Question by Giner B: Why did the Russian Tsar kick out all the jewish communitys?
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Answer by !!!
He was an antisemite who blamed the Jews for all of Russia’s problems.
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Russian Life & People Digest
Leon B says
The Tsars initiated a number of pogroms in the 1800s, forcefully resettling entire communities. I don't think they forced any out of the country, though.
Why? It's irrational, isn't it? But then, rational thinking was never the strong suit of the Russian monarchy. Traditionally, the Russians were very religious, and very bigoted. Jews have never been very welcome in most parts of Europe, and the Russians were exercising traditional European anti-semitism. (As my father, who grew up around European immigrants, has told me: No one can hate like a European.) They often rationalized it as "giving it back to the Christ killers" or whatnot, but the real reason was they didn't like the Jews because they were outsiders of a different religion who avoided integrating.
Before we come down too hard on the Tsars, though, it should be remembered that Western Europe doesn't have too good a track record with the Jews either. In their day they didn't just move the Jews around: they evicted them from the entire country. That happened in England in 1292 (IIRC), France in the 1380s IIRC, and Spain in 1492.
Roderick F says
That never happened. Of course, Jews were forced to live in the Pale Settlement but many others escaped this segregation.