Trudy Gold
The Development of Zionism in the Russian Empire
Summary
The lecture discusses the development of Zionism in the Russian Empire, emphasizing that both Zionists and International Socialists represented a minority among Russian Jews. It highlights the mass emigration of Jews from Eastern Europe between 1881 and 1914 due to dire circumstances, including pogroms and destitution. The lecture underscores that while Zionism initially represented a small minority, it laid the groundwork for significant political and ideological shifts within the Jewish world.
Trudy Gold
Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.
I think it meant to them that the Jews should live in Israel, just as the Germans live in Germany and the French live in France, not thinking about all the different minority groups. In the Russian Empire, when Stalin was commissar for nationalities, there were 113 different national groups.
He taught. He was a teacher, he wrote articles. None of these people were interested in money. They just needed enough to exist. They lived modest lives.
As you begin to see a class system in the Pale, the Jews either had money, a trade or profession that was useful to Russia, or had great artistic merit. So they were allowed in, and some amassed huge fortunes, like the Poliakoffs, the Kronenbergs, etc.