Jews from White Russia and Ukrainia will be able to settle in Turkestan, which is now open to colonization as a result of the completion of the Turkestan-Siberian railway. Turkestan will now become a country where numerous Soviet textile and other factories will be built and where thousands will find employment along the railway line.
In an interview today with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency the Premier of Turkestan declared that he had offered to the Comzet, the government department for settling the Jews, to organize Jews wandering from other territories into Turkestan. He added that Turkestan, which in area is three times as large as the whole of France and has a population of 7,000,000, knows no anti-Semitism.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s correspondent, traveling in a special government train along with other newspapermen invited by the Soviet to attend the opening of the Turksib railway, met at small desert stations individual Jews from the White Russian townships who assured him that they feel happier here than they did three years ago in the small towns because now they are fully occupied as barbers, tailors, shoemakers and in other artisan trades. Some are serving in railway offices along the Turksib line.
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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.
