Jewish Quarter of Grozny - Misplaced Pages

Ethnic group

Jewish quarter of Grozny
הרובע היהודי של גרוזני
Еврейский квартал в Грозном
Total population
Grozny synagogue. 1910.
0
Languages
Hebrew (in Israel), Judeo-Tat, Russian
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Mountain Jews, Ashkenazi Jews.

The Jewish Quarter of Grozny, located in a former quarter in the central part of the city of Grozny, in the Russian Chechen Republic.

Geography

The area where Jews lived was in the center of the northern part of Grozny. On the right bank of the Sunzha River, within the Akhmatovsky district. The main streets of the district are Moskovskaya and Viktor Kan-Kalika, former Subbotniks.

History

"Jewish quarter" was a district where the Jewish community traditionally lived, one of the old quarters of Grozny. The first Mountain Jewish community moved to the area of the Grozny fortress in the second half of the 19th century from the trading village of Endirey in Dagestan. In pre-Soviet era, the Jewish quarter was called the Jewish suburb.

The quarter was also called the Red Jewish settlement, the district was so called because the roofs of the houses in this district were traditionally covered with red tiles, in contrast to the Cossack houses, which were covered with straw.

In 1869, Grozny was granted city status, and this affected the influx of new settlers into the district.

In 1866, 928 Jews lived in Grozny.
In 1869, 995 Jews.
In 1874, 1260 Mountain Jews, with a total city population of 8450 people.
In 1874, 1259 Jews, 14.9% of the total city population.
In 1890, 1594 Jews.
In 1897, 1711 Jews, 10.9% of the total city population.
In 1900, 2310 Jews, 14% of the total city population.
In 1910, 2474 Jews, 9.5% of the total city population.
In 1926, 2787 Jews, 2.9% of the total city population. Including 1475 Mountain Jews.
In 1939, 3992 Jews.
In 1970, 4791 Jews. Including 202 Mountain Jews, 13 Krymchaks and 2 Karaites.
In 1979, 3758 Jews, 1% of the total population of the city.

The main occupations of the community's residents were arable farming, gardening, cattle breeding, crafts, trade and leather tanning. In 1866, they owned 155 huts, 4 gardens and vineyards, and 27 shops.. The district consisted of several quarters. Later, the Belikovsky Bridge was built, connecting the settlement with the central part of the city, which influenced the economic development of the area.

Nikolai Kharuzin [ru] (1865-1900), Russian ethnographer, wrote about the life of Jews in Grozny in his article, Across the Mountains of the North Caucasus. Travel Essays. Vestnik Evropy, No. 10. 1888:

What do you see when entering Grozny? You pass a bridge: on the bridge stands a group of Mountain Jews who moved to Grozny from the mountains; even though the Mountain Jews left Palestine from time immemorial (long before the birth of Christ), they have retained the typical features of their compatriots living in Poland and Russia; a dark yellow complexion and sad black eyes. Having lived many centuries in the mountains, the Jews have not lost the commercial spirit inherent in their compatriots, and now they control the trade of Grozny and Nalchik. Some of the Jews wear European costume, others - cherkeskas. But life in the mountains has nevertheless left its mark on them: many of them are excellent horsemen and fearless horsemen.

In 1893, large oil deposits were discovered in Grozny, which led to the rapid development of the city. Ashkenazi Jews from central Russia began to arrive in Grozny. The first prayer house was built in 1875, and in 1902 it was replaced by a large domed synagogue, built of brick, located between the Persian mosque and the Mitnikov bathhouse. As of 1883, Grozny had 2 synagogues. The Ashkenazi synagogue was built in 1863, for Mountain Jews in 1865. Around 1928, by decision of the Soviet government, the synagogue was closed during the period of religious persecution. Later, the synagogue building was occupied by a music school.

The diaspora had its own separate quarter, which was destroyed during the Russian Civil War (1917–1922). Nevertheless, at this time, the Jewish colony of Grozny was expanding, and Jewish refugees from neighboring villages were flocking to the city. On the left side of the block was Kirov Park and the Baronovsky District, populated mainly by the Armenian diaspora, and on the right side of the block was an old tram line that ran through the entire block.

