Tag #148652 - Interview #95439 (Maria Zabozlaeva)

The first Jews settled down in the town in early 19 century. In late 19 century there were first canonists [3] coming to the town. There was a pogrom in Saratov in 1853 inspired by authorities by the so-called ‘blood shedding slander’. There was a case of ritualistic murders that Jews were blamed of. After the pogrom Jews began to be deported to reside within the Pale of Settlement [4]. The Jews that remained in the town formed a Jewish community by the end of 19th century. In 1897 they built a synagogue. They invited a rabbi from Tsaritsyn [Volgograd at present, 300 km from Saratov]. Jews owned stores and shops selling fish, flour, books, watches, gold and silver.  Bender was one of the biggest merchants of his time. He had a prêt-a-porter garment store on the ground floor of his house. Another merchant Ochkin owned hotel ‘Centralnaya’ and a garden with a concert hall and restaurant. Many Jews were craftsmen. They resided in the Jewish neighborhood near the synagogue.  The majority of Jews were poor. There was another pogrom in Saratov during revolutionary events in 1905. There were no Jewish educational institutions before the revolution of 1917 [5] since the laws of the Russian empire didn’t allow any national educational institutions beyond the Pale of Settlement. [Editor’s note: however, Jewish communities were allowed to make contributions to existing small educational groups, but neither archives of the synagogue in Saratov nor state archives of Saratov region have any references in this regard. The state rabbi came from Tsaritsyn before 1915 and in 1915 there was a rabbi appointed in Saratov.] There was a Jewish school opened after the revolution of 1917. In 1934 Soviet authorities closed the Jewish school during the period of struggle against religion [6]. Nowadays Jewish school ‘OR Avner’ functions in Saratov.