What are Azerbaijani Jews called? Krasnaya Sloboda: the place where rich Jews are born. Post-war

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Why do Azerbaijani women marry Jews?

Azerbaijanis are a neglected and forgotten people.
I affirm that this was the case with many peoples of the world, ancient and modern, and only faith and level elevated these peoples to the possibility, each, of having, in its own time, a huge global influence on the fate of humanity.

But here’s something else, I’m an Azerbaijani, and I must say with all seriousness that a normal people would not have lost the war to the Armenians.

You can lose the war to the Russians, as happened with the Chechens; it is clear when the war is lost to the Americans, as it was with the Iraqis; It’s completely clear that when the Armenians lost to the Turks, it’s not shameful.
But when an entire nation loses a war to some Armenians, being twice as large in number and territory as the enemy, it means that something is wrong here.

This means that there is something missing in this soup, something is wrong with the genes or the DNA in this nation.
I repeat: NORMAL PEOPLE WOULD NOT LOSE THE WAR TO THE ARMENIANS!

If a wife cheats on her husband with her lover, this is normal, but if she cheats on her husband with a pig, if she goes to bed with a pig, or some other beast, then this is bestiality, there is something wrong with the brain, the psyche.
I have always emphasized that Azerbaijanis are not a professional nation, they are a folkloric nation.

She likes to dance, dance, sing, cook food, luxurious dishes at that, jump over a fire, but in other, seemingly more serious matters, the Azerbaijani people give in.
There is not a single professional among Azerbaijanis in any field or industry.

Show me a legendary intelligence officer - an Azerbaijani of the level of Kim Philby, Lev Manevich, Rudolf Abel.
Show me at least one great Azerbaijani among the epoch-making actors, scientists, and athletes.

Yesenin's wife was the great Isidora Duncan, the wife of the unforgettable Salvador Dali was the Russian dancer Galina.
What I mean is that the Russian girl managed to enchant and make a great man fall in love with her, just as the Russian man won over the great lady.

That's a coincidence?

I dug and searched for a long time, but there are no such facts among Azerbaijanis; although an Azerbaijani woman is beautiful, she is not able to make a legendary figure fall in love with her. This is practically impossible.
In extreme cases, a highly developed Azerbaijani woman from an elite Baku family will marry a Jew and go to live in Canada, Israel or the USA.
You can remember how Ilham Aliyev’s daughter married Agalarov’s son, the son of a MOSCOW FARTZOVCHIK.

This is more than normal, it would be strange if she married the son of the Turkish ruler Sezer, since Sezer’s son is a diplomat, what will he talk about with the Baku beauty? About what?
About the shops on the Champs Elysees? Or about resorts in Switzerland?

He doesn't need it. A level is a level. We are not capable of anything else.

When Nazarbayev’s daughter married Akaev’s son, and then she initiatively rejected him, it alarmed me, I treated the daughter of the Kazakh president with respect. Only an individual can break family ties with the king’s son, who at that time was Akaev.
Let's say that an Azerbaijani woman is not capable of this, she has little guts. Her lot (or destiny, whatever you like) is a Jew!

These are facts; in 2005 alone, 271 mixed marriages were registered in Azerbaijan, when an Azerbaijani woman marries a Jew.
I don’t understand how an Azerbaijani woman can fall in love with a Jew? Or make a Jew fall in love with you?

The Azerbaijani woman is extremely capricious, treats everything with irony, loves to waste money, that is, all these qualities are not characteristic of Jews or Jewish women.

A marriage between a Jew and an Azerbaijani woman is typical prostitution in a legalized, legally formalized form, because an Azerbaijani woman does not marry a Jew as such, but for his dollars and bank account.
Okay, let's leave the women alone. Don't blame me for this.

You see, if we add to these terms the defeat of our men to the Armenians in the war for Karabakh, then we can say with great responsibility that in Azerbaijan there is no man at all, NO MAN, NO REAL MAN, since only women and slugs could lose the war to the Armenians.

And this despite the fact that Azerbaijanis treat the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Uzbeks with irony, considering them just narrow-eyed and backward people.
They will tell me that all this is wrong, this is a mistake, and they will point to individual individuals in our people.

Of course, I will not deny this, but I saw these individuals in the grave, when we were disgraced throughout the world, the war was lost in a mediocre manner, the consciousness of the nation was destroyed to the ground.
It is possible that in the near future Azerbaijan will turn into an abandoned African country of no use to anyone, such as Somalia or Ethiopia.
That's it, oil doesn't last forever, people are degrading, so wait.

This is not pessimism, but realism, since in our time, so unstable, so transitional, so full of changes and so few satisfying, there was bound to be an extraordinary number of peoples, so to speak, bypassed, forgotten, ignored and annoyed.

Azerbaijan is a candidate for this bitter list.

We always see reality almost the way we want to see it, how we ourselves, biasedly, want to interpret it to ourselves. If sometimes we suddenly take it apart and see in what is visible not what we wanted to see, but what really is, then we directly accept what we saw as a miracle, and this is not uncommon, and sometimes, I swear, we would rather believe a miracle and impossibility than reality, than the truth that we do not want to see.

And this always happens in the world, this is the whole history of mankind.

While Forbes is publishing lists of legal millionaires, a powerful diaspora of Mountain Jews has formed in Moscow, ready to take control not only of “Ukraine”, but of the entire city. The high-profile transactions of 2006 - the purchase of the Ukraine Hotel and the scandalous construction of the Evropeisky shopping center on the square of the Kievsky Station - left the names of their heroes in the shadows. Mountain Jews God Nisanov, Zarakh Iliev, Telman Ismailov - all these names are unknown to the general public and are well known only in narrow circles. Unlike oil magnates (the difference is only formal), even very large retailers in well-fed Moscow do not arouse interest. A particularly thick veil of uncertainty - with an absolute lack of information - envelops God Nisanov, the youngest member of the influential diaspora of Mountain Jews in Moscow. Meanwhile, it was precisely the activities of Nisanov, the young enterprising co-owner of “Ukraine” and the “European” shopping center - i.e. a large part of the central real estate in Moscow - deserves a separate investigation. The sphere of influence of this invisible man allows us to make the most unexpected predictions about him.

City of Wonders in the Land of Fools

Not a single Moscow directory will contain telephone numbers or addresses of mysterious LLCs like “Biscuit” or “City of Miracles”. But everyone knows the names “Electronic Paradise”, “Prague”, the “Moscow” car showroom and “Cherkizovsky Market”. The empire of the Mountain Jews of Nisanov, Iliev, and Ismailov is branched and vast. Almost no residential area in Moscow remained unreached by this group - and now the lion's share of the central district is in its hands. The network of influence is growing and expanding - listing the countless cafes, restaurants, car dealerships and other “points” owned by the Group would take up an entire newspaper page. However, her latest projects - the purchase of the Ukraina Hotel, the opening in record time of the Evropeysky shopping center on Kievskaya Square and the futures project "City of Miracles" in Mnevniki - allow us to talk about the open expansion in Moscow of the small diaspora of Tats (Mountain Jews), to which she belongs the hero of our article is God Nisanov.

Note that without the secret and sometimes explicit approval of the authorities, the Group would hardly have been able to take control of such a vast territory. Of course, we will refrain from comparing with the Sicilian dons, but in their hierarchy our Tats would hardly be content with a modest role. Take, for example, the fact that their main partner in the “City of Miracles” project is the cultural guru of the Moscow mayor, Zurab Tsereteli. Projects of this scale allow us to talk not about the mafia, but about business with a capital B. However, some figures, which give a small idea of some of the Group’s projects, allow us to talk about it.

Nisanov and partners paid $275 million for the Ukraine Hotel;

$465 million - the business of Nisanov’s closest associate Zarakh Iliev is valued at this amount;

$ 8000 - how much does it cost to rent a square meter of the Evropeisky shopping center - with its retail area over 3000 sq.m. (?)

$1.5 billion - this is how much Nisanov and his partners are planning to invest in Russia in 2007.

As you know, in our country big business is possible only with great connections. However, we will talk about supporters and opponents of Nisanov and Iliev later. Now we have to figure out where these new Moscow city planners came from and why the general public knows nothing about them. To be continued...

AZERBAIJAN (Republic of Azerbaijan), a state in the eastern part of Transcaucasia. Until the beginning of the 19th century. The territory of Azerbaijan was part of Iran. In 1803–28 the northern part of Azerbaijan went to Russia. From March 1922 to the end of August 1991, northern Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union (in 1922–36 within the Transcaucasian Federation). The southern part that remained part of Iran is Iranian (less commonly Southern) Azerbaijan (the main city of Tabriz).

Middle Ages

Excavations in 1990 under the leadership of R. Geyushov discovered the remains of the Jewish quarter and the Shabran synagogue of the 7th century in the area of the city of Baku. (some historians associate it with the period of Khazarian rule). Shmuel ben Yahya al-Maghribi (died 1174), a Jewish physician who converted to Islam, the author of the anti-Jewish work “Ifham al-Yahud” (“Refutation of the Jews”), names among the places where David Alroi recruited supporters of his messianic movement, the cities of Khoy, Salmas, Tabriz, Merage and Urmia (now Rezaie).

