The effort to carry on the work of settling Jewish transmigrates in the province of Bira-Bidjan, in the far eastern part of Russia, with a view of the territory becoming a “Jewish land” within the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, must be continued despite the difficulties encountered during the past year, A. Merezhin, Communist leader, reported to the plenary session of the Ozet, society for settling Jews on the land which sponsored the Bira-Bidjan project.
“Our chief aim in the Bira-Bidjan project is not merely to create a Jewish region similar to that in the district of Cherson, but a Jewish territory.” Merezhin stated in his report to the society. “The Far East Soviet officials as well as the Jewish settlers and everybody else view the development of a Jewish territory in Bira-Bidjan as a matter of course. I doubt if without the slogan ‘On to the Jewish land,’ the settlers would have come or remained, or whether the leaders would have gone there to begin the work. Hence, we must strengthen and not discard the slogan which aids in building our socialist fatherland.” he stated.
Mr. Merezhin also reported to the Ozet on the terms of the agreement which is soon to be concluded between the Soviet authorities and the American Jewish-Agro-joint concerning the extension of the Jewish settlement work in the Ukraine and Crimea, for which purpose the Rosenwald Fund of $10,000,000, toward which he subscribed $5,000,000, will be used. The Rosenwald Fund is not connected with the Bira-Bidjan project not is the Agro-joint associated in that undertaking.
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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.
