Jewish Land-settlement in Crimea to Be Concentrated Now in Jewish Region Freidorf: Decision by Supre

The migration movement of working-class Jews to the Crimea is in future to be directed mainly towards the Jewish Region of Freidorf, the Central Executive Committee of the Crimea has decided in a resolution adopted after hearing a report from the Executive Committee of the Freidorf Region on the position in this Jewish region.

This decision adopted by the highest legislative body of the Crimean Republic is diametrically opposed to the line of action adhered to by the previous administration of the Central Comzet, before Messrs. Mereszin, Tchemerisky and the rest were removed from their posts.

The policy of the previous leaders of the Comzet was to distribute the migrants in as many places as possible, so as to retain all the land reserves which were allocated for Jewish settlement in the Crimea. They took the view that if the various tracts of land allocated for Jewish settlement were not settled by at least a small number of settlers, it would be difficult to retain this land for Jews. The result was that the number of Jewish settlements in the Crimea grew, but they were not economically stable.

In the opinion of the Crimean Central Executive Committee and of the new leaders of the Comzet this had the effect of retarding the growth of. the Jewish region of Freidorf, and the new policy aims at directing more transmigration to the Freidorf region to provide the Jewish collective farms there with the workers of whom they stand in need.

1,300 Jewish families are to be settled in the Crimea this spring, it was further decided. The position in the Jewish settlements in the Crimea is such that the number could have been doubled or trebled, it is explained. The harvest was excellent this year in the Crimea. The provision of bread in the Crimean Jewish colonies proceeded normally, without any of the difficulties which occurred in some of the Jewish colonies in the Ukraine. The Crimean settlers are therefore not only provided with bread for them-selves, and fodder for their horses and cattle till the new harvest, but they have also the possibility of selling some of their produce to settlers in other districts, mainly in the Ukraine, who come to the Crimea specially to buy their bread.

The Comzet decided, however, to fix the number for this year at only 1,300 families, firstly, because this is the number of working hands required to fill the existing vacancies in the collective farms of the Freidorf Jewish region, and secondly because it does not wish to hinder the recruiting of the nearly 19,000 families required for the transmigration work for this year to Bureya, and for the three Jewish regions in the Ukraine.