In the second half of the 13th century. The Ilkhanids, the Mongol khans who ruled vast territories from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf and from Afghanistan to the deserts of Syria, turned Azerbaijan into the central region of their empire. The religious tolerance of the early Ilkhanid Buddhists attracted many Jews to Azerbaijan. The first minister of Arghun Khan (1284–91), the Jew Sa'd ad-Dawla, actually directed the entire internal and foreign policy of the Ilkhanid state. The Jew Muhazzim ad-Dawla was the head of the administration of Tabriz, and the Jew Labid ben Abi-r-Rabi' headed the administration system of the entire Azerbaijan. The execution of Sa'd al-Dawla, which was a victory for the palace group dissatisfied with the concentration of power in his hands, and the execution of a number of his supporters, many of whom were Jews, became the first symptom of the deterioration of the situation of the Jews in the country. Many Jews began to convert to Islam. One of them was Rashid ad-Dawla (see Rashid ad-Din), who became the first minister in 1298 (executed on false charges in 1318). The historical compilation of Rashid ad-Dawla “Jami'at-tawarikh” (“Collection of Chronicles”, in Persian) is one of the largest monuments of eastern historiography.

Data from the 14th century. they talk about Azerbaijan as one of the centers of literary activity of the Karaites. The number of Jews in the country in subsequent centuries apparently constantly decreased as a result of the ongoing conversion to Islam and migration, but in the 16th century. the presence of a Jewish community in Tabriz is noted, and sources from the 17th century. mark a new wave of persecution of Jews and their mass forced conversion to Islam. In the 18th century There are still communities in Tabriz and Meragh, but in the first half of the 19th century. they are already disappearing and only small communities remain in Urmia, Salmas, Soujbulak and Miandoab. The Jewish population continues to remain relatively numerous only in the northern part of Azerbaijan, which by this time was included in Russia.

As part of the Russian Empire

Over the past centuries, Jews belonging to different ethnolinguistic groups have lived on the territory of Azerbaijan: Mountain Jews, Ashkenazis, Crimeans, Kurdish Jews, Georgian Jews. In the 19th century The overwhelming majority of the Jewish population of Azerbaijan were Mountain Jews; in the 20th century. the majority were Ashkenazi.

The main Jewish center was the city of Cuba, where 5,492 Jews lived in 1835 (of which 2,718 people were concentrated in the Jewish quarter); in 1866, 6,282 Jews lived in the city. There were also relatively large communities of Mountain Jews in the villages of Vartashen and Myudzhi. In 1864, in the village of Vartashen (since 1990 - Oguz), the majority of the population were Jews. In 1886, 1,400 Jews lived here, there were three prayer houses, two Talmud Hunas (cheders) with 40 students. It is known that total number There were then 70 literate people, that is, those who could read the Torah, among them were five Jews who were called rabbis (see Rabbi).

The Jews of northern Azerbaijan were mainly farmers, small traders and laborers. Their economic situation was difficult. Since the 1870s. The influx of Jews from European Russia into northern Azerbaijan sharply increased due to the development of the oil industry in Baku. A major role in the creation of this most important branch of the national economy was played by G. A. Polyak - the founder of the company "Polyak and Sons", A. Dembo and H. Kagan - the founders of the company "Dembo and Kagan", G. Gunzburg, A. Fishel. Representatives of the Rothschild family founded the Caspian-Black Sea Company, which occupied at the beginning of the 20th century. leading position in this area. Companies headed by Jews produced 44% of Russian kerosene.

Despite legal restrictions, in the two provinces into which northern Azerbaijan was divided, Baku and Elizavetpol, according to 1897 data, 14,791 Jews lived, including 6,662 people in Kuba and 2,341 people in Baku. A Jewish-Russian school with teaching in Russian was founded in Cuba in 1908.

From the end of the 19th century. Baku became one of the centers of the Jewish national movement (see Zionism). In 1891, the Hovevei Zion branch was formed here, and in 1899, the first Zionist organization. At the Minsk Zionist Conference in 1902, four delegates from Baku were present. The Zionists were especially active in 1917–20. The youth organization “Young Judea”, men’s student corporations “Hasmonea”, “Maccabea”, women’s student corporations “Shulamit”, “Deborah” functioned.

Early 20th century

Classes at a Jewish elementary school. Cuba. Early 1920s From the book by M. Naor “The Jewish people in the 20th century. History in photographs”, Jer.-T-A, 2001.

In 1917, the weekly “Kavkazer Vohenblat” (in Yiddish) was published in Baku; - weekly “Caucasian Jewish Bulletin” with the supplement “Palestine”, in 1919–20. - biweekly “Jewish Will”; in 1919, the newspaper “Tobushi Sabkhi” (in the Jewish-Tat language) was published for some time. With the final establishment of Soviet power (April 1920), the independent Jewish press ceased to exist. Since 1922, the newspaper “Korsoh” was published in the Jewish-Tat language in the capital of Azerbaijan - the organ of the Caucasian Committee of the Jewish Communist Party (see Po'alei Zion) and its youth organization.

Many Jews of Azerbaijan took an active part in the revolutionary events of the early 20th century. Among the 26 executed Baku commissars there were six Jews, including the prominent Social Democrat Y. Zevin (1884–1918; from 1904 to 1912 - Menshevik, later joined the Bolshevik faction); trade union leader M. Basin (1890–1918). Jews were represented in the first and second governments of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (1918–20), among them the Minister of Health, Professor E. Y. Gindes.

During the civil war and the first years of Soviet power, the concentration of Jews in Baku continued. The Jewish community in the village of Muji ceased to exist, most of whose members moved to Baku. Basically, about 13.5 thousand Jews who left Cuba moved there. Active attempts were made to attract significant masses of the Jewish population to agriculture, but according to 1927 data, only 250 Jewish families were employed in it.

In the 1920s The activities of all Zionist organizations and related cultural and educational institutions that conducted work in Hebrew were banned. However, cultural development in other Jewish languages continued (see Jewish languages and dialects). In Baku there were schools in Yiddish and the Jewish-Tat language; The famous teacher F. Shapiro taught here. Mountain Jewish schools also functioned in other cities of the republic until 1938, when most schools of national minorities were closed (only in Baku school No. 23 there were Tat classes until 1948). In 1934–38 in Baku, the newspaper “Communist” was published in the Jewish-Tat language; there was a Mountain Jewish department of the Azerbaijan State Publishing House, supervised by Y. Agarunov and headed by Y. Semenov (1899–1961; both writers began in the 1920s as playwrights with Jewish amateur troupes). In 1936–39 in a building closed by the authorities Great Synagogue the Baku Jewish Theater (AzGOSET) worked in Yiddish; its director since 1938 was Y. Friedman, who at the same time headed the Russian Drama Theater; the artistic director was V. Tseitlin.

According to the 1926 census, there were nineteen thousand European Jews and 7.5 thousand mountain Jews in the Azerbaijan SSR; According to the 1959 census, 40,204 Jews lived in the country (1.1% of the total population of the republic), of which 38,917 lived in cities. 8,357 Jews called the Jewish-Tat language their native language, and 6,255 called Yiddish. According to 1970 data, there were 41,288 Jews in the Azerbaijan SSR. According to the 1979 census, 35.5 thousand Jews lived in Azerbaijan, according to the 1989 census - 30.8 thousand Jews.

In the 1920s–30s. Jews (mostly Ashkenazi) formed a significant part of the cultural elite of Soviet Azerbaijan. Of the ten medical professors who founded the Baku Medical Institute in 1919, eight were Jews. Epidemiologist N. Gililov worked in Azerbaijan, laying the scientific foundations for the fight against malaria. Geologist F. Levinson-Lessing was the chairman of the Azerbaijan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Thousands of Jews worked as doctors, engineers, and teachers. The republic's Jewish population increased during the first five-year plans, but especially due to the evacuation during the Soviet-German war of 1941–45. Many of the evacuees remained in Azerbaijan, mainly in Baku, after the war.

By the early 1940s. In Azerbaijan, organized forms of Jewish life were finally liquidated, with the exception of several communities at synagogues in Baku, Vartashen, Kuba, Kusary, Geokchay. At the same time, the republican authorities only practiced discriminatory restrictions on Jews to a small extent; Manifestations of everyday anti-Semitism were also relatively rare. Throughout the 1940s–60s. Hebrew was taught freely at home by the former teacher of the Kyiv Theological Academy, Arab Christian Ibrahim Uar-Uar.

In 1951, all Kurdish Jews were deported from Baku (as well as from Tbilisi) by order from Moscow.

Post-war

The Jewish movement began to develop in Azerbaijan in the 1970s. The leader of the refuseniks in Baku was S. M. Kushnir (born in 1927, since 1978 in Israel); Jewish samizdat publications, books and magazines published in Israel were distributed, and Hebrew study groups existed. The movement took on a new scope in the second half of the 1980s. The first legal Hebrew courses in the Soviet Union opened in Baku in 1987 (official director - Vladimir / Zeev / Farber; since 1989 in Israel). In 1989, a club was organized in Baku Jewish culture"Aleph"; in the same year, the Jewish club “22” was opened in Sumgait, and the small-circulation newsletter “Shalom-Sholem-Sholumi” began to be published in Baku. In 1990, the Azerbaijan-Israel Friendship and Cultural Relations Society was established, which began publishing the Aziz newspaper in 1992. Women's and youth organizations, a committee of Jewish veterans of World War II, and the Association of Judaic Studies and Jewish Culture are registered and active. An activist in a number of organizations and editor of publications was teacher, war veteran P. A. Kalika (1923–95), the author of publications on Jewish topics since the 1970s.

Cuba. Synagogue after partial reconstruction. 1996

In the 1990s. There were two synagogues in Baku (Mountain Jews and Ashkenazi), as well as synagogues of Mountain Jews in Kuba and Oguz and a synagogue of Gers in Privolny. In September 1993, a seminar of rabbis of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Dagestan was held in Baku. In 1994, a yeshiva opened there. In 1997, a synagogue of Georgian Jews opened in Baku. In the early 2000s. In the suburb of Kuba, Krasnaya Sloboda, three synagogues of Mountain Jews functioned, and there was also a yeshiva. Since 1999, a religious Jewish secondary school has been operating in Baku. According to 1994 data, Hebrew was taught at the university and in two secondary schools in the capital. There were Hebrew courses in Baku, Quba and Oguz; representatives of the Jewish Agency and teachers from Israel provided great assistance in organizing classes; There were also non-Jews among the course students. A Jewish chamber music ensemble, a children's choir, and a dance ensemble performed before the audience. Local radio and television regularly broadcast recordings of Israeli pop music.

