alternatehistory.com

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?
Top