A Helping Hand to Immigrants

Baron de Hirsch

A Helping Hand to Immigrants

By Susan Weinberg

Genealogy gives new meaning to history, reminding us that our families were part of it.   It is the story of what brought our families to America and in doing so influenced the course of our own life. When world events affect the personal and significant figures play an important role in shaping outcomes, it becomes a compelling story. Jewish immigrant history is just such a story.

A little history. . . beginning in 1772 there were several partitions of Poland, dividing it between Russia, Prussia and Austria. As a result, Russia became the home of two and a half million Jews by 1800, growing to over five million by 1897. This was at a time when Jews were being emancipated in Western Europe, becoming citizens and integrated into the broader community. Russia however, viewed Jews as aliens and heretics. The Pale of Settlement was created, restricting where Jews could live and excluding them from 95% of Russia.

Laws were put in place regulating religious and communal life, economic activities, occupations, military service, property rights, and education. Special taxes were imposed on Jews.  After 1827 Jews were subject to the cantonist system where many boys between 12 and 18 were placed into military institutions in an effort to “Russify” them, conversion to Christianity being an important objective. At age 18 they began to serve 25 years in the military.

Things began to improve in 1855 with the reign of Czar Alexander II, a more liberal ruler who freed the serfs and abolished capital punishment. He also made important changes for Jews, abolishing the cantonist program, admitting Jews to high schools and universities, and allowing Jews to live in larger cities such as St Petersburg and Moscow if they were merchants, manufacturers, artisans, scholars or university graduates.

The czar was assassinated in 1881, the Jews unjustly blamed, and a series of pogroms broke out. Czar Alexander III, no friend of the Jews, resurrected the old restrictive laws and added another layer known as the May Laws. No longer were Jews allowed in larger cities and were now barred from higher education and professional institutions. Occupations were restricted and land ownership and leases were forbidden to Jews. Conditions were intolerable for the Jews.

Enter the Baron de Hirsch, one of the wealthiest men of his time. Born into wealth, he grew it significantly with the building of the Orient Express Railroad. While he received a Jewish education, he was secular in practice. In addition to his wealth, he had a deep loyalty to the Jewish people and a philanthropic orientation. It is estimated that he invested $100 million in his philanthropy, $3.5 billion in today’s currency.

In 1891, he approached Russia with a proposal that grew out of his conviction of the need to evacuate the Jews. Perhaps prescient, he made this chilling statement “Without such help, it would be impossible for the Government to get rid of five millions of Jews except by slaughtering them in a mass.”  Just fifty years later we did indeed face that reality. His solution in the 1890s was to use his fortune to assist three million Jews to emigrate over a 25 year-period.

The government happily accepted this proposal, and the Baron formed the Jewish Colonization Association to assist with these efforts, negotiating favorable terms that would allow Jews to leave without barriers. His initial focus was on agricultural colonies in Argentina.  There were many colonies subsequently established in the United States, with the Upper Midwest represented by several efforts in the Dakotas. Painted Woods, ND began in 1883 and lasted until close to 1901. Southern New Jersey was the site of more successful colonies, but ultimately, they too proved unsustainable as the next generation moved into professions in the cities.  

Between 1881 and 1924, 2.5 million Jews came to the U.S. from Eastern Europe. The Baron de Hirsch fund was created in the U.S. and funded such programs as the Industrial Removal Office (IRO) to move Jews from NY to central U.S. The Galveston Plan had ties to the IRO and worked to get Jews settled in the Southwest. In addition to agricultural colonies, the Baron also funded trade schools, Americanization programs that taught English, establishment of light industry and loans to assist these efforts. Many were experimental efforts at the time and broke ground for the future. Jewish communities throughout the United States often developed out these efforts benefiting  from the many efforts of Baron de Hirsch.