The number of Jews in Azerbaijan decreased from a maximum of 41.2 thousand in 1939 to 30.8 thousand in 1989. Their share in the country's population decreased accordingly from 1.3 to 0.4 percent. According to preliminary data from the 1999 census, the number of Jews has more than halved. Although a comparison of census data from 1979 and 1989 unexpectedly shows a more than twofold increase in the number of Mountain Jews (from 2.1 thousand to 6.1 thousand), in reality these are just paradoxes of imperfect statistics, since previously Mountain Jews living in cities , were often counted as simply Jews.

The share of mixed marriages among Jewish men in the period from 1936 to 1939 decreased from 39% to 32%, and among women, on the contrary, increased from 26% to 28%. In 1939, the proportion of married Jewish women aged 20-49 was 74%. In 1989, among Mountain Jews the proportion living in homogeneous families was 82%, among Ashkenazi Jews - 52%

In the early 2000s. In addition to the Aziz newspaper, the newspaper Tower of the Hillel youth club, Orshelyanu of the Jewish Community Cultural Center, and Amishav, published with the help of the Jewish Agency, were published in Azerbaijan.

In 1999, the exhibition “Jews of Azerbaijan” was held in the Baku Museum of Art; in 2001, the exhibition “190th anniversary of the settlement of Ashkenazi Jews in Azerbaijan” was held at the Historical Museum; in April 2001, an international scientific symposium was held at the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan "Mountain Jews of the Caucasus". In 1996, the Israeli Cultural and Information Center was opened in Baku; With the help of the Joint, in 1999 the charitable organization “Hesed-Gershon” was created, which provided financial assistance to 1,550 Jews in 2000 (of which 1,113 people lived in Baku). In April 2000, a Jewish community cultural center was opened. He directs the work of the theater and music center, the intellectuals' club, and the people's university. With the help of the Joint, a scientific center was created under the leadership of Professor M. Agarunov (born in 1936), which studies the history, culture and ethnography of the Jews of Azerbaijan. In 2000, the bibliographic index “Mountain Jews” was published.

The opportunities for unimpeded access to national culture do not balance out the difficulties experienced by the country’s Jewish population in the context of a protracted war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and the war-related aggravation of interethnic conflicts. Among the 120 AZERBAIJANI servicemen killed in the war, four were Jews.

A number of AZERBAIJAN newspapers (Yeni Musavat, Yeni Esr, Islamin Sesi, Millet and others) began systematically publishing anti-Semitic materials since 1992. An attempt by the Meydan newspaper to publish the book “Mein Kampf” by A. Hitler translated into the Azerbaijani language was suppressed at the request of a number of public, including Jewish, organizations; this, however, did not stop the emergence of new inflammatory articles.

The repatriation of Jews from Azerbaijan amounted to 466 people in 1989, 7905 people in 1990, 5676 people in 1991, 2777 people in 1992, 3500 people in 1993, 3500 people in 1994. 2270 people, in January–June 2003 - 177 people. According to the Jewish Agency, at the end of 2002 there were approximately sixteen thousand persons in Azerbaijan eligible for repatriation to Israel under the Law of Return. As a result of the mass exodus of Ashkenazi Jews in the 1990s. the majority of Jews in Azerbaijan in the early 2000s. were mountain Jews. About three thousand Mountain Jews live compactly in Krasnaya Sloboda.

The Azerbaijani leadership is committed to establishing political and economic ties with Israel. Diplomatic relations were established in 1993. On May 11, 1994, Charge d'Affaires of the State of Israel in Azerbaijan Eli'ezer Yotvat presented his credentials to President Heydar Aliyev. In August 1999, an Israeli parliamentary delegation visited Azerbaijan on an official visit. The volume of exports from Israel to Azerbaijan in 1993 amounted to 545 thousand dollars, imports - twelve thousand; in 1994, exports and imports increased significantly.

One of the most interesting places in Azerbaijan is Krasnaya Sloboda. Mountain Jews have been living compactly here for 2 thousand years. Firstly, the place is unique in that although literally across the river there is the Azerbaijani town of Cuba, no one remembers any serious conflicts between Muslims and Jews!

Once upon a time the settlement was even called Jewish, but the Soviet government carefully renamed it. At the same time, Jews live like a typical Caucasian people and differ from their neighbors mainly religious rites. They also, either as an inheritance from the Persians, or during an exchange of experience with the Azerbaijanis, acquired the ability to weave carpets.

Local Jews speak not Hebrew or Yiddish, but their own language, Juhuri, the name of which is translated as “Jewish”. Most of them also know Azerbaijani and Russian. Juhuri, by the way, is related to Farsi, so the version about the origin of Mountain Jews from the Jews of ancient Persia has grounds.

In general, the Mountain Jews lived here quietly for a couple of thousand years, preserved their language and their religion (there are 7 synagogues in the village of 3.5 thousand inhabitants) and sent many famous natives to the “big world”. If you asked me who is the most famous Mountain Jew, I would immediately name Ilizarov, the inventor of that very device, but he is not from Krasnaya Sloboda. There are completely different heroes here!

01. Krasnaya Sloboda is sometimes called the Caucasian Jerusalem, but it is more like not Jerusalem, but like...!

02. On the other side of the river is the city of Guba.

03. Don’t believe about Gypsy Hill? Do you think I'm trolling everyone again? Ahaha!

04.

05. Welcome to visit the Mountain Jews!

06.

07. Seasonal migration is typical for Krasnaya Sloboda. Many Mountain Jews living in Moscow, Israel and the USA come to their native village only for the summer or during Jewish holidays. Another similarity with the gypsy Magpies.

08. At home... A wonderful roof in the regional style "mini-market at a bus stop in Omsk in the early 2000s."

09. These are the kind of palaces local successful businessmen build for themselves.

Perhaps the most famous native of Krasnaya Sloboda is the main owner of the Cherkizovsky market Telman Ismailov.

Ismailov created his first company back in 1988, and it was called “Commercial Charity Company” ;) This cooperative sold clothing and consumer goods. A couple of years later, it evolved into the AST Group, which was involved in many types of businesses. IN different time the AST group owned the Cherkizovsky and Warsaw markets in Moscow, the Prague restaurant, the Voentorg business center, and so on.

10. This is about the question of where Mountain Jews get money for palaces.

When contraband worth $2 billion was suddenly found in Cherkizon, which upset Putin personally, Ismailov left for Turkey, where he managed to open the 7-star Mardan Palace hotel worth $1 billion. According to Forbes, the promise to build a hotel complex in Sochi for the Olympics helped him return to Russia. However, later this project was “picked up” by the Renova structures of Viktor Vekselberg.

At the end of last year, the court declared Ismailov bankrupt. A few months earlier, his fortune was estimated at $600 million, but now Ismailov has left the Forbes ranking. It is also known about Ismailov that he collected a collection of 2000 wristwatches, and once gave Nikolai Baskov a villa for his birthday...

11. It seems that they are making a cafe... There are many similar eateries in Moscow with Caucasian cuisine. Owners almost always consider it necessary to equip a fountain, even if it is made of plastic.

12. For some houses you cannot immediately tell whether they are abandoned or residential.

13.

14. Cute gate...

15. ... in such a house!

Two other well-known representatives of Krasnaya Sloboda who have become prominent figures in Russia are friends and partners God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev. The fortune of each of them is estimated at $3.2 billion; they occupy 26th and 27th places in the Forbes ranking. The Moscow career of friends was also first connected with Cherkizon: a smaller market, known as “Ilievsky”, operated on the territory of the market.

Now they own the most visited shopping center in Russia "European", the giant agricultural complex "Food City", the shopping center "Lotus City", "Electronic Paradise", the trade and fair complex "Moscow", the furniture center "Grand", the market "Gardener" , one of the Moscow City towers and the Ukraine Hotel (Radisson Royal Moscow). And it was their company that built Moskvarium. Nisanov and Iliev are called the largest owners of retail real estate in Moscow.

Nisanov began his business ascent by opening a thrift store in his native village in the 90s, and Iliev in his youth sewed the famous airfield caps...

16. In some places old buildings have been preserved. Pretty nice.

17. Palace of Happiness! This is a Jewish hall for wedding celebrations.

18. There are no sidewalks in the alleys. There is a road and there is a plot near the house, which everyone turns into what they want.

19. Street racing

20. One of the main streets. There are more old houses preserved here. And even a sidewalk is available.

21. But it’s still a journey with obstacles.

22. Nice.

23. Of course, it was impossible to do without plastic balconies.

24. In some courtyards their Ismailovs, Nisanovs and Ilievs have not yet been born...

25. Some tourist

26.

27.

28. Like the gypsies, Mountain Jews in Krasnaya Sloboda pay great attention to show-offs. Do you think this vase just stands on the windowsill? No! Everyone should see her!

29. Vases and sets made of Bohemian glass are a sign of wealth. And wealth needs to be put on public display, otherwise it’s not cool.

30.

31. Taxi)

32. The usual contrast for Krasnaya Sloboda.

33. More about show-offs. If it’s a pretentious number, then three sevens!

34. Especially if you have a black Mercedes from the year before last! A 15-year-old teenager can drive around Krasnaya Sloboda in a black Mercedes, showing the world how cool he is.

