Jewish Communities in Kyrgyzstan During The Second World War

Saturday in Bishkek

It’s Saturday in Bishkek, and a blonde-haired man slips behind a wooden door. Despite the heat and the discreet location, the room is full. The journey from Tashtak, deep in the south of the country, had been a long one, but it had been longer still since the man had entered a synagogue. He checks his head is covered, unsure for a second what to do with himself. It’s 1970, and many Jews who had sought wartime refuge in the mountains had already departed – back west to Poland, Ukraine, or the low lying lands of the Western RSFSR. Still, some stayed. This is the story of the resilience of the Jews of Kyrgyzstan.

***

Hidden high between the Pamir and Tian Shan Mountain ranges, Kyrgyzstan provided an unlikely refuge for between ten and fifty thousand Jewish refugees during the Second World War [1, 2]. Mostly constituted by Ashkenazim (European Jews) from Poland, the Baltic States, and the Western Soviet Union, these refugees rarely interacted with the small pre-war population of local Bukharan (Central Asian) Jews [3]. Following the Allies’ victory, many Ashkenazim returned home, taking their Kyrgyz experiences with them. For those who did stay, however, the intermittent repression of all religions during the Soviet period did not spare the Jewish community [4]. By the latter half of the 20^th century, anecdotal evidence suggests that there was little in the way of a distinct Jewish identity for the ten thousand-or-so remaining Jews [5]. Following the end of the USSR, the community shrunk further, with fewer than a thousand Jews in the region today [6].

Yet Judaism has existed in Kyrgyzstan since at least the nineteenth century [7], if not far longer [8]. Jewish characters appear in Sagymbai Orozbakov’s retelling of the seminal Kyrgyz epic ‘Manas’ and Jews may have existed as a settled group alongside Kyrgyz people since the early modern period [9, 10]. Religious prejudice was not limited to Kyrgyzstan, and like elsewhere within the Soviet Union, the community experienced grassroot antisemitism [11], though accounts differ on the extent of this [12]. Even so, both the long-established and newly-arrived members of the Kyrgyz Jewish community successfully wove themselves into the rich tapestry of local culture, using art forms and religious traditions to foster resilience in the face of upheaval.

Fleeing East

The Ashkenazim who ended up in Kyrgyzstan during the Second World War, both in cities and on collective farms, can be broadly divided into two groups: a large group of refugees and a smaller number of deportees. These deportees were a further subset of an estimated 100,000 Jewish civilians caught up in a wave of deportations from Poland and the Baltic States to Central Asia between March 1940 and their eventual release in September 1941 [13]. These refugees were transported to collective farms in slightly modified train carriages; living conditions were difficult and the mortality rate was high [14].

Uzbekistan, not Kyrgyzstan, was a more favourable destination for both groups due to Uzbekistan’s large cities, long-settled Jewish community in Bukhara, and, most importantly, warmer climate. In contrast, Kyrgyzstan was poorer, colder, and still in the early stages of national identity formation [15]. The Soviet authorities, wary of potential instability caused by having such a large group in one place, decided that active redistribution was necessary [16]. As such, approximately 21,500 people were moved to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan at the end of November 1941 [17].

For the Soviet authorities, the movement of Jews eastwards served two purposes: protecting Jews from the genocidal violence by the Nazis on the front line in geographically remote Central Asia (although the evacuation of people based on being part of an ethno-religious group was not a factor), and, more importantly, creating a new workforce for the factories beyond the Urals [18, 19].

Different Traditions

Once in Kyrgyzstan, life for the displaced people was difficult, as it was for their Kyrgyz hosts. The writer Anatolii Kotliar noted that rations on his collective farm were scarce, and Vera*, a Jewish-Ukrainian woman who moved to Bishkek (then known as Frunze), contracted rheumatism from the damp conditions in their accommodation [20, 21].

However living in Central Asia did bring several benefits. Although antisemitism existed, for Vera, it was far less overt than the personal, public, and professional antisemitism she experienced in Ukraine [22]. Or, as Jan Stimm, a refugee from Poland brought up in an orphanage in Bishkek put it somewhat alarmingly, he was beaten for being a Pole, not a Jew [23].

For Bukharan Jews, the arrival of the fleeing Ashkenazim came as a shock. Since the mid-19^th century, Bukharan Jews had adopted Sephardic