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         Eastern European Jewry  >  The Jews of Odessa 

                                       

        MFH SPECIAL EXHIBITION
 

The Jews of Odessa
A POST-POGROMIC PLEA


 

 

The pogrom which occurred in 1905 in Odessa was at least the sixth pogrom that took place in Odessa since 1821. The letter below is a plea for help from the Jewish citizens of Odessa (more specifically those Jews living in the Peresyp District of Odessa).

The Peresyp (Perecipe) District at one point was a separate town at the outskirts of Odessa. Many Jews lived in the Пересип, due to the restriction placed on Jews living within large cities during the Pale of Settlement period.


 

A LETTER FROM JACOB TENENHOLZ
Perecyp District, Odessa

(translated from the original French version)


Jewish Colonization Association 7 Jan 1906

Odessa 21/3 Jan 1906


To the Committee of Jewish Colonization Association
2, rue Pasquier, Paris

Sir!

The Committee cannot ignore, undoubtedly, the appalling anti-Israelite disorders in Russia and particularly the sacrament(?) in Odessa. The district of Peresyp that we inhabit has been the scene of a terrible carnage. Many were massacred and thousands are reduced to the greatest misery.

Unfortunately we are not yet safe and may count each day on new acts.... Among the Peresyp victims [there is] a group of around a hundred families [who] have rallied to help one another in a common goal for the purpose of emigration.

Among them there are all sorts of artisans and other working people. There are also some who possess small amounts of money, but most are impoverished and suffer horribly. At least they prefer better to die than to receive some aid in such a way that we [may] give them.

I am one of a number of .... group(?) and the names of those unfortunate... I beg you to give us any means to escape our miserable patriotism.

We do not see another way to save ourselves(?), that our small children [may] flee this futile(?) land.

But alas! We are helpless "froppis"! It is vain to expect anything that is likely to improve our position in Russia, or otherwise it gets worse and worse. Our condition becomes alarming and we have no immediate relief. We can no longer remain in Russia.

We have no more strength. [Have] pity on us! We are accustomed to work. Show us any place in the world where we can work and live without fear.

[Let] us help you. Please be assured our our.....cause.

Jakob Tenenholz

Address: Odessa Peresyp Russia/Bojokino(?)....17
Jakob Tenenholz.....


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