How did one of the most persecuted communities in Europe end up shaping Russia from within—and then get blamed for its downfall? Today, we’ll unravel the complex and often tragic story of how Jews came to Russia, how they rose despite brutal discrimination, and how they became both scapegoats and symbols of success in Russian society. You’ll see how centuries of migration, state policies, and conspiracy theories created a paradox of envy, fear, and admiration that still echoes today.

How the Jews Ended Up in Russia

The Jews found their way to the territory of modern-day Russia through centuries of migration. Originally, Jews lived in the area now known as Israel, but the Romans expelled them, and over time, Jewish communities began to spread across North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

Christian rulers alternated between oppressing and welcoming Jews, depending on their need for trade and taxes. Polish kings and nobility often invited Jews from Central Europe to settle in the territories of modern Ukraine and Belarus, in an effort to speed up the economic development of these regions. In the 18th century, much of this land was incorporated into the Russian Empire, and the Polish and Lithuanian Jews became Russian subjects.

In 1791, the Russian Empire imposed the Pale of Settlement, restricting Jews to certain areas—this included the newly acquired Polish territories, large parts of Ukraine, including Crimea, and, later, Bessarabia (modern day Moldova), which became part of Russia in 1812.

The Origins of Russian Anti-Semitism

The Russian Orthodox Church, along with the state, viewed Jews as infidels and treated them with deep suspicion. Ironically, they never seemed to be bothered by the fact that Jesus Christ, his family, and disciples were Jews.

In the Russian Empire, Jews were not allowed to live outside the Pale of Settlement, but there were exceptions for some merchants, people with higher education, and retired military personnel. In 1850, a law was passed forbidding Jews to wear traditional Jewish clothing, and in 1887, a quota system was introduced for Jewish students seeking to enter schools and universities.

If a Jew wanted to rise in the Russian Empire, he had one opportunity: to obtain an excellent education and attempt to become an indispensable specialist. This led to many Jewish parents dedicating all their resources to enrolling their children in good schools and universities. The competition was fierce, and children were forced to study from dawn until night, but the result was clear: Jews gradually started settling in major cities and taking prominent positions.

This, however, led to social tension. For centuries, Jews were forbidden from owning land or holding state positions (except in the military). As a result, Jews had no choice but to engage in trade, which, in turn, sharpened their math skills, logical thinking, and expanded their networks.

The most profitable occupation was banking. Russian aristocrats were generally uninterested in financial matters and considered them beneath their dignity. Meanwhile, peasants and small craftsmen simply didn’t have the money. As a result, Jews filled a niche that, on one hand, no one wanted to occupy (up until the late 19th century), but on the other hand, provided a lucrative income that bred fierce envy.
Russians living in central Russia often only encountered Jews who were allowed to live outside the Pale of Settlement. These Jews were either merchants, financiers, or notable professionals like doctors and engineers. They were easily recognizable due to their appearance, which led to the perception that Jews were lucky, wealthy, and always helping their own, often at the expense of others.

The average Russian, living outside the Pale, had no idea that most Jews were extremely poor, suffering from systemic oppression by the government. Many of them worked as artisans or small traders—tailors, carpenters, shoemakers, and hatmakers, to name a few.

The Russian elite was overwhelmingly anti-Semitic. The nobility had lost their serfs, and their wealth quickly started to vanish because they didn’t understand money or business. Yet they still had to maintain a lavish lifestyle, so many of them borrowed money from Jews. The problem arose when it turned out that these loans had to be repaid, with interest. And why should a prince, a descendant of an old noble family, a favorite of the tsar and beautiful women, pay debts to a Jew who wasn’t even a Christian? Why was this prince always broke, with his property mortgaged a hundred times over, while some Jew seemed to have his finances in order? Perhaps he had dealings with the devil? Maybe he was into witchcraft? Or was he secretly trying to take over the Russian nobility and eventually all Christians?
Naturally, the issue of Jewish treachery was a hot topic in the men’s clubs and smoking rooms of aristocratic gatherings. Convincing the local poor that the Jews were “up to something” wasn’t hard. The poor hated the rich, but they feared their own landlords (who could have them whipped or exiled to Siberia), while a Jew—no matter how rich—couldn’t do anything to a true Orthodox Christian. So, the common people took great pride in destroying Jewish property whenever they could.

Moreover, among the Jewish youth who managed to move to the big cities, socialist ideas were very popular. Understandably, who wouldn’t want equality? However, this only led to accusations from the political police that they were troublemakers, seeking to overthrow the existing order. This, in turn, gave birth to the myth that Jews wanted to take over the world.

To make matters worse, troubling rumors began circulating from America. Well-informed sources claimed that all the wealthy people there were Jews, which seemed highly suspicious. Have you heard of the American Revolution? Have you heard that there’s no king or tsar in America? So who rules them? The Rothschilds! That’s who!