35. Pay attention to the height of the wall.

36. And the house of the owner of the Porsche has bars on the entire first floor. What about the vases?!

37. This is what it is, the homeland of the owners of trading Moscow.

The Jews found themselves on the territory of modern Azerbaijan after the creation of the Achaemenid state by Cyrus II the Great, which, as a result of victorious wars, included both the Azerbaijani lands and the territory of the former Babylonian kingdom. After the famous "Edict of Cyrus" from 538 BC. Some of the Babylonian exiles returned to their homeland to restore the Jerusalem Temple and revive national life in the country. The remaining Jews found themselves drawn into the orbit of the economic, political and social life of the new state. Many of them became officials, financiers, diplomats, butlers of the king, i.e. high dignitaries and even queens (Esther) In the 2nd century BC. The Great Silk Road was built - the main trade route connecting China with the countries of Europe, Central Asia, the Near and Middle East. A significant part of it passed through the territory of Azerbaijan, and since Jews have always been pioneers in the development of new markets, they probably did not miss the opportunity to trade in this country.

In the Sasanian Empire formed in 224, the Jews were able to have their own self-government, headed by a “rosh ha-galut” or exilarch, who was one of the highest dignitaries of the country. However, with the advent of Christianity, a confrontation arose between the dominant Zoroastrian religion in Iran and the new creed, whose adherents carried out active missionary activities, which also affected the Jews, who, as is known, did not engage in proselytism. However, under King Yazdegerd II (438 - 451), at the instigation of the magicians, all Gentiles began to be persecuted and persecuted. Religious confrontation reached its apogee under King Firuz I (459-484). In addition, the Jews were involved in the Mazdakid movement (481-529), which also did not add to their love from the authorities. As a result, a significant part of the Jewish population was forced to leave the Sasanian state and move to Arabia and even India. Many ended up in the high mountain villages of Dagestan, which could only be reached through the territory of Azerbaijan.

Excavations in 1990 under the direction of R. Geyushov discovered the remains of the Jewish quarter and the Shabran synagogue of the 7th century in the area of the city of Baku. (some historians associate it with the period of Khazarian rule). Shmuel ben Yahya al-Maghribi (died 1174), a Jewish physician who converted to Islam, the author of the anti-Jewish work “Ifham al-Yahud” (“Refutation of the Jews”), names among the places where David Alroi recruited supporters of his messianic movement, the cities of Khoy, Salmas, Tabriz, Merage and Urmia (now Rezaie).

There is also a version of the earlier presence of Jews in Azerbaijan. Thus, according to M. Valiyev: “The tribes that have lived in Azerbaijan since ancient times include the Jews called mountain Jews. The Hebrews, Jews, Israelites, Yahuds or Juurs belong to the Semitic race. In Azerbaijan, during the Persian rule, they adopted the Tat language, which they still speak.” The historian of the 7th century, originally from the state of Caucasian Albania (northern Azerbaijan), Moses Kalankatuysky provides information about the residence of “Christians, Jews, pagans” in the 7th century in the capital of the state of Caucasian Albania - the city of Barda. According to the famous medieval traveler Benjamin of Tudela: “... in the 12th century there were 1000 synagogues in Azerbaijan.”

One of the fragments of the famous Cairo Genizah indicates that Rabbi Baruch Israel from the Azerbaijani city of Maragha relied in his writings on the manuscript of Saadi Gaon, who lived in another city on the territory of modern Azerbaijan - Urmia. At the end of the 12th century, Samuel Ben Yahya moved from Baghdad to Maragha, who became the court scientist of the Ildegezids, who ruled the powerful state of the Atabeks of Azerbaijan. The large size of the Jewish population in the country is also evidenced by the wide scope of the messianic movement, which was led by David Alroi, who enjoyed support in the communities of Tabriz, Maraga, Salmas, Urmia and Khoy. In the 13th – 15th centuries, Azerbaijan became the center of the Khulagid state. After the defeat of the Baghdad Caliphate by Hulagu Khan in 1258, mass migration of local Jews began to the lands beyond the Tigris, mainly to modern Azerbaijan, where there were already developed and populous Jewish communities. The best minds of the East and West - from China to Spain - flocked here. In Tabriz, Maraga, Sultaniyeh and Urmiya, Salmas and Khoy, Jews could find application for their knowledge and abilities.

XIII - XVIII centuries.

In the second half of the 13th century. The Ilkhanids, the Mongol khans who ruled vast territories from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf and from Afghanistan to the deserts of Syria, turned Azerbaijan into the central region of their empire. The religious tolerance of the early Ilkhanid Buddhists attracted many Jews to Azerbaijan. The first minister of Arghun Khan (1284–91), the Jew Sa'd ad-Dawla, actually directed the entire internal and foreign policy of the Ilkhanid state. The Jew Muhazzim ad-Dawla was the head of the administration of Tabriz, and the Jew Labid ben Abi-r-Rabi' headed the administration system of the entire Azerbaijan. The execution of Sa'd al-Dawla, which was a victory for the palace group dissatisfied with the concentration of power in his hands, and the execution of a number of his supporters, many of whom were Jews, became the first symptom of the deterioration of the situation of the Jews in the country. Many Jews began to convert to Islam. One of them was Rashid ad-Dawla (Rashid ad-Din), who became the first minister in 1298 (executed on false charges in 1318). The historical compilation of Rashid ad-Dawla “Jami'at-tawarikh” (“Collection of Chronicles”, in Persian) is one of the largest monuments of eastern historiography.

In the 18th century, northern Azerbaijan was included in the Russian Empire. In the middle of the 18th century, as a result of the weakening of the Persian state following the death of Nadir Shah (1736-1747), small feudal states arose on the territory of Azerbaijan. The largest of them was the Kuban Khanate. Its founder, Huseyn Ali Khan, in order to strengthen the economic independence of his khanate and develop crafts and trade here, began to invite merchants, artisans and mining experts here. Among the settlers were many Jews, who, together with the residents of Kulgat, destroyed as a result of Nadir Shah’s raid, founded a new settlement - the Jewish (Red) Settlement. It began to develop especially quickly under Fatali Khan, who waged wars of conquest, as a result of which the north-west of Azerbaijan and the south of Dagestan were annexed to the Kuba Khanate, along with the Mountain Jews living on these lands. Jews from surrounding villages, and even Baku, flocked to the newly created settlement. They settled in separate quarters, each of which reflected the origin of its inhabitants.

Conquest of Azerbaijan by Russia

Entry of the South Caucasus into Russian Empire allowed Mountain Jews to strengthen contacts with the rest Jewish world. In addition, internecine wars between local rulers and raids by Iranian troops stopped. As a result, the population of the Red (Jewish) Sloboda showed a tendency to constant growth. So, in 1856, 3,000 people lived there, in 1873 - 5,120, in 1886 - 6,280, and in 1916 - 8,400. In 1926, the number of residents of Krasnaya Sloboda decreased to 6,000 people. A considerable number of Mountain Jews also lived in villages near Shamakhi - in Bashal and Myudzhi, where they were engaged in the production of silk fabrics. In addition, they also created looms of various sizes and types.

In Baku, in the 19th century, the main contingent of Mountain Jews were immigrants from the Iranian province of Gilan. They were engaged in traveling trade in villages. In rural areas, the main occupation of Mountain Jews was crafts, agriculture, gardening, tobacco growing and leather tanning. An interesting fact is that, despite pressure from Christian merchants, the Jews of Baku, like all of Azerbaijan, were allowed to trade according to Sundays. At the end of the 19th century, the first synagogue was opened in the village of Sabunchi, a suburb of Baku, and at the beginning of the 20th century, a new prayer house was built in the city center in Torgovy Lane. Since 1905, the chief rabbi here was Efraim Rabinovich. In addition, during this period, a Jewish Sephardic gymnasium was opened, where mountain and Georgian Jewish boys and girls studied. A yeshiva was opened to study religion and traditions. An important center of culture was the Ilyaev club. But this happened only in Baku. In Cuba, the main occupation of Mountain Jews remained the carpet trade. Agriculture in the vicinity of Cuba was poorly developed due to poor uncultivated soil. A certain part of the Mountain Jews were engaged in small-scale trade and the so-called “shaboyism”, i.e. natural exchange of goods for tanned leather. In former times, the Jews of Cuba enjoyed the right to choose and from among them 3-4 people were elected to the local council. Mountain Jews lived completely separately and zealously preserved their family-patriarchal morals. With the exception of a few houses of rich and wealthy Cuban Jews, located on a fairly wide main street, the rest of the Jewish population lived in cramped huts, irregularly spread throughout the entire space of the “slobodka.” Some synagogues were distinguished by their size and architecture, topped with turrets in the middle of the roof. There were a total of 12 synagogues in Quba.

Another major center of residence for Mountain Jews was Oguz. It was mainly inhabited by immigrants from the Gilan province. Its population was replenished by refugees from the neighboring villages of Zalem and Kutkashen, which was associated with feudal strife and Iranian raids. At the beginning, the Jewish settlement stood apart and was perceived as a separate settlement. However, over time, it merged with the main part of the village, turning into a separate quarter. In the 19th century, Jews made up up to a third of the total population of Oguz. In 1885 there were 2,282 people.

Sub-ethnic composition

Over the past centuries, Jews belonging to different ethnolinguistic groups lived on the territory of Azerbaijan: Mountain Jews, Ashkenazis, Crimeans, Kurdish Jews, Georgian Jews. In the 19th century The overwhelming majority of the Jewish population of Azerbaijan were Mountain Jews; in the 20th century. the majority were Ashkenazi.

