| Scientific and
practical conference dedicated to the Day of memory of political repressions victims
was held in Karaganda on May 30. It was organized by the State archive of Karaganda
region in cooperation with the historical department of Karaganda State University.
It was Kazakhstan's present to national and cultural centers and other ethnic
organizations of the country. The coordinator of Hesed religious programs Alexander
Abramovitch presented his report "Life of some Jews in Karaganda during repressions".
In his speech Alexander Abramovitch told about repressions
in 30s that touched most of the Jewish population in the USSR. According to his
opinion there were some specific reasons for it:
"Changes
in socio-economic conditions of life in the USSR after the revolution
greatly harmed the Jewish population, because the fields that suffered most were
home craft and trade, in which most of Jews were engaged," - Alexander
Abramovitch said. "Unemployment made Jews migrate and try other professions
in the fields of industry, arts, science, and state machinery.
"Consequently,
they needed proper education, and Jewish parents did their best to give their
children the thing they were deprived of. As a result in 1929 the Jews were 13.5%
of the total number of students, and in 1936 - 18% of all Soviet postgraduate
students. According to the census of 1939, 26.8% of all the Jews received secondary
education, and 5.7% - higher education. Such progress allowed them to fill
prestige positions in developing industrial sphere, and first of all in the state
machinery."
The "new era" began on September
1, 1939, when Nazis attacked Poland. In August 1940 4 new countries joined the
USSR - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Moldavia. There were about 2.150.000
Jews living on the annexed territories. Later on many of them (voluntarily
as well as repressed) got to other parts of the USSR, including Kazakhstan and
particularly Karaganda.
written down
by Galina Goldberg
(following Alexander Abramovitch's report) |
