More than 10,000 Jewish and non-Jewish peasants left their field work today to walk miles to witness the ceremonies in the old Jewish colony of Islutschista, officially opening the third Jewish autonomous region in Ukrainia. Decorated with red flags that waved from every roof and with a huge dais in the center of the colony the great crowd of old and young that assembled from the neighboring villages presented a coloroful picture.
The speakers included A. Merezhin, a leader of the Comzet, government department for settling the Jews on the land, other officials from Moscow, and representatives of the Ukrainian and Central Soviet governments. The new autonomous Jewish region embraces nine Jewish and two Ukrainian village soviets with a population of 9,000 Jews and 4,000 Ukrainians. It is situated in the Krivorog district and consists of old pre-war Jewish colonies and new Agro-Joint colonies.
The district is near two railway lines and not only has it good agrarian prospects but it is also an industrial center, having many flour mills, 3 oil factories, and 8 swiss cheese plants in the region of which Islutchista is the center. In the course of his remarks Merezhin said that the region was 90 percent collectivized.
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