1812 - Russia and Jews

The Patriotic War of 1812 had a huge impact on the Jews of the Russian Empire and became the most important milestone in the formation of Russian-Jewish identity and in the development of Russian-Jewish relations. The participation of the Jewish population of the Western provinces and its community institutions in organizing the resistance to the French troops and the restoration of the order on the liberated territories created new conditions for the dialogue between the central authorities and the Jewish society, both during the war and after it.
Unfortunately, in the historiography of Russian Jews, this period and its significance have not yet received adequate lighting. The only study dedicated to the Patriotic War in the Jewish context was published for its 100-year anniversary with an outstanding historian S. Ginzburg. However, this fundamental work is now completely unavailable.
At the present publication, along with the scientific reprint of the Labor of Ginzburg and his contemporaries