WI Soviets create "Birobidzhan" (Jewish Autonomous Oblast) in European SU?

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
WI instead of selecting Birobidzhan in the Far East as the site of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in 1928, the Soviets selected a site in Europe, preferably one with a large existing Jewish population.

I know there was some talk of Crimea or part of it, but I would propose an alternative, the strip of Belarus east of the Dnepr river. This border strip would cover about half the length or two-thirds the length of the frontier between the RFSR and Belarussian SR.

Why this area? Primarily because it sits over the old Moghilev Guberniya of the Romanov Empire, an area which according to maps of Europe in the 1880s had a higher concentration of Jewish population (13% or more). Most of the other areas with that high a percentage fell west of the 1921 Russo-Polish border.

(see map ihttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Juden_1881.JPG

Say this Moghilev J.A.O. gets organized as Birobidzhan was from 1928-1934. Is it more of a destination for Soviet Jews, unlike the distant and unpopular Birobidzhan? What is the long-range impact on popular and governmental anti-semitism in the USSR?

If it is present there, we still have a Hitler, WWII and Barbarossa, does the JAO's presence between Minsk and Smolensk act as a magnet to Hitler, causing him to favor Army Group Centre uber alles? It will suck for residents if the Germans occupy it. At the same time, might it have a higher concentration of partisan activity than other districts?
 
This JAO in eastern Belarus may well be more accessible, but I have no idea if it would be that much more likely to attract Jewish migrants. What was the economy of this part of Belarus like? If it was largely rural and poor, the JAO designation may do little to change this.

I do not see an increased concentration of Jews in Belarus doing much other than intensifying the pace of Nazi genocide, alas.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
What was the economy of this part of Belarus like? If it was largely rural and poor,

Well it had to be more urban, industrial, and infrastructured than the Soviet Far East, and there were some large towns/cities like Moghilev and Gomel in the region.
 

CaliGuy

Banned
Well it had to be more urban, industrial, and infrastructured than the Soviet Far East, and there were some large towns/cities like Moghilev and Gomel in the region.
Why not try picking an area with relatively few Jews such as Yaroslavl, though? After all, this could both give this Jewish autonomous oblast a lot of industry and--like the Jewish AO in the Far East--create an illusion of Zionism by giving the Jews a new, unexplored location for their AO.
 
Hard to see the Belarusians accepting a Jewish autonomous oblast in their lands. Then again, you don't ask Stalin why he does things, or he might think you have some ideas of your own. But yea, it's likely going to be a more prosperous, yet still nominally Jewish AO. A Jewish 'homeland' dropped in the most desolate part of Eurasia is as good as being sent to a gulag by Nazis. >_>

At least this one should do better in terms of standards of living.
 
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