Some facts from the life of the Jews of Grozny:

In 1900, 13 children were learning the Talmud and Torah. Local Zionists were collecting money to establish a library.
In 1900, Matatyagu Bogatyrev from Grozny participated in the work of the 4th World Zionist Congress, in London.
In the early 1900s, the Poalei Zion organization operated in Grozny.
In 1906, a Mountain Jewish school with instruction in Russian was founded in Grozny. The first director of the school was an active participant in the Zionist movement in Grozny, Akim Ishayatovich Isakovich.
In 1909, 64 families from Grozny moved to Mandatory Palestine and founded a community of Mountain Jews in Jerusalem.
In March 1917, a group of Grozny Jews led by Ilya Anisimov appealed to the Jews of the Caucasus to hold a congress in support of the Russian Provisional Government.
In 1925, the director of the Jewish school, writer Zakoy Yukhanovich Khudainatov (1889-1939), came forward with the initiative to Latinize the Judeo-Tat language.
In the second half of the 1920s, a club for Mountain Jews operated in the building of the former synagogue.
In 1963, the synagogue was closed in Grozny.

On Subbotniks Street (former Belikovskaya) was the educational institution School No. 22. In the late 1980s, the population of the district was about 4 thousand people. With the beginning of the first and second wars on the territory of Chechnya, almost the entire Jewish population left Grozny, emigrated to Israel and to cities in Russia, primarily to the cities of the North Caucasus, not affected by the war, such as Mozdok, Vladikavkaz, Pyatigorsk, Stavropol.

References

Mountain Jews. Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia. October 17, 2019.
Kharuzin Nikolay Nikolaevich. Across the Mountains of the North Caucasus. Travel Essays // Vestnik Evropy, No. 10. 1888. Eastern Literature (2011). December 2, 2020.
Igor Semenov. Mountain Jews of the Northern Caucasus and Dagestan. berkovich-zametki. December 30, 2019.
My city Grozny | Information agency "Grozny-Inform." grozny-inform. May 18, 2018.
What do street names say? Shcherbakov N.G. groznycity. January 24, 2020.
^ Grozny. Russian Jewish Encyclopedia. July 2, 2024.
The illustrative series of the calendar - postcards from the beginning of the 20th century, reflecting the history, life and customs of the Mountain Jews, attributed and with commentary (in electronic form) - are presented from the book by E. N. Ulitsky "Mountain Jews in the Russian periodical press 1853-1917."
List of populated areas of the Terek region: According to information as of January 1, 1883. Vladikavkaz, 1885. elib. May 3, 2017.
Notes of a local historian - A. A. Vaksman. grozny.vrcal. September 14, 2019.
Adiz Kusaev. To the 140th anniversary of the city of Grozny. IA Chechnya Today (July 29, 2011). January 24, 2020.
Jewish communities of the North Caucasus. Caucasian Knot. October 31, 2023.
Golovlev Aleksey Alekseevich. Armenians of Grozny: a look into the past (on the 200th anniversary of the city’s foundation.) Regional development: electronic scientific and practical journal. 2017. Issue 6. January 15, 2020.

Literature

Satsita Israilova. Stories told by the temple: temples in the territory of Grozny // Archival Bulletin. - 2017. No. 5. ISSN: 978-5-6040381-2-3.
Judah Chorny. Mountain Jews // Collection of information about the Caucasian highlanders. Issue III. Tiflis, 1870.
Ilya Anisimov. "Caucasian Mountain Jews", 1888.
Kazakov A. I., "The City of Grozny". Popular essays and histories of Checheno-Ingushetia. Publ. 1984.
Elizarov Mikhail (Moisey) Shavadovich. Community of * Mountain Jews of Chechnya. Israel: Mirvori, 2012. p. 232.
Havan D. M, Cherny I. Ya. From the cultural past of the Caucasian Jews. Jews in Chechnya. Grozny: Publ. Book, 1992. p. 48.