Georgian Jews

Georgian Jews visited Azerbaijan even before their resettlement to this republic. However, the most likely time of their appearance here can be considered the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, and the places of origin are Akhaltsikhe, Oni, Kulashi and Kutaisi. After the abolition of serfdom in Georgia in 1864, the migration of Georgian Jews to Azerbaijan intensified. Among the visitors were mainly: tailors, hatmakers, shoemakers, distillers, carvers, soap makers, tanners. In addition, there were government contractors, teachers and small traders. Georgian Jews sought to settle in Baku. Basically, they settled in the city center from “Molokanka to Kemyurchu Meydana and from Sabunchiki to Beshmertebe.” From 1860 to 1870, families are known to have moved here from Gori, Batumi, Akhalkalaki and Tbilisi. By the way, many of them still remember where their ancestors came from. It is very difficult to indicate the exact number of Georgian Jews who found themselves in Azerbaijan in those years, since in all censuses the population was determined only by religion. Consequently, the column “Jews” included everyone: European (Ashkenazi), mountain and Georgian Jews. The main occupation of Georgian Jews was trade. At the beginning of the twentieth century, some of them were shareholders of large Russian-Caucasian trading houses, exchanges, commercial banks, and joint-stock companies. More than a dozen of them were awarded the title of merchants of the 2nd and 3rd guilds, two entered the 1st guild, and one of them Pinkhas Tetruashvili in 1916 “for selfless help in favor of the wounded” was awarded the Order of Stanislav of the 3rd degrees. In the old part of the city, “Ichnri Shekher,” Georgian Jews had kerosene shops, where, among other things, they sold candles, soap, fuel oil, rags and lime. There were shops for the collection of waste materials, shoe and leather goods workshops, and many were engaged in peddling. They rented dyeing workshops, distilleries, silk weaving and cotton gin factories. Many had mills and bakeries. They were engaged in charity, religiously fulfilling one of the main commandments of Judaism. Thus, in Baku there was a shelter for the poor, built by the philanthropist Elashikoshvili. Since the Jews of Georgia were subject to serfdom until 1864, most of them did not have the opportunity to receive higher or even secondary education. Therefore, until 1920, there was a “Society for the Spread of Education among Georgian Jews” in Baku, led by the then famous journalist I. Glachengauz. And if a separate school was created for Mountain Jews until the third year of study, then for Georgians it was common with European Jews - Ashkenazis. After the Sovietization of Azerbaijan, despite all sorts of prohibitions and restrictions, Georgian Jews continued to observe the Brit Milah ritual, secretly baked matzo in private apartments and taught boys the basics of Judaism. They celebrated Saturday together. During the years of Soviet power, many Georgian Jews became doctors, teachers, scientists, athletes and musicians. People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR Mikhail Lezgishvili, People's Artist of Azerbaijan Benny Tsamalashvili, scientific world– Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic, Candidate of Technical Sciences D. Eligulashvili, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A. Moshashvili, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences A. Charukhchev. The sports honor of Azerbaijan was defended for many years by boxer B. Tskhvirashvili, wrestler M. Palagashvili, master of sports, who headed the Kirovabad (Ganja) Dynamo society, senior coach I. Abramashvili, football players brothers Semyon, Eduard and Joseph Davidashvili, master of sports in athletics L .Kokielov. Sh. Gorelashvili played for the Neftchi junior team at many USSR football championships. For a long period, Sh. Khanukashvili was the chief engineer of the glass factory in Baku. Among doctors, N. Bagdadlishvili, I. Davidashvili and O. Karelashvili were especially famous. A significant contribution to the preservation of the Jewish cultural and national heritage is made by the famous entrepreneur, member of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Jewish Encyclopedia A. Dadiani. Currently, there are about 35 families of Georgian Jews left in Baku. However, the community of Georgian Jews continues to exist, preserving the spirit and traditions of the Jewish people. Much credit for this belongs to the President International Fund“STMEGI” to G. Zakharyaev.

Ashkenazim

The first Ashkenazi Jews appeared in Azerbaijan in 1810. In 1806, the Baku Khanate was conquered by Russian troops. From that moment on, people from different provinces of the Russian Empire flocked here. In 1832, the first Ashkenazi synagogue appeared in Baku. At that time the community consisted of only 26 people. In 1927, Kurdish Jews appeared in Baku. In 1870, a synagogue of artisans was opened. In the same year the number of Jews reached 50 people, and in 1891 their number increased to 390 people. The growth of the Jewish population was mainly associated with the development of the oil production and refining industries. In 1897, 2,341 Jews lived in Baku. Many of them found their calling in the oil business. The pioneers of industrial oil production were G. Polyak (“Pole and Sons”), A. Dembo and H. Kagan (“Dembo and Kagan”), M. Schumacher (“M. Schumacher”), G. Polyak (“G. Polyak and family" L. Itskovich (“L. Itskovich”), G. Ginzburg, A. Feigel and others L. Itskovich was one of those who at one time made a donation for the construction of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He played a prominent role in the development of the oil industry. played by the Rothschilds’ “Caspian-Black Sea Petroleum Industrial and Trading Society” Its managers were: mechanical engineer K. Bardsky and mechanical engineer A. Gukhman, the field manager was process engineer D. Landau, workshop manager, mechanical engineer M. Fin, The head of the electrical department was industrial engineer I. Pilkevich. The following people worked at the main Rothschild kerosene and oil plant: manager S. Ginis, assistant manager M. Gallai, technical director I. Pariser. The departments of the plant were headed by L. Itskovich, H. Kagan, L. Leites. , A. Fish, N. Gottlieb. The board of the Rothschild company “Mazut” included M. Ephrusi, managing director M. Polyak, as well as E. Deitch, Y. Aron, S. Polyak. In 1901, 64 Jews worked in the administration of oil companies and joint stock companies.

In 1913, 14 Jewish companies produced 44% of all kerosene in the Russian Empire. In the same year, the Jewish population of Baku, according to statistics, reached 9,690 people, which accounted for 4.5% of all city residents. These were mostly Ashkenazi Jews. The following facts testify to the successful adaptation of the Jewish population on the land of Azerbaijan. Thus, out of 283 registered lawyers and advocates, 75 people were Jews, and out of 185 practicing doctors, 69 people were Jews. Nevertheless, the anti-Semitic policy of the tsarist government “exasperated” Jews thousands of kilometers from St. Petersburg. Thus, in 1888, during the fair, despite the protests of the local intelligentsia, Jews were evicted from Baku by order of the authorities. In 1898, 20 Jewish houses were damaged due to a ritual libel. However, despite the “efforts” of the authorities, they failed to instill the “virus” of anti-Semitism in the Azerbaijani people.

Due to the increase in the Jewish population, various educational institutions, religious schools, charitable organizations and educational institutions began to appear. In 1896, a yeshiva was opened, which in 1913-1920 was headed by the famous F. Shapiro, the author and compiler of the first Hebrew-Russian dictionary. In 1898, men's and, in 1901, women's Sabbath schools for adults began operating. In 1910, the central choral synagogue was built, for which some of the funds were donated by such prominent oil industrialists as Z. Tagiyev and M. Nagiyev. In the same year, a school for Georgian Jews, a Jewish library, a literary and musical circle, a branch of the Jewish Education Society and a society of Jewish language lovers were opened. Until 1920, there was a Jewish gymnasium in Baku. In 1890, a Jewish Jewish kindergarten. At the end of 1900, a group of enthusiasts organized a literary and dramatic circle named after Sholom Aleichem. Enormous contribution to the development and preservation of the Jewish way of life and national identity contributed by Rabbi L. Berger, who led the community from 1900 to 1920. Thanks to the activities of educational and charitable organizations, the literacy rate among the Jewish population was: 83%!

Since the end of the 19th century, Baku has become one of the centers of the Jewish national movement. So, in 1891, the Hovevei Zion branch appeared here. In 1899, E. Kaplan created the first Zionist organization. In 1902, four representatives of Azerbaijani Jewry participated in the second All-Russian Zionist Conference in Minsk. At the Sixth World Zionist Congress held in Basel in 1903, the representative of the Baku Zionists E. Eisenbet was present. In 1905, the first cell of the Poalei Zion party appeared, which included representatives of artisans, handicraftsmen, workers, part of the intelligentsia and the petty bourgeoisie. In addition, youth were united in the Young Judea organization. It was headed by A. Vainschel. Many Jews were among the Bolsheviks. So, among the 26 Baku commissars there were six of them: Y. Zevin, M. Basin, I. Mishne, R. Kaganov and two Bogdanov brothers. Commissar of the 25th Chapaev Division B. Tal was also from Baku.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, proclaimed on May 28, 1918, was an example of genuine democracy. "Declaration of Independence" of the newly created state for the first time in history Muslim East granted equal rights to all peoples inhabiting it. In all governments and parliament of the young republic there were 1-2 representatives from the Jewish population. In court, Jews were given the right to take an oath in Hebrew. A prominent figure in the ADR was the famous children's doctor, Professor E. Gindes, who until the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan was the permanent Minister of Health. R. Kaplan worked as Minister of Religious Affairs. The post of Governor of the State Bank with the rank of Deputy Minister of Finance was held by M. Abesgauz. Among the employees of various ministries were: I. Rabinovich, L. Korets, Yu. Ginzburg, V. Tserenbaum, V. Gadasevich, A. Levitan, B. Spektor, M. Loroschinsky. Members of the Judicial Chamber (at the same level as the Supreme Court) were L. Bafram and L. Perchikhin. At that time, Y. Balatovsky, V. Pipik, Y. Kadashevsky, A. Lyubarsky, M. Shor, M. Milman worked as lawyers of the Baku District Court. In the ADR parliament, the Jewish community was represented by the Zionist activist A. Bushman. The Jewish National Council, which united most parties and movements, was recognized official representative Jewish national minority.

The level of freedom in the state is evidenced by the presence of various types of media in the country. In 1917, under the editorship of the famous journalist I. Glachenhaus, the weekly “Kavkazer Vochenblat” began to be published in Yiddish. From 1917 to 1920, under the editorship of B.-Z. Vainschel, the Caucasian Jewish Bulletin was published in Russian with the appendix “Palestine”. In 1919-1920, the newspaper “Jewish Will” was published. In 1919, the newspaper “Tobushi Sabkha” began to be published in the Jewish-Tat language. Under the editorship of M. Komarovsky, the publication in Hebrew of the journal “Ha-Mevaser Ha-Kavkazi” was carried out.

After the establishment of Soviet power in the republic, all printed publications that did not reflect the official point of view were banned. In 1920, both male - "Hasmoneans" and "Maccabees" and female - "Sulamite" and "Deborah" student corporations continued to exist in Baku. In the 1920-1930s, a Yiddish school still functioned in the capital of the republic. In 1921, the Bezalel and Borokhov clubs were created in Baku, in which libraries, drama clubs and political education courses operated. In addition, the club named after Leckert, created before the Soviet regime, continued its activities. In 1922, a trial was held in Baku of 16 rabbis and “major Jewish speculators” - trustees of the secret cheder and Talmud Torah. In 1923, the old Ashkenazi synagogue was closed.

According to the population census conducted in 1926, 19 thousand European (Ashkenazi), 7.5 thousand mountain and 427 Georgian Jews lived in the Azerbaijan SSR. The growth in the size of the Ashkenazi community is directly related to the migration in 1918-1922 to the republic of a significant number of refugees from the civil war-torn provinces of the former Russian Empire.

Until 1928, there was an illegal Zionist organization in Baku. From 1932 to 1936, the Baku Jewish Workers' Theater gave performances in Yiddish. After the closure of the central choral synagogue in 1934, the Azerbaijan State Jewish Theater began operating in its building (conductor Y. Friedman, artistic director V. Tseitlin), which existed until 1939. By the end of the 30s of the twentieth century, Jewish cultural and public life in Azerbaijan has practically ceased. In the religious sphere, things were no better. In 1939, the Krymchak synagogue and the kinassa, located in the same building, were closed. In 1937-1938, the authorities expelled Kurdish Jews who had Iranian citizenship (about 400 families) from Baku; the remainder were deported in 1951 to Kazakhstan.

After the Great Patriotic War The authorities of the Soviet Union somewhat weakened the fight against religion. In 1945, at 39 Dimitrov Street (now Sh. Badalbeyli), a synagogue of Mountain Jews began to function. In 1946, a synagogue of Ashkenazi and Georgian Jews was opened in a building on Pervomaiskaya Street (now D. Alieva) 171.

In 1959, the All-Union Population Census showed that in the Azerbaijan SSR the Jewish population reached 40,204 people, of which 38,917 people lived in cities. Such a significant increase was associated with the Great Patriotic War, when many residents of areas temporarily occupied by the Nazis were evacuated deep into the Soviet Union. In 1969, there were already 41,288 Jews in the Azerbaijan SSR.

In 1972, a matse bakery began operating at the synagogue of Ashkenazi Jews. Before this, matzo was baked in one of the workshops of the state bakery.

The Jewish revival began in the second half of the 60s of the twentieth century. The main impetus for the growth of national self-awareness was the eve of the six-day war of 1967 and the sudden brilliant victory of the Israeli Defense Forces over the armed forces of Arab countries. It was during these dramatic days that the semi-assimilated Jews of Azerbaijan, who felt quite comfortable in this Soviet republic, suddenly realized that they were all an integral part of a single Jewish people. Under the influence of these events, a movement for repatriation to the State of Israel arose in Baku. Young people began to take a keen interest in the history and traditions of their people. Among those who stood at the origins of the Jewish revival were M. Becker, A. Wexler, J. Zakon, I. Weinbrand. Y. Vodovozov, Y. Sprikut, L. Stern, V. Lapin, G. Shakhnovich, M. Lakirovich, M. Farber, I. Steinberg and others.

In the late 60s and early 70s of the twentieth century, a large group of so-called “refuseniks” appeared in the USSR, i.e. those who were not given permission to repatriate to the State of Israel. In Baku, the first of them was S. Kushnir. At the same time, underground circles for the study of Hebrew were created, samizdat and other literature was distributed.

However, the majority of Jews continued to be loyal citizens of the country, contributing to the development of science, culture, education and health care. Largely thanks to the Jews in Baku, as a result of the interaction of the intellectual elites of the various peoples inhabiting Azerbaijan, the so-called “Baku” nation arose.

Their role is difficult to overestimate. It is enough to simply list those who made up the “golden fund” of science and culture of Azerbaijan. Among the musicians, a special place was occupied by I. Rozin, U. Goldstein, S. Krongold, A. Livshits, D. Berkovich, B. Davidovich, E. Barshtak, I. Abezgauz, G. Burshtein, A. Shvarts, M. Brenner, S. .Britanitsky, D.Sitkovetsky, A.Neiman. M. Presman, I. Iceberg, E. Finkelstein, E. Ternogradsky, I. Plyam played a significant role in the creation of the piano school in Azerbaijan. W. Marshad worked at the vocal department of the Baku State Conservatory for a long time. Singer S. Halfen was very popular among Baku residents. Conductor G. Risman worked for many years at the Opera and Ballet Theater named after. M.F.Akhundova. Famous composers were E. Gendler, Z. Stelnik, B. Zeidman, M. Weinstein, M. Krishtul, D. Chernomordikov, A. Kabakov and L. Weinstein. Jazz improviser and composer L. Ptashka was born in Baku. In this city the famous ballerina B. Karpilova (Rozenblat) was born and got a start in life. A serious contribution to the study of music was made by natives of Baku V. Konen and N. Fishman. An outstanding conductor of the Soviet era was People's Artist of the USSR A. Kats. The famous composer, author of the opera “Shahsenem” R. Gliere, worked in Azerbaijan for many years.

S. Grobshtein, M. Rubiner, M. Geiman, I. Glikman, A. Zadov, A. Baryudin and V. Zeide, who at one time was deputy minister, made a significant contribution to the development of the oil refining and petrochemical industry, as well as petroleum engineering. For many years, V. Kaufman worked as Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR. I. Kriman was the chief engineer of the Caspian Shipping Company for many years. A native of Baku was also a prominent statesman of the USSR, People's Commissar of Ammunition and one of the leaders of the atomic project, three times Hero of Socialist Labor, Colonel General B. Vannikov. One of the leaders of the partisan movement in Belarus during the Great Patriotic War was the former Baku resident G. Eidinov, who, after the liberation of Minsk from the German occupiers in 1944, took the post of Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the BSSR.

Jews played an equally important role in the development of theatrical art in Azerbaijan. Thus, for many years, the director of the Azerbaijan State Russian Drama Theater (now the State Russian Drama Theater named after Samed Vurgun) was Y. Friedman. The artistic director at that time was A. Gripich, the literary part was headed by I. Shtemler, and the musical part by J. Muller. The actors Y. Charsky, M. Kaufman, K. Irmich, G. Belenkaya, V. Nordshtein, I. Ioselevich, L. Gruber, L. Vigdorov, V. Falkovich, I. Perlova, R. Ginzburg, were widely popular among the audience. D. Tumarkina, M. Rozovsky, etc. The actress and film director M. Barskaya-Chardynina and the theater and film actor E. Vitorgan were from Baku. A. Galperin became one of the best cameramen of the USSR. Among the directors, playwrights, writers, poets and TV presenters who were born on the soil of Azerbaijan and achieved fame were: L. Zorin (Zaltsman), Y. Gusman, Z. Sitchin, E. Voiskunsky, G. Gurvich, V. Wulf, I. Oratovsky, A. Plavnik, I. Kamenkovich, L. Vaisinberg, L. Polonsky, E. Topol (Topelberg), I. Shchegolev (Chagall, former member of the Knesset), P. Amnuel and others. The famous sculptor P. Sabsay lived in Baku.

For many years, E. Gurvich worked as the director of the Azerbaijan Telegraph Agency (now Azertaj). Well-known journalists were N. Barsky, L. Goldstein, S. Peretz, G. Pisman, S. Khaldei, S. Korsh, M. Peisel, N. Yarovaya, D. Korsh (Kon, TV presenter on Channel 9 of Israeli television), A Brenner (REKA radio station), R. Mirkin and others. Deputy General Director of ITAR-TASS M. Gusman was born in Baku.

Among those who headed the construction trusts of Azerbaijan one can name B. Leitman, F. Goltsman, N. Becker, I. Skvirsky, V. Pariser and others.

Jews played a special role in the formation and development of the Azerbaijan chess school. A. Gurvich is considered one of the founders of chess composition in the republic. Masters of sports in chess and grandmasters were: L. Guldin, L. Listengarten, A. Margulev, O. Privarotsky, E. Glaz, R. Karsunsky, M. Shur, V. Smolenskaya, E. Sutovsky, T. Gorbuleva, T. Zatulovskaya, T. Alschwang, V. Smolenskaya, world champion G. Kasparov (Weinstein).

And, of course, the medical science of the republic could not do without Jews. Thus, of the ten medical professors who founded the Faculty of Medicine of Baku in 1919 state university, eight were Jews. Among them are professors A. Levin, who headed the department of therapy, and B. Finkelstein. Epidemiologist N. Gililov laid the scientific foundations for the fight against malaria. In the 30s of the twentieth century, the head of the department of therapy of the newly created medical institute was Professor V. Ternogradsky. In the field of therapy, Professors P. Stein and R. Mezhebovsky became widely known. For a long time, the director of the Institute of Occupational Diseases was the therapist P. Kaufman. Head physician of the Baku Central City Hospital named after. Semashko worked with infectious disease specialist M. Leibzon. The Department of Infectious Diseases of the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies was headed by Professor Sh. Halfen. For 27 years, Professor K. Krynsky was at the head of the Baku leper colony. Of the oculists, the most famous were Professors A. Varshavsky and L. Slutsky. Pediatricians S. Stern, T. Listengarten, A. Kugel, V. Rogov, and allergist P. Katz were very popular among the residents of Baku. During the Great Patriotic War, the head of the evacuation hospitals of Azerbaijan was Colonel of the Medical Service R. Gurevich. Among cardiologists, Professor S. Gusman, E. Gelgaft, V. Soskin, Yu. Gurevich and others were widely known. Dr. V. Knapengof made a great contribution to the study of the problems of human acclimatization in hot climates. The founder of the Institute of Oncology was Professor I. Ginzburg, and one of the most famous doctors in this field was Dr. D. Rozin. Among the endocrinologists, we can mention T. Zherebchevskaya, M. Vykhodets, E. Tarakanova.

Heroes of the Soviet Union M. Shakhnovich, S. Levin and the famous intelligence officer L. Manevich (Etienne) lived in Baku

In Azerbaijan, as an oil republic, it has always been given special meaning geological surveys. The head of the Azerbaijani branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (AzFAN) at one time was geologist F. Levinson-Lessing. Here they always remember with special warmth the activities of such prominent scientists - geologists as N. Shapirovsky, L. Eppelbaum, A. Gagelganz, S. Axelrod, V. Listengarten. Among the famous scientists, one way or another connected with Azerbaijan, one should name: one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, Nobel Prize laureate, Hero of Socialist Labor, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences L. Landau, theoretical physicist, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, E. Feinberg, geologist , academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences V. Khain, organic chemist, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the UzSSR I. Tsukervanik, petrochemist, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the AzSSR M. Dalin, mathematician V. Rokhlin, metallurgist B. Rabinovich, thermal physicist A. Gukhman, economist V. Klupt, literary critic D. Motolskaya, historians A. Galperin, Z. Yampolsky, A. Nekrich, A. Pisman, as well as philosopher M. Black.

According to the 1979 All-Union Population Census, 35.5 thousand Jews lived in the Azerbaijan SSR. After 1980, the departure of Jews from the USSR was prohibited. Gorbachev's perestroika, which began, changed a lot in the lives of the peoples of the Soviet Union. In 1987, the first legal Hebrew courses in the USSR were opened in Baku. A youth section “Beitar” is being created. In 1989, the Jewish culture club “Aleph” began to operate (headed by M. Mishne). Club “22” opens in Sumgayit (headed by V. Shtofenmacher). G. Tsudik creates the musical ensemble “Matone”. P. Kalika organizes the publication of the Shalom-Sholem-Sholumi newsletter and creates an organization named after J. Korczak. In 1990, on the initiative of the famous lawyer, chairman of the board of the Baku religious community of Ashkenazi Jews M. Khaykin, the Azerbaijan-Israel Friendship Society began its activities, the members of which were prominent scientists and public figures of Azerbaijan. In the same year, a representative office of Sokhnuta was opened in Baku. In 1992, on the initiative of the chairman of the board of the Baku religious community of Ashkenazi Jews L. Ginzburg, the Jewish Women's Organization of Azerbaijan was created (headed by I. Kleiner). In 1995, it was headed by L. Reichrudel. Currently, the organization is known as the “Humanitarian Association of Jewish Women of Azerbaijan” (GAEZHA). In 1992, with Sunday school“Aleph”, on the initiative of M. Becker and the support of “Sokhnut”, the children’s choir “Hatikva” was created under the direction of M. Shapiro. Very soon it turned into a highly professional team that delighted many cities and countries with its art. In the same year, the Committee of Veterans of the Great Patriotic War was created (headed by N. Gliner) and the AzIz newspaper began to be published. In 1993, the Embassy of the State of Israel opened in Baku. In 1994, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel E. Yotvat presented his credentials to President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to Azerbaijan, Arkady Mil-Man, enjoyed great respect from the leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the general public of the city of Baku.

In 1994, the rabbi of the VAAD ha TSOLA organization, Sh. Wolfman, on the initiative of the chairman of the board of the Baku religious community of Ashkenazi Jews, B. Weingoltz, created a yeshiva. In the same year, a Hebrew department was opened at the Department of Oriental Studies of Baku State University. In 1996, the Israeli Cultural and Information Center began functioning at the Embassy of the State of Israel. In February 1999, on the initiative of the chairman of the board of the Baku religious community of Ashkenazi Jews M. Becker and with the support of GAEZH in the premises of the Museum of Arts. R. Mustafayev held a two-day thematic exhibition “Jews of Azerbaijan”, which was warmly received by the public of the capital of Azerbaijan. In June of the same year, with the active participation of the Joint, the charitable organization “Hesed Gershon” (director Sh. Davidov) was created. In 2000, the Joint opened the Jewish Cultural Center JCC (director V. Katz). During the same period, the newspapers “Or Shelanu”, “Hesed Gershon”, “Amishav” and “Tower” began to be published. In June 2000, M. Becker’s monograph “The Jews of Azerbaijan: History and Modernity” was published. At the same time, the Museum of History of Azerbaijan held a thematic exhibition “190th anniversary of the settlement of Ashkenazi Jews in Azerbaijan” (organizers: M. Becker, L. Reichrudel, I. Gusin).

In 1989, according to the last All-Union Census of the USSR, 30.8 thousand Jews lived in Azerbaijan. Since this period, there has been an increase in the repatriation of Jewish citizens of the republic to the State of Israel, which was associated with the beginning of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, a drop in production and an unstable socio-political situation. Aliya from Azerbaijan amounted to: in 1989 - 466 people, in 1990 7905 people, in 1991 5676 people, in 1992 2777 people, in 1993 3500 people, in 1994 2270 people and in the first half of 2003 - 177 people . As a result of the mass exodus, which mainly affected Ashkenazi Jews, Mountain Jews began to predominate in the republic.

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Currently, the Ashkenazi Jewish community numbers about 1,000 people.

Economic and political activity of Jews.

XIX century.

The main Jewish center was the city of Kuba, where 5,492 Jews lived in 1835 (of which 2,718 people were concentrated in the Jewish quarter); in 1866, 6,282 Jews lived in the city. There were also relatively large communities of Mountain Jews in the villages of Vartashen and Myudzhi. In 1864, in the village of Vartashen (since 1990 - Oguz), the majority of the population were Jews. In 1886, 1,400 Jews lived here, there were three prayer houses, two Talmud Hunas (cheders) with 40 students. It is known that the total number of literate people, that is, those who could read the Torah, was then 70 people, among them there were five Jews who were called rabbis.

XX century.

Since the end of the 19th century, Baku became one of the centers of the Jewish national movement. In 1891, a branch of Hovevei Zion was formed here, and in 1899, the first Zionist organization. At the Minsk Zionist Conference in 1902, four delegates from Baku were present. The Zionists were especially active in 1917–20. The youth organization “Young Judea”, men’s student corporations “Hasmonea”, “Maccabea”, women’s student corporations “Shulamit”, “Deborah” functioned.

After Azerbaijan joined the USSR

After the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan on April 28, 1920, Jewish cultural and religious life began to slowly fade away, although in the 20-30s of the twentieth century on the street. Gogol in Baku the Mountain Jews club named after. Ilyaev and the Native Mountain Jewish Theater. All work here was carried out in the Jewish-Tat language. In the 1920s The activities of all Zionist organizations and related cultural and educational institutions that conducted work in Hebrew were prohibited, although cultural development in other Jewish languages continued. In Baku there were schools in Yiddish and the Jewish-Tat language; The famous teacher F. Shapiro taught here. Mountain Jewish schools also functioned in other cities of the republic until 1938, when most schools of national minorities were closed (only in Baku school No. 23 there were Tat classes until 1948). In 1934–38 in Baku, the newspaper “Communist” was published in the Jewish-Tat language; there was a Mountain Jewish department of the Azerbaijan State Publishing House, supervised by Y. Agarunov and headed by Y. Semenov (1899–1961; both writers began in the 1920s as playwrights with Jewish amateur troupes). In 1936–39 in the building of the Great Synagogue, which was closed by the authorities, the Baku Jewish Theater (AzGOSET) operated in Yiddish; its director since 1938 was Y. Friedman, who at the same time headed the Russian Drama Theater; the artistic director was V. Tseitlin.

Until the end of the 30s of the 20th century, schools in Jewish languages still existed in Azerbaijan. In Krasnaya Sloboda there were two of them in the Jewish-Tat dialect of the Persian language. In Baku, the last classes in this language existed until 1948 at school No. 23. In 1934-1938, the newspaper “Communist” was published in the Jewish-Tat language, and there was also a department at the Azerbaijan State Publishing House, where books were published for Mountain Jews. Synagogues gradually began to close. The study of the Hebrew language was prohibited. Many religious leaders were subjected to repression. However, even the Soviet government was unable to completely suppress Jewish consciousness. The Brit Milah ritual was performed everywhere. Prayers were performed in private apartments. Torah study was conducted underground.

In the 1920s–30s. Jews (mostly Ashkenazi) formed a significant part of the cultural elite of Soviet Azerbaijan. Of the ten medical professors who founded the Baku Medical Institute in 1919, eight were Jews. Epidemiologist N. Gililov worked in Azerbaijan, laying the scientific foundations for the fight against malaria. Geologist F. Levinson-Lessing was the chairman of the Azerbaijan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Thousands of Jews worked as doctors, engineers, and teachers. The republic's Jewish population increased during the first five-year plans, but especially due to the evacuation during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. Many of the evacuees remained in Azerbaijan, mainly in Baku, after the war.

