Y. Karpenkina_Summary (Советизация еврейского населения Западной Белоруссии (1939-1941 гг.)), страница 5

The change in social and material position of the Jews in Western BelorussiaAs mentioned in the previous paragraph, in the period between 1939 and 1941 many localJewish tradesmen and craftsmen in Western Belorussia continued their business by following thesetwo paths: joining the cooperative production societies (artels) or individually by holding thepatent. Undoubtedly, the number of Jewish individual tradesmen and craftsmen was decreasing atthat time because of a high tax duty. However, it does not mean that all of them have stopped theiractivity by 1941.Besides, a lot of Jewish tradesmen and craftsmen coped to get a position in some stateinstitution. Thus, they managed to increase their social status and material benefits in terms of a19regular income.

In fact, the Jews did not have any competitors while applying for the positions inthe Soviet bureaucratic institutions, especially because the new authority did not trust Poles, whilethe educational and literacy levels of Belarusians were usually lower.The Jews-refugees were the most unemployed category of the Western Belorussian populationfrom 1939 to 1941. Although the Soviet government took some measures to resolve this plight, itdid not provide any substantial support.In conclusion of the third chapter I underlined that the Soviet reforms in economics of thenewly-annexed region led to the economic collapse insofar as the absolute majority of the localpopulation have been driven to poverty.

After the annexation, the main feature of the local marketbecame not production, but rather reselling (just like it was in the USSR). Not only the so called“professional dealers” were involved, but even common civilians started speculating andsmuggling in Western Belorussia it that period.

There were many Jews in both categories. Ingeneral, the economic problems caused social tension among Western Belorussian population. Itwas one of the main factors which used to restrain significantly the Sovietization of the locals.It is well-known fact that the Soviet economic policy was contradicting the lifestyle oftraditional Jewish shtetl. Indeed, the Eastern Polish Jewry potentially was the first victim of theSoviet economic reforms. However, in 1939-1941 many of the local Jews were able to continuetheir craft working at the factory, in artel or in private sector.

The general level of education andprofessional skills of the Jewish population allowed many of them to get a promotion for the Sovietpositions in the state bureaucracy institution or, at least, begin an illegal trade at the “black market”.Both of that helped Jews to adapt faster to new social and economic conditions.Chapter 4 “Soviet way of life in western regions of the BSSR” includes five paragraphs:§ 1. The Passportization of Polish Jews20This paragraph observes the governmental measures on issuing passports to all former Polishcitizens living in Western Belorussia. The paragraph highlighted that in this particular context thepassportization did not merely regulate the status of the civilians in the newly-annexed region, butit also used to control the migration and to revise the social contingent of the Borderlands.Thousands of locals received passports restricting their freedom to choose the residence place.

So,for many of them the passportization caused a crucial change of lifestyle and imposed the placeof residence. Among these persons were many Jews who received a passport “with the restrictions”because of their “unreliable” social background or/and a refugee status.§ 2. “Housing problem” and the Jewish populationThis paragraph analyzes how the housing situation in Western Belorussia caused situations ofcritical over-population in the region.

The most careful attention was paid to the “densification”(uplotnienie) as a measure of resolving the housing shortage. Moreover, the paragraph alsoobserves how the phenomenon of close neighborhood among locals and vostochniki wasintensified by the uplotnienie policy.The crucial issue of the “housing problem” (the so called kvartirnyi vopros in Russian) triggeredthe harsh struggle for living space, mainly in cities. In the paragraph, this phenomenon is carefullyanalyzed on the example of Białystok where this struggle was especially brutal. Since more than70 percent of all local Jews used to live in cities, I argue that they were in the very core of the“housing problem”.§ 3.

Membership of Jews in the Soviet youth and professional unionsKomsomol and Pioneer organizations used to deal with the Sovietization of youth in WesternBelorussia. The paragraph emphasized that membership in the Soviet youth organizations for thefirst time provided young Jews with the opportunity to participate equally in social and politicalinitiatives.21It was mentioned above that in the winter of 1940-1941 a revision in the local administrationresulted in the mass dismissal of local Jews. Similar situations were in the youth unions where agreat part of the local Jewish youth having an “unrelible” background was declared as personsenrolled “by mistake”. Nevertheless, during this period, the percentage of Jews in thoseorganizations remained quite significant.Furthermore, in December 1939 the Soviet authority started to set up trade unions in WesternBelorussia; and the Jewish population was active enough in the trade union movements as well asin the Soviet industrial competition.§ 4.

Jewish religious institutions and the campaign against religious remnantsIn this paragraph, I argue that Judaism in the period between 1939 and 1941 in WesternBelorussia was in the same position as other local confessions. Although the new authority did notforbid religion in the given years, an aggressive antireligious campaign was carried on. This policyincluded: shuttering of religious schools, massive antireligious propaganda, seizure of religiousestates (such as the synagogues), liquidation of religious literature and high taxation of synagoguesand rabbis’ activities. Thus, the local administration set up extremely unfavorable conditions forpreserving and developing religious institutions. As a result, the observation of religious ritesbecame a part of home life sphere.The Soviet antireligious policy reached some success: bigger one – among the youth andsmaller – among elder generation.

Although there was not a total eradication of the religiousnessamong the Jewish population, the paragraph underlines that in 1939-1941 the influence of theSoviet life style has increased dramatically.§ 5. Participation of Western Belorussian Jews in Soviet cultural eventsOne of the main types of propaganda in the newly-annexed region was holding free culturalevents which had different forms: artistic and sport competitions, film representations, concertsand parties and different types of amateur performance. In the period under review, there were22many theatre troupes among which several were Jewish. Acting exclusively in Yiddish, thesetroupes were quite popular among the Jewish population.

Besides, the local Yiddish writers wereactively involved into the cultural process: i.e. they frequently used to perform at the Sovietholidays, read their works on the radio in Yiddish programs, perform for Jewish youth etc. Ingeneral, the cultural life in the annexed region between 1939 and 1941 was quite active and widelyavailable. Due to that, the Jewish youth was especially perceptive to the Soviet propaganda.The conclusion of fourth chapter emphasized that the measures on resolving a range of socialproblems connected with the over-population (passportization, obligatory registration,uplotnienie, regulating living quarters etc.) have conversely increased the mass social tension.Overall, the hard situation in the housing sector, as well as the involuntary passportization process- where irregularities were registered – ended up disappointing the whole Western Belorussianpopulation, including local Jews.The Soviet measures in cultural sphere were much more effective.

Particularly, the Jewishyouth was actively involved into diverse cultural events. And even despite some negative aspectsof Komsomol and Pioneer unions’ work, propaganda among young population of WesternBelorussia (especially among Jews) had a remarkable evolution. Moreover, in the period between1939 and 1941 in Western Belorussia a gradual destruction of the religious institutes and anincrease of influence of the Soviet secular lifestyle was enforced.ConclusionThere are no specific documents recording principles of the Soviet policy towards WesternBelorussian Jewish population in the period between 1939 and 1941.

However, the general logicof the real actions of the Soviet authority allows to reconstruct a trend and the peculiarities of theSovietization of local Jews. Moreover, the authority’s logic also shows that in 1939-1941 the23national policy in relation to Jews have been carried out according to the principals that had been“tested” in Eastern Belorussia and in the other “old” Soviet regions in the 1920-1930s.Among the local Jewry there were diverse subgroups differed in social status, level ofsecularization, acculturation etc. Therefore, the Jewish reaction to the Red Army invasion variedfrom enthusiasm to fear and despair. However, the further events in most cases made themdisappointed in the Soviet rule.The main reasons of this disillusionment were the unpopular - and mostly unsuccessful -Sovieteconomic reforms that had been carried out in the newly-annexed region in the given period.

Thereforms also trigged the social aggravation in the Borderlands. Concerning this point, we cannothelp but agreeing with Gross that the Soviet policy in Eastern Poland brought hard social traumato local population.27However, not all reforms of the new authority can be considered as unsuccessful. The Sovietpolicy in cultural sphere, being quite ideological and not always implemented successfully, hadcertain popularity among locals. In fact, the Soviet cultural policy has managed its goals, formingintended state of mind while legitimizing the Soviet authority.

Especially the school reform waspopular among Western Belorussian Jews. Because of it, Jewish children and youth received equalopportunities in obtaining the desired level of education.Despite certain peculiarities, the Sovietization of the Jewish population did not differ from thesame policy towards other groups of the entire annexed region. However, these “Jewish”peculiarities were presented mainly as the consequences of the Sovietization for the local Jews forwhich this policy opened a “window of opportunities” for the first time.