The proclamation of Biro-Bidjan as an autonomous Jewish region was hailed in the Soviet press today as “historical, and particularly so in the face of the enormous wave of anti-Semitism sweeping most European countries.”
Biro-Bidjan is a territory in Siberia with a population of about 50,000, 12,000 of which is Jewish. For several years the Soviet government has fostered emigration to the territory by Jews from other sections of Russia with the ultimate plan of creating a Jewish republic in the Soviet framework. Yesterday, the government proclaimed Biro-Bidjan an autonomous region and announced to the Jewish. Telegraphic Agency that a convention of Jewish representatives of the area will be convened immediately.
Izvestia, official government organ, declared its conviction today that the decree will “be joyfully met by the toilers of all Soviet nationalities and will also find great response abroad, especially from Jews suffering under Fascist regimes.”
The Pravda makes the decree the occasion for commenting on the difference in treatment of the Jews in Russia and other countries of the world.
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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.