Post-war time

In 1951, all Kurdish Jews were deported from Baku (as well as from Tbilisi) by order from Moscow.

The Jewish movement began to develop in Azerbaijan in the 1970s. The leader of the refuseniks in Baku was S. M. Kushnir (born in 1927, since 1978 in Israel); Jewish samizdat publications, books and magazines published in Israel were distributed, and Hebrew study groups existed. The movement took on a new scope in the second half of the 1980s. The first legal Hebrew courses in the Soviet Union opened in Baku in 1987 (official director - Vladimir / Zeev / Farber; since 1989 in Israel). In 1989, the Jewish culture club “Aleph” was organized in Baku; in the same year, the Jewish club “22” was opened in Sumgait, and the small-circulation newsletter “Shalom-Sholem-Sholumi” began to be published in Baku. In 1990, the Azerbaijan-Israel Friendship and Cultural Relations Society was established, which began publishing the Aziz newspaper in 1992. Women's and youth organizations, a committee of Jewish veterans of World War II, and the Association of Judaic Studies and Jewish Culture are registered and active. An activist in a number of organizations and editor of publications was teacher, war veteran P. A. Kalika (1923–95), the author of publications on Jewish topics since the 1970s.

The Republic of Azerbaijan

On October 18, 1991, the Azerbaijan SSR gained state independence and was proclaimed the Azerbaijan Republic. In the independent Republic of Azerbaijan, Jews received equal rights with all peoples of the country. In places where the Jewish population lives, new synagogues are being restored and built, schools are being opened, and cultural life is being revived. In April 2001, the international scientific symposium “Mountain Jews of the Caucasus” was held at the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. In 2005, according to the results of parliamentary elections, Yevda Abramov was elected as a deputy of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 2010 he was re-elected again. In March 2011, as a result of the reconstruction of Fuzuli and Shamsi Badalbeyli streets, the synagogue of the Mountain Jews of the city of Baku moved to a two-story building, newly built at the expense of the state, on Topchibashev street, corner of Fuzuli.

Currently, there are up to 8,000 Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan, of which 3,000 live in Krasnaya Sloboda.

A very precise description of the Mountain Jews was given at one time by the correspondent of the Russian-Jewish weekly Voskhod, I. Eisenbet, who especially emphasized:

“in these original representatives of Jewry, who have preserved their racial characteristics in the greatest purity through millennia, there is a lot of potential energy that could give brilliant results. In them, the inhabitants of the south, raised in the bosom of nature, have not yet had time to slavishly bend their backs, like those of the pupils of our “ghetto”. Their courageous faces sparkle with pride and a willingness to stand up for themselves in case of need. Their mental abilities develop quickly, their practical acumen is great.”

The opportunities for unimpeded access to national culture do not balance out the difficulties experienced by the country’s Jewish population in the context of a protracted war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and the war-related aggravation of interethnic conflicts. Among the 120 Azerbaijani soldiers killed in the war, four were Jews.

On the territory of modern Azerbaijan There are three Jewish communities:

1 - Community of Mountain Jews living mainly in Guba (Krasnaya Sloboda village) and Baku;

2 - Community of Ashkenazi Jews (European Jews), with the main places of residence in Baku and Sumgait;

3 - A community of Georgian Jews, concentrated mainly in the regions of Azerbaijan bordering Georgia.

Number of Jews

As throughout the post-Soviet space, in Azerbaijan over the past few decades there has been a tendency towards a decrease in the number of Jews due to their migration to Israel and Western countries. The number of Jews in Azerbaijan decreased from a maximum of 41.2 thousand in 1939 to 25.3 thousand in 1989. Their share in the country's population decreased accordingly from 1.3 to 0.4 percent. According to the 1999 census, the number of Jews has more than halved. Although a comparison of census data from 1979 and 1989 shows a more than twofold increase in the number of Mountain Jews (from 2.1 thousand to 6.1 thousand), the reason for this is that in Soviet times, Mountain Jews living in cities were often counted as just Jews.

Famous Jews of Azerbaijan

Jews are actively involved in the social and political life of Azerbaijan and contribute to the development of science, culture and art in Azerbaijan. Thus, in the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the post of Minister of Health was held by the doctor Yesey Gindes. Such famous figures of science and culture as Lev Landau, Gavriil Ilizarov, Bella Davidovich, Yuliy Gusman and many others came from Azerbaijan. In 1990, the Azerbaijan-Israel Friendship Society was created, as well as the Sokhnut Society. A Hebrew department was opened at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Baku State University. IN Lately There are cases of the return of Jews who emigrated from the country.

Among the outstanding rabbis of Mountain Jews, it should be noted Benjamin Joseph, Yitzchak Ben Rabbi Gurshum, Gurshum Ben Rabbi Yitzchak, Nuvah Avraham, Saegil Ruvinov, etc. During the years of Soviet power, many Mountain Jews graduated from universities and became doctors, teachers, military officers, artists, writers, musicians and scientists. The famous writer Z. Abramov lived in Baku; A.B. was the manager of the Azkhimstroymontazhremont construction trust for many years. Agaronov, M. Abramov made a serious contribution to economic science. Traumatologist Hero of Socialist Labor, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences G. Ilizarov gained worldwide fame. The director of the dance ensemble “Lezginka” for many years was the choreographer T. Izrailov. An enormous amount of work to preserve the spiritual heritage of Mountain Jews was done by oil scientist, publicist and public figure, Professor M. Agarunov, who wrote a number of works on the history of Mountain Jews. He also became the compiler of the Tat-Russian dictionary and bibliographic index “Mountain Jews”. A prominent scientist and public figure is Doctor of Law, President of the Guild of Russian Lawyers, Head of the Department of Advocacy of the Moscow International Law Institute, Deputy of the State Duma Russian Federation 1999 from the Union of Right Forces, Professor G. Mirzoev. Among those who gave their lives for the freedom and territorial integrity of the Azerbaijani state is the National Hero of Azerbaijan A. Agarunov.

Tolerance and anti-Semitism

The Jews of Azerbaijan have almost never encountered any manifestations of anti-Semitism in the country. Even during periods of outbreaks of anti-Semitism in the world and aggravation of anti-Israel sentiments, only echoes of the terrible events that were happening in the world reached Azerbaijan. Many representatives of the Jewish community of Azerbaijan have taken and are taking an active part in the political, cultural, social and economic life of the republic. Today in Baku there are memorial plaques on buildings where prominent representatives of Jewish nationality lived, such as Nobel Prize winner theoretical physicist Lev Landau, Honored Doctor of the Republic Solomon Gusman, hero of the Karabakh War Albert Agarunov and many others. Abramov, Evda Sasunovich is a representative of the Jewish community in the Azerbaijani parliament.

A number of Azerbaijani newspapers (Yeni Musavat, Yeni Esr, Islamyn Sesi, Millet and others) began systematically publishing anti-Semitic materials since 1992. An attempt by the Meydan newspaper to publish the book “Mein Kampf” by A. Hitler translated into Azerbaijani was suppressed at the request of a number of public, including Jewish, organizations; this, however, did not stop the emergence of new inflammatory articles.

Relations with Israel

Being a Muslim state, Azerbaijan nevertheless maintains fairly close economic and cultural ties with the State of Israel. Thus, since 1993, the local airline AZAL has been operating regular flights on the Baku-Tel Aviv route. Israel is the second largest exporter of Azerbaijani oil. In 1994, the Israeli company GTIB invested heavily in the cellular operator BAKCELL. In 2004, a contract was signed for Azerbaijan to purchase certain types of Israeli weapons. According to Wikileaks, in September 2008, Israel and Azerbaijan signed an agreement to supply Soltam to the Azerbaijani army with mortars and ammunition, Tadiran communications with communications equipment, and Israel Military Industries with a wide range of missiles for various purposes and guidance equipment. In 2009, the Israeli company Elbit Sistems opened its representative office in Azerbaijan. In the same year, under an Israeli license, the Republic's Ministry of Defense Industry began production of UAVs. In June 2009, a business forum was held in Baku with the participation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilgam Aliyev and the President of the State of Israel Shimon Peres. On February 9, 2010, for the first time in the history of relations between the two countries, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel A. Lieberman visited Azerbaijan.

Jewish organizations

The Jewish community is one of the most active and influential religious communities Azerbaijan. In particular, the Center for Azerbaijan-Israel Friendship, the Jewish agency “Sokhnut”, committees for the protection and preservation of Jewish traditions- “Joint” and “Vaad-L-Hetzola”, religious yeshiva schools, the Cultural Center of the Jewish Community, the women’s society “Eva”, the charitable society “Hesed-Khershon”, youth clubs “Alef”, “Kilel”, video club “Mishpacha” “, the newspapers “Az-Iz”, “Tower” and “Amishav” were established. There is also an Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan, negotiations are underway to open an Azerbaijani embassy in Israel.

Synagogues and schools

There are several synagogues in the capital of Azerbaijan, as well as in the cities of Guba and Oguz. The synagogue, opened on March 9, 2003 in Baku, is one of the largest in Europe. In September 2003, the first Jewish school was opened in Baku. The first official Hebrew courses were opened in Azerbaijan in 1987. There are 5 Jewish schools in Baku and Guba, where 1,450 schoolchildren study.

Krasnaya Sloboda

The village of Krasnaya Sloboda, located in the Guba region of Azerbaijan, is the only place of compact residence of Jews in the entire post-Soviet space. The village has three synagogues and a mikveh. Krasnaya Sloboda is mainly inhabited by Mountain Jews.

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