This post gives a description of the novels and memoirs left to us by Brazilian Jewish Colonization Association colonists. They offer fascinating portrayals of Jewish immigrant life. The post includes visuals, links to more information and a list of references, including how to find both the original and secondary works in libraries worldwide.
Continue reading
Anshei Israel Synagogue in Lisbon, Connecticut , built in 1936
In this post, videos, an interactive map and many references supplement a short history of Jewish farming communities in Connecticut.
Beginning as early as 1891, Baron Hirsch supported the settlement of Jewish farmers in Connecticut. By 1928 there were over 5000 Jewish farm families in the state. The Baron Hirsch Fund and its subsidiary the Jewish Agricultural Society (JAS) sponsored these projects. The projects continued throughout the first half of the 20th Century, helping not only the Russian Jews escaping pogroms in the first part of the century, but after WWII Holocaust survivors as well. Continue reading
Entrance to the Quatro Irmaos Farming Community Cemetery
This post contains a short history of the Brazilian communities and some references. Baron Hirsch established the Jewish Colonization Agency (JCA) in 1891 to “to assist and promote the emigration of Jews from any part of Europe or Asia… and to form and establish colonies in various parts of North and South America ….”. And during his lifetime the Agency supported farming communities for Eastern European Jewish immigrants in Argentina and Canada.
But after the Baron’s death in 1896, the new directors of the JCA decided to establish additional communiities in the extreme South of Brazil, near the city of Santa Maria in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Continue reading
The Tifereth Israel Synagogue, Alliance Community, New Jersey , Built 1884-1885
Going to the southern Jersey shore this summer? Take a day trip to nearby Pittsgrove Township, the site of the Baron Hirsch funded Alliance farming community. In May 1882, 42 Russian Jewish families arrived to form this cooperative.
Read more about it in this article from the FORWARD newspaper and this Wikipedia entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Colony
1909 Exhibition of Jewish Farmers of America, Library of Congress photo
This post includes photos and references on the October 1909 Jewish Federation of Farmers conference and major fair at the Educational Alliance at the corner of East Broadway and Jefferson in New York City. The most popular of the 225 exhibits was presented by the Baron Hirsch Agricultural College in Woodbine, New Jersey. Over 50,000 people visited the exhibit and speakers include the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, the honorable W.M. Hays.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/everyday_economics/2003/06/why_jews_dont_farm.html
This article from a descendent of an immigrant to the Baron Hirsch farming community in Woodbine, New Jersey is fun to read. But contrary to his thesis there were Jewish farming communities in the Ukraine and Bessarabia -probably other places too. In fact before the assignation of Czar Alexander II in 1881, Jewish were allowed to and often encouraged to buy land in Russia for farming.
This blog is designed to tell the stories of the Jewish farmers that Baron Maurice de Hirsch supported in North and South America and the follow on stories of their descendants worldwide. We hope you will send send us your stories and permission to publish them through the leave a comment link above. And if you have a particular question about this immigration phenomena, let me know. I will research the answer and write a post.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Baron Maurice de Hirsch, the builder of the Vienna-Constantinople Railroad, and his friends, sponsored the settlement of Eastern European Jews in many lands, but primarily in North and South America. This blog presents written works and visuals depicting the original immigrants but also relating the achievements of the descendants of these immigrants, Our forebears were courageous and ingenious people as are their grand and great grand children. This blog proposes to unite many of today’s beneficiaries of the Baron’s genorosity, believing that cooperation and sharing among us could result in many inspiring and amazing ideas and projects.
The owner of this blog, me, Merrie Blocker, a semiretired U.S. diplomat is translating Uma Clara Manha de Abril (On a Clear April Morning), the story of southern Ukrainian Jews in the extreme south of Brazil. After originally being settled by the Czars on lands in the Ukraine that were captured by the Russians from the Ottoman Empire, these Jews emigrated to farms in Brazil with the help of the Jewish Colonization Association which was founded by Baron Hirsch.
For lots of information on this intriguing historical moment, click on On a Clear April Morning AFTERWORD with notes and references to download the twelve page historical afterword I wrote to accompany the translation. It includes a lengthy bibliography of books, articles and archival records with works in English, Portuguese and French.