggle after his death.
Peter’s mother, Natalya Naryshkina, was Alexis’ second wife. Highly intelligent, Natalya was rare among Russian women for her European education. She also had a Karaite ancestor – one Naryshko of the Crimean Peninsula – about whom she was quite open. Karaites are a Jewish sect who reject the Oral Law and started in the 8th century in and around Persia. Those Jews had not accepted the discipline of the Babylonian gaonate.
Interestingly enough, all Romanov rulers after Peter remembered their descent from this gentleman, exercising tolerance toward the Karaite minority in both Crimea and Lithuania. Peter himself ignored his roots; the Karaite connection doesn’t seem to have affected his attitude toward Jews. Those who disliked him called him the antiChrist, making him to dislike Jews.
Peter had 2 wives and altogether, 14 children. "He took Martha Skavronskaya, a Polish-Lithuanian peasant, as a mistress some time between 1702 and 1704. Martha converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and took the name Catherine. Though no record exists, Catherine and Peter are described as having married secretly between 23 Oct and 1 December 1707 in St. Petersburg. Peter valued Catherine and married her again (this time officially) at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on 1712-02-19. She is known as Catherine I. In 1724 Peter had his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler. All of Peter's male children had died.
Catherine I was a Russian Empress. She ruled from 1725 to 1727, and in May 1727, expelled all Jews living in Little Russia (Belarus and Ukraine). This order was countermande after her death. She was the 2nd wife of Peter the Great b: 1712 who; died in 1725. When he died, she picked up the reigns. .
"Catherine was the first woman to rule Imperial Russia, opening the legal path for a century almost entirely dominated by women, including her daughter Elizabeth and granddaughter-in-law Catherine the Great, all of whom continued Peter the Great's policies in modernizing Russia. At the time of Peter's death the Russian Army, composed of 130,000 men and supplemented by another 100,000 Cossacks, was easily the largest in Europe. However, the expense of the military was proving ruinous to the Russian economy, consuming some 65% of the government's annual revenue. Since the nation was at peace, Catherine was determined to reduce military expenditure. For most of her reign, Catherine I was controlled by her advisers. However, on this single issue, the reduction of military expenses, Catherine was able to have her way."
Jews lived under Russian Czars throughout the 19th century and had to endure many a pogrom before escaping to such places as the USA and Palestine. The Nicholas Czars were all anti-Semitic.
Nicholas I reigned as Emperor in Russia from 1825 to 1855. He was also king in Poland next door, also the home of many Jews. He was also a Grand Duke of Finland. He was the grandson of Catherine the Great. He married Alexandra Feodorovna AKA Charlotte of Prussia and they had 7 children.
No wonder we had issues like the Bellis Affair happen. Menahem Mendel Beilis was a Russian Jew accused of ritual murder in Kiev in the Russian Empire in a notorious 1913 trial, known as the "Beilis trial" or "Beilis affair". The process sparked international criticism of the antisemitic policies of the Russian Empire. The Beilis trial took place in Kiev from September 25 through October 28, 1913. The Beilis case was compared with the Leo Frank case in which an American Jew was convicted of raping and murdering 13-year-old Mary Phagan. After his acquittal, Beilis became an enormous hero and celebrity.
In World War I, many Jews felt they could improve their position in society if they contributed to defending Russia. Over 400,000 were mobilized and 80,000 served on the front lines. Despite this, when the Russian army faced defeat, anti-Semitic commanders blamed Jewish populations. Jews were accused of treason and spying for the Germans, with some Jews being kidnapped and tried for espionage. After their trials, mass expulsions of Jews living near the front lines were organized, with Jews being expelled from Courland and northern Lithuania in 1915. One month later, the printing of Hebrew characters was forbidden.
Peter’s mother, Natalya Naryshkina, was Alexis’ second wife. Highly intelligent, Natalya was rare among Russian women for her European education. She also had a Karaite ancestor – one Naryshko of the Crimean Peninsula – about whom she was quite open. Karaites are a Jewish sect who reject the Oral Law and started in the 8th century in and around Persia. Those Jews had not accepted the discipline of the Babylonian gaonate.
Interestingly enough, all Romanov rulers after Peter remembered their descent from this gentleman, exercising tolerance toward the Karaite minority in both Crimea and Lithuania. Peter himself ignored his roots; the Karaite connection doesn’t seem to have affected his attitude toward Jews. Those who disliked him called him the antiChrist, making him to dislike Jews.
