colonists to work on them, a good proportion of the crop last autumn was a total loss, simply because there were not enough hands in the colonies to take this crop off the field. The situation became even more serious this spring, when the time for the spring sowing approached. It reached a point where the sowing could not be done, because there were not enough Jewish colonists to do it.
The spring sowing being endangered, many of the more daring administrators of the region came out openly with the suggestion to renounce the idea of having Kalinindorf a Jewish autonomous region. They suggested the settlement there of more non-Jews who, although forming the majority in the region, would at the same time do the work on the fields.
The idea of liquidating Kalinindorf as a Jewish region was regarded as a blow to the idea of Jewish autonomy which the Soviet authorities are propagating now in connection with Bira-Bidjan. The question was asked: If the oldest and best-settled autonomous Jewish region is to be liquidated, how can there be any talk of establishing a Jewish autonomous region anywhere?
The fear that the liquidation of Kalinindorf as a Jewish region will seriously affect the prestige of the entire Jewish colonization work in the Soviet Union has therefore led the Jewish Communist administrators of Kalinindorf region to the idea of experimenting with a new plan: the plan of attracting a new migration to Kalinindorf by announcing the region open for any Jew who wishes to settle there. It was made clear that no questions will be asked whether the new settler is a former merchant, whether he is one of the so-called declassed elements, or whether he is even a “lishenetz,” one who has no rights whatsoever.
A call for 2,000 new families for the spring sowing was therefore issued by the administration of the Kalinindorf region among the different townships in the Ukraine, where the Jewish population suffers a bread shortage. The bread shortage in the townships, it was expected, would stimulate many Jews to go on the soil.
The bread shortage in the townships did stimulate many hundreds of Jewish families to leave for Kalinindorf. About 1,900 Jewish families—the largest group ever colonized in one section—registered and came to Kalinindorf with the intention of setting there. They came, they saw, but did not remain. Finding the shortage of bread as acute in the Jewish colonies in Kalinindorf region as in the townships, the 1,900 newly arrived Jewish families immediately returned to their home towns. As between Kalinindorf and their old homes, they preferred to suffer lack of bread in their own townships.
The Kalinindorf Jewish region therefore still has the problem before it of how to attract new Jewish colonists to the region. Upon the solving of this problem depends Kalinindorf’s future status as a Jewish autonomous state.
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.