The authorities explicitly directed the public’s anger toward Jews, even printing fake pamphlets like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which outlined a supposed Jewish plan for world domination and the destruction of the Christian world. Over time, this document was reprinted millions of times and translated into many languages.

All of this led to pogroms, the emigration of Jews to the United States and Palestine, and the increased political engagement of Jewish youth, as they sought to defend their rights.

Political events only intensified matters. World War I broke out, followed by the February Revolution of 1917, which led to the abdication of the tsar and the official abolition of the Pale of Settlement. Picture this: in Poland, western Ukraine, and Belarus, there was war, and hundreds of thousands of Jews were forcibly displaced from the frontline western provinces. In 1917, a massive wave of refugees poured into the major cities. These were people who looked different from Russians, and this created the impression of an invasion. Additionally, food started disappearing from the cities, there was no work, and wealthy Jews sought to help their fellow refugees. And this was infuriating! Why should a Russian woman wait for hours in line for bread and get nothing, while a Jewish woman receives something from the benefactors? It was a bitter pill to swallow!

The Jews and the Bolshevik Revolution

By the early 1920s, distrust of Jews was widespread among the urban population of Russia. Many Bolsheviks were Jewish, and many of them found positions in regional government, positions that they could never have attained under the Tsar. In fact, many members of the Cheka (the Soviet secret police) were also Jewish. One of the main creators of the Soviet state, Leon Trotsky, was Jewish, and everything seemed to fit the prophecy from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. “They” had come and destroyed the Christian world. And the Bolsheviks did indeed start a campaign against Orthodox Christianity: churches were closed, priests were executed or exiled to Siberia, and attending a religious service could cost you your job. Additionally, the Bolsheviks openly declared that their goal was a World Revolution.

It seemed clear to many that this was the fulfillment of the great Jewish conspiracy to seize world power.

As a result, anti-Semitism became the unifying idea for the White movement, which tried to resist the Bolsheviks. The White generals wanted to restore the monarchy, some wanted to make Russia a democratic republic, while local national leaders dreamed of independence from Russia. Everyone was pulling in different directions and not particularly interested in helping each other. But one thing they all had in common was their hatred of Jews, and across all the territories occupied by the White Army, horrific Jewish pogroms were carried out. You can read more about this in my novel, Russian Treasures.

In the 1920s, the migration of Jews to the larger cities became widespread. Because education had always been highly valued in Jewish communities, many Jews held a significant advantage over the largely illiterate peasants who were migrating to the cities during the same period. After the Civil War, Russia faced a severe shortage of qualified personnel. Millions of specialists had emigrated, unwilling to live under the Bolsheviks. As a result, Jewish immigrants filled these vacant roles. The local population began to feel that “they were everywhere.”

Early Soviet Russia lived in poverty, and people began to feel that all their misfortunes were due to the Jews in government and leadership roles. Officially, the USSR was not supposed to have anti-Semitism, and the government tried to fight this phenomenon by talking about the social and religious roots of prejudice against Jews. However, in reality, anti-Semitism was widespread even among the Soviet elite.

And there were several reasons for this:

During this period, the Soviet government implemented the New Economic Policy (NEP), which allowed people to run small businesses that sometimes brought significant profits. Many Jews became Nepmen (private entrepreneurs) and thrived during the economic collapse, which naturally fueled jealousy and resentment.

Jews moved into sectors where they had not previously been allowed, such as agriculture, heavy industry, and the government apparatus. Moreover, they helped each other find jobs, as it had always been customary in Jewish communities. In a country suffering from mass unemployment, the public believed that only Jews had benefited from the revolution.

Another important feature of this period was that Jews became involved in the arts. The Ukrainian port city of Odessa, home to a large Jewish population, gave rise to many wonderful writers who contributed to Soviet literature. Jewish directors and actors were at the forefront of Soviet cinema, and Jewish painters played a significant role in the development of socialist realism.

At the same time, the state took every measure to assimilate Jews and sever their ties to religion. However, no exceptions were made for them. The party’s policy aimed to suppress all national cultures and create a new type of individual—a Soviet person.

Stalinist Purges and WWII

Before the Stalinist purges, many Jews held prominent positions in the higher echelons of the Soviet government, and many of them suffered during the repression. However, it remains unclear whether this was due to underlying anti-Semitism or if the purges were simply a consequence of the high number of Jews in leadership roles.

The authorities targeted all senior officials, regardless of their nationality, because it was a period of elite turnover. The old revolutionaries—of any background—were replaced by a new generation of bureaucrats, many of whom had risen from the lower classes and had been shaped by the Civil War.

During World War II, a new wave of anti-Semitism emerged. In the occupied territories, there were instances of pogroms and attacks on Jews. Poland, Western Ukraine, and the Baltic States came under German occupation, and Jewish communists—who had come to build socialism there—were targeted. Those who hadn’t managed to flee in time were often victimized by mobs that hated Bolsheviks as much as they hated Nazis.