Peter had 2 wives and altogether, 14 children. "He took Martha Skavronskaya, a Polish-Lithuanian peasant, as a mistress some time between 1702 and 1704. Martha converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and took the name Catherine. Though no record exists, Catherine and Peter are described as having married secretly between 23 Oct and 1 December 1707 in St. Petersburg. Peter valued Catherine and married her again (this time officially) at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on 1712-02-19. She is known as Catherine I. In 1724 Peter had his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler. All of Peter's male children had died.
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| Catherine I b: April 15, 1684 in Estonia, actuallyPolish: Marta Helena Skowrońska, later known as Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya, a Roman Catholic peasant d: May 17, 1727 in Russia |
"Catherine was the first woman to rule Imperial Russia, opening the legal path for a century almost entirely dominated by women, including her daughter Elizabeth and granddaughter-in-law Catherine the Great, all of whom continued Peter the Great's policies in modernizing Russia. At the time of Peter's death the Russian Army, composed of 130,000 men and supplemented by another 100,000 Cossacks, was easily the largest in Europe. However, the expense of the military was proving ruinous to the Russian economy, consuming some 65% of the government's annual revenue. Since the nation was at peace, Catherine was determined to reduce military expenditure. For most of her reign, Catherine I was controlled by her advisers. However, on this single issue, the reduction of military expenses, Catherine was able to have her way."
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| Peter III"Peter III was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was born in Kiel, Germany as Charles Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, the only child of Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and Anna Petrovna.Nature had made him mean, the smallpox had made him hideous, and his degraded habits made him loathsome. And Peter had all the sentiments of the worst kind of small German prince of the time. He had the conviction that his princeship entitled him to disregard decency and the feelings of others. He planned brutal practical jokes, in which blows had always a share. His most manly taste did not rise above the kind of military interest which has been defined as "corporal's mania," the passion for uniforms, pipeclay, buttons, the "tricks of parade and the froth of discipline." He detested the Russians, and surrounded himself with Holsteiners. It was arranged for Peter to marry his 2nd cousin, Sophia Augusta Frederica (later Catherine the Great), daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Princess Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. The young princess formally converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took the name Ekaterina Alexeievna (i.e., Catherine). They married on 21 August 1745. The marriage was not a happy one but produced one son, the future Emperor Paul, and one daughter, Anna Petrovna (20 December 1757 – 19 March 1759). Catherine later claimed that Paul was not fathered by Peter: that, in fact, they had never consummated the marriage. During the sixteen years of their residence in Oranienbaum, Catherine took numerous lovers, while her husband did the same in the beginning." Seems she took her frustrations out on us Jews. |
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| Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland) AKA Catherine II, known to her people as Catherine the Great Antisemite most well known to today's Jews who created the Pale of Settlement, which forced Jews out of Russia and into nearby land she owned. She had married Peter III
She came to power following a coup d'état that she organised—resulting in her husband, Peter III, being overthrown.
combination of liberalism and coercion. On the one hand, Jews were allowed to register in the merchant and urban classes in 1780 but permission was restricted to White Russia in 1786. This marked the beginning of the Pale of Settlement. During her last years, which were marked by reaction in 1789 to 1796, she prevented the extension of Jewish settlement and in 1795, prohibited Jewish residence in Rural areas.
Russia often treated Judaism as a separate entity, where Jews were maintained with a separate legal and bureaucratic system. Although the government knew that Judaism existed, Catherine and her advisers had no real definition of what a "Jew" is, since the term meant many things during her reign. Judaism was a small, if not nonexistent, religion in Russia until 1772. When Catherine agreed to the First Partition of Poland, the large new Jewish element was treated as a separate people, defined by their religion. In keeping with their treatment in Poland, Catherine allowed the Jews to separate themselves from Orthodox society, with certain restrictions. She levied additional taxes on the followers of Judaism; if a family converted to the Orthodox faith, that additional tax was lifted. Jewish members of society were required to pay double the tax of their Orthodox neighbours. Converted Jews could gain permission to enter the merchant class and farm as free peasants under Russian rule.
In an attempt to assimilate the Jews into Russia's economy, Catherine included them under the rights and laws of the Charter of the Towns of 1782. Orthodox Russians disliked the inclusion of Judaism, mainly for economic reasons. Catherine tried to keep the Jews away from certain economic spheres, even under the guise of equality; in 1790, she banned Jewish citizens from Moscow's middle class.
In 1785, Catherine declared Jews to be officially foreigners, with foreigners' rights. This re-established the separate identity that Judaism maintained in Russia throughout the Jewish Haskalah. Catherine's decree also denied Jews the rights of an Orthodox or naturalised citizen of Russia. Taxes doubled again for those of Jewish descent in 1794, and Catherine officially declared that Jews bore no relation to Russians.
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| Nicholas Pavlovich Romanov Emperor Nicholas I of the Romanav Dynasty, b: July 6, 1796; d: March 2, 1855 The man was 6'9" tall. |
Nicholas I reigned as Emperor in Russia from 1825 to 1855. He was also king in Poland next door, also the home of many Jews. He was also a Grand Duke of Finland. He was the grandson of Catherine the Great. He married Alexandra Feodorovna AKA Charlotte of Prussia and they had 7 children.
Life of Jews under Nicholas I of Russia
In 1851 the Jewish population numbered at 2.4 million with 212,000 of them living in Russian controlled Poland territory. This made them one of the largest inorodtsy minorities in the Russian Empire.
He aimed at assimilating the Jews by police methods.
On 26 August 1827 the edict of military conscription ("Ustav rekrutskoi povinnosti") was introduced, which required Jewish boys to serve in the Russian military for 25 years from the age of 18. Before that many of them were forcibly conscripted into Cantonist schools since the age of 12, while being a Cantonist did not count into the time of military service. They were sent far away from their families to serve in the military so they would have difficulties to practice Judaism and thus be Russified. The poor, village Jews and Jews without families or unmarried Jews were especially targeted for the military service. Between 1827 and 1854 it is estimated that there were 70,000 Jews conscripted. Some of the Jews who served in the Russian military eventually converted to Christianity.
By 1844, the Jewish community organization was abolished and secular government schools were introduced. The Jewish costume was forbidden in 1850. Intellectual life was strictly supervised. Converts to Christianity were granted several years exemption from taxation.
Under Nicholas I, the Jewish agricultural colonisation of Ukraine continued with the transfer of Siberian Jews to Ukraine. In Ukraine, Jews were given land, but had to pay for it, leaving very little to support their families. On the other hand, these Jews were exempt from the forced military conscription.
Under Nicholas I there were attempts to reform the education of the Jews in attempt of Russification. The study of the Talmud was disapproved as it was seen as a text that encouraged Jewish segregation from Russian society. Nicholas I further toughened censorship of the Jewish books in Yiddish and Hebrew by allowing these to be printed only in Zhitomir and Vilna, Lithuania.
Tsar Nicholas I aimed to destroy Jewish life, and his reign is remembered as one of the most
painful episodes for European Jewry. In 1825, Tsar Nicholas ordered the conscription of all
Jewish males into the Russian imperial military beginning at age 12. In Jewish diasporal
communities hailing from the Russian Empire, the 19th century is often recalled as a time
where Jews were forced to the front lines of the army and used as "cannon fodder". Jews
were forbidden from becoming officers. Many of the boys forced into the military were
captured by "snatchers" (khapers). Jewish agricultural communities in more Southern
areas were often exempt as the Russian government liked to encourage agriculturalism among
Jews, while other communities that were exempted were often expelled from their towns
and villages.
Tsar Nicholas I aimed to destroy Jewish life, and his reign is remembered as one of the most
painful episodes for European Jewry. In 1825, Tsar Nicholas ordered the conscription of all
Jewish males into the Russian imperial military beginning at age 12. In Jewish diasporal
communities hailing from the Russian Empire, the 19th century is often recalled as a time
where Jews were forced to the front lines of the army and used as "cannon fodder". Jews
were forbidden from becoming officers. Many of the boys forced into the military were
captured by "snatchers" (khapers). Jewish agricultural communities in more Southern
areas were often exempt as the Russian government liked to encourage agriculturalism among
Jews, while other communities that were exempted were often expelled from their towns
and villages.
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| Alexander I of Russia reigned from 1801 to 1825. born 23 December 1777; d: December 1, 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg,Germany. On 9 October 1793, Alexander married Louise of Baden, known as Elizabeth Alexeievna after her conversion to the Orthodox Church. He later told his friend Frederick William III that the marriage, a political match devised by his grandmother, Catherine the Great, regrettably proved to be a misfortune for him and his spouse. His 1st Jewish policy was a liberal one, and during his reign, the 1st Jewish agricultural colonies were established in S. Russia. His ultimate goal, however, was not the amelioration of the position of the Jews, but the undermining of their religious individuality. He changed his approach later, and imposed restrictions on the Jews and ordered their expulsion from many regions in Russia. With his mental health deteriorating, Alexander grew increasingly suspicious of those around him, more withdrawn, more religious, and more passive. Some historians conclude his profile "coincides precisely with the schizophrenic prototype: a withdrawn, seclusive, rather shy, introvertive, unaggressive, and somewhat apathetic individual" |
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| Son Alexander II of Russia reigned from 1855 to 1881. Born April 29, 1818; assassinated: March 13, 1881. At the beginning of his reign, he eased up some of the anti-Jewish decrees of his father, Nicholas I, and this was encouraging to the Jews in hope for emancipation. But, towards the end of his reign, an anti-Semitic tendency was running through the palace as well which won out. Long-standing repressive policies and attitudes towards the Jews were intensified after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II on 13 March 1881. This event was wrongly blamed on the Jews and sparked widespread Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire, which lasted for three years, from 27 April 1881 to 1884. |
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| Alexander III reigned from 1881 to 1894. At 6'3", his reign is remembered for his harsh anti-Jewish measures including the MAY LAWS, expulsions from villages and from Moscow, and widespread pogroms and anti-Semitism in universities. This caused mass Jewish emigrations to the West and a fillip to the Zionist movement in Russia to return to Palestine (Israel). The 1st aliyah (return) was in 1880. |
Alexander III; 10 March 1845 – 1 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death on 1 November 1894.He was highly reactionary and reversed some of the liberal reforms of his father, Alexander II. Under the influence of Konstantin Pobedonostsev (1827–1907) he opposed any reform that limited his autocratic rule. Tsar Alexander III (1881-1894) was hostile to Jews; his reign witnessed a sharp deterioration in the Jews' economic, social, and political condition.
The Warsaw pogrom of 1881 worsened Polish-Jewish relations, and was criticized by some members of the Polish elite. Historian Michael Ochs notes that period from 1863 to 1881 was witnessing the increase of anti-Semitism in the Russian-controlled Poland.
They banned Jews from inhabiting rural areas and shtetls (even within the Pale of Settlement) and restricted the occupations in which they could engage. The Russian imperial police strictly applied the anti-Semitic discriminatory laws, while the Russian media engaged in unrestrained anti-Semitic propaganda. In 1891, all Jews were systematically expelled from Moscow. These repressions embittered many Jews against Russian society, convincing many that Russia could no longer be their home.
The Tsar's minister Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev stated the aim of the government with regard to the Jews was that "One third will die out, one third will leave the country and one third will be completely dissolved in the surrounding population". The pogroms and the repressive legislation resulted in the mass emigration of Jews to western Europe and America. Between 1881 and the outbreak of the First World War, an estimated 2.5 million Jews left Russia - one of the largest group migrations in recorded history.
After the Pesach pogrom of 1903, pogroms became the official policy of the Russian Empire, and the anti-Semitic terror reached its peak in October 1905.
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| Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov Emperor Nicholas II b: May 18, 1868; d: July 17, 1918 His wife was also Alexandra Feodorovna AKA Alix of Hesse (German). They were married in 1894. |
Nicholas II, was the last emperor of Russia and reigned from November 1,
1894 to March 15, 1917. He was forced to abdicate and then the whole family
was murdered, a plot that made movies and books as well as now on Netflix.
A girl was found with amnesia, saying she was the last child of the family,
Anastasia, which turned out to be false.
Nicholas continued the harsh policies of his father, Alexander III
toward the Jews.
Severe pogroms occurred in 1903 to 1907, and the notorious Beilis trial took
place in 1913. When his premier, Stolypin, presented a plan affording some relief
to the Jews, Nichals replied: "As long as I am czar, the Jews of Russia shall
not receive equal rights." With his family, he was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks at that time, exiled to Siberia, and executed the following year in July 1918.
In World War I, many Jews felt they could improve their position in society if they contributed to defending Russia. Over 400,000 were mobilized and 80,000 served on the front lines. Despite this, when the Russian army faced defeat, anti-Semitic commanders blamed Jewish populations. Jews were accused of treason and spying for the Germans, with some Jews being kidnapped and tried for espionage. After their trials, mass expulsions of Jews living near the front lines were organized, with Jews being expelled from Courland and northern Lithuania in 1915. One month later, the printing of Hebrew characters was forbidden.
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
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