2.1h Jewish Diaspora

In Eastern Europe, the Jewish people had long been part of the urban middle class of society. Although they were often stereotyped and outcast, they were economically important, and in Russia, Romania, and Austria-Hungary they formed an essential element of the industrial and commercial sectors. They often possessed more fluid wealth than other Eastern Europeans, and were more influential than their numbers would indicate. In the New World, the Jewish population in New France remained negligible for many years. The policies of the French government, which favoured Catholics, did not encourage Jewish immigration. In fact, after 1615 Jews were officially excluded from the territories of New France. However, after the British gained control of the Saint Lawrence region, immigration to North America became easier for European Jews. The British government's immigration policy was less exclusionary than that of the French. By 1749 a Jewish community had begun in Halifax. In the mid-to-late 1760s Jewish communities developed in Montreal, Quebec City, and Trois Rivieres. In other British areas, Jews became the body of the merchant class. British troops in the New World were often partially supplied by Jewish merchants. In 1858 Jews began arriving in British Columbia, almost entirely directly from Western Europe and the United States. In late nineteenth-century Eastern Europe, the inferior legal status of the Jewish community and the obvious differences between them and other members of European society made them an easy target for active discrimination. Jews were denied education in Romania, and they were also barred from state service of any kind. Agrarian uprisings often targeted Jews rather than landowners, as it was often the Jewish who served as intermediaries between the peasants and the nobility. Economically, discrimination against the Jews was enacted in various industrial restrictions. In Austria-Hungary, various organisations arranged boycotts of Jewish merchants and artisans, taxes on taverns (which were often owned by Jews) were increased, and virtually all public financial and governmental institutions excluded Jews. At the same time, religious persecution and stereotyping were increasing as the clergy accused the Jews of ritual murders. The most violent and blatant example of anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe of the late nineteenth century is the pogrom. This combination of murder, vandalism, and pillage began in Russia, with the ascension of Csar Alexander III. During the first decade of his reign, pogroms were widespread in Russia for the first time since the Middle Ages. The second decade of his reign saw the expulsion of more than ten thousand Jews from Moscow on grounds of illegal residency. During the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this atmosphere of discrimination and hostility encouraged many Jewish people to emigrate from Eastern Europe. The majority of émigrés were destined for the United States, although many also migrated to Canada. From 1881 to 1910 over 1,560,000 Jews migrated from Europe to the United States, most of whom came from Russia and Austria-Hungary. Throughout this period, Jewish migrants comprised an average of eight per cent of the total immigration to the United States. Almost one-third of the total population of East-European Jews migrated to North America before 1920. The Jewish diaspora to the New World was largely a migration of families. There are high percentages of women and children found in the statistics of this migration, especially during years in which the Russian pogroms were most intense. The Jewish and Irish diasporas of the mid-to-late nineteenth century are alike in their unusually high rates of family migration. Most other migrations were significantly more male than female. The Jewish diaspora is also unique in that it was an intentionally permanent movement: most émigrés had no intention of ever returning to Eastern Europe. This stands in direct contrast to other migrations of the time, where return migration to Europe after a few years in the New World was fairly common. The vast majority of Jews chose to settle in the North Atlantic States of America, while a smaller percentage settled in the North Central States. More specifically, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were the most common destinations, followed by Illinois, Ohio, and Maryland. It is apparent that most Jewish immigrants tended to gravitate towards industrial and commercial centres.