But Jews also faced significant problems in the Soviet rear. They were accused of not serving in the army and instead trying to secure positions in warehouses, newspapers, and headquarters—anywhere but on the front lines. While these claims were not supported by statistics, people living in extreme stress found it impossible to prove otherwise. Unofficially, there were orders not to award Jews military honors or promotions in time.

The Nazis conducted a massive anti-Semitic propaganda campaign in the occupied territories, and it had its effect. After the liberation of these territories, pogroms erupted in many places, with the largest being the Kyiv Pogrom on September 7, 1945. Before the war, Jews made up about a quarter of Kyiv’s population, but under Nazi occupation, they had nearly disappeared. When they began to return from evacuation, they found that their rooms in communal apartments were already occupied by others, who were unwilling to vacate. This led to quarrels, sometimes escalating into violence or even murder.

After the War

Stalin did not view the end of World War II as a victory. His life’s goal was world revolution, and during the war, there was hope that the USSR could make it a reality. But in the end, Stalin only managed to bring Eastern Europe under his control, while the rest of the world remained under the influence of the Allied forces.

Relations with America quickly soured, and the Kremlin began a new wave of anti-Semitism, as Stalin believed that Jews were serving the interests of the United States. This led to a new round of repression, which targeted a number of political figures, doctors, and intellectuals.

Meanwhile, the state of Israel was established in Palestine, and Soviet Jews became increasingly interested in it. It was clear that in the USSR, there would be no equal rights for Jews. Of course, any hint of a desire to emigrate was seen by the authorities as an act of betrayal. After all, who would want to leave the freest country in the world? Only traitors.

After Stalin’s death, Soviet leaders began to express concerns that the number of Jews involved in intellectual work was far greater than their share of the population. In 1950, Soviet Minister of Culture Yekaterina Furtseva publicly stated that the number of Jewish students should be proportional to the number of Jewish miners.

In the following years, the problems of Zionism and anti-Semitism grew more intense. Initially, it was believed that Israel would support the Soviet Union in its Middle Eastern ventures, but in reality, Israel became an ally of the United States. The Soviet government systematically fueled hatred against Jews among Arabs, claiming that the US and Israel were imperialist countries completely controlled by rich Jews. What is happening today in the Middle East is largely a result of these efforts.

Exodus

Mass attacks on Jews, orchestrated from above, began in the mid-1960s, during a time when party-state anti-Semitism had effectively pushed Jews out of the political sphere. The USSR severed diplomatic ties with Israel and began treating Jews as second-class citizens once again. The situation reverted to the Tsarist era’s status quo: Jews faced restrictions on access to prestigious universities, employment in law enforcement, and positions involving foreign affairs—though, of course, these policies were unofficial.

Many Jews tried to obtain permission to emigrate, but they were denied and often fired from their jobs. Finding another job was extremely difficult, which automatically categorized them as idle, a status punishable by the criminal code.

Some were allowed to leave, but in the USSR, emigration to Israel was presented as though the person had become an agent of the Zionist military and had betrayed their homeland.

Nevertheless, Jewish activists initiated a broad effort to study Hebrew, Jewish history, and produce educational materials. In cities like Leningrad, Moscow, and Riga, hundreds of people were learning Hebrew in private homes.

In the 1970s, the policy on emigration was relaxed, but not because Soviet leaders suddenly became kind-hearted, but because they needed trade relations with the US, and America insisted on Jewish emigration. This led to the mass exodus of Jews, primarily to Israel and the US. But getting the documents to leave was extremely difficult. One had to have good connections or be willing to bribe. Slowly, Jews were allowed to leave, but they were forced to leave almost all their belongings behind.

My friend Yulia shared her experience of being a Jewish woman in late Soviet Russia. She lived in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and was deeply involved in Zionism. In their community, they often held celebrations, lectures on Jewish culture and history, and she attended them regularly. One day, she was called to the dean’s office at her university, where she was told that if she continued attending synagogue, she would be expelled. It turned out that someone from the KGB had been attending these events, making lists, and taking action.

After this, Yulia decided to leave the USSR. By this time, emigration laws had relaxed, and about two million Jews and their families left the Soviet Union. Yulia told me that by the late 1980s and early 1990s, all her Jewish friends were preparing to emigrate.

Currently, there are just over 80,000 Jews living in Russia. Anti-Semitism is still quite strong in Russia, but there are fewer objects of hatred now. It’s important to note that over the 20th century, many Jews married people of other nationalities, and the traditional Jewish appearance has largely been diluted among their descendants. A person might be named Ivan Petrov, look completely Russian, but consider himself Jewish—not by religion, as many Russian Jews have no connection to Judaism, but simply because they identify as such.

The last significant wave of Jews and their families moved to Israel after the start of the war in Ukraine. So, the complicated and often unhappy relationship between Russia and Jews is likely coming to an end and will soon fade away.

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