Discrimination against Jews is experienced by Jewish applicants for settling on the land, in spite of resolutions and instructions of the Central Soviet authorities. In many places instructions are being ignored by the local Soviet authorities. Every applicant must fill out a questionaire which contains the question, “What was your previous occupation?” As soon as a Jewish applicant answers this question truthfully that he was a merchant or trader, his chance is lost. The administrative authorities declare that “to certain traders and speculators no land can be allowed.”
As an example, in the town of Vologuzolovo, District of Balta, Government of Odessa, there are two Farmers’Cooperative Leagues, one of Russian peasants, the other of Jewish peasants. While the Russian Farmers’ League receives continuous attention and is supplied with land, implements, credit and facilities, the Jewish farmers’ requests are rejected. When a representative of the Jewish farmers, Mr. Schich, came to Balta to ask for a truck on credit, he was refused.
On another occasion, when a convention of the peasants’ cooperative associations in the district of Balta was arranged, the Jewish farmers were not invited to participate.
In the town of Troyatzkaya, District of Odessa, two Jewish families, asking for an allotment of land, were refused with this statement, “The soil is to be given to persons more preferable than former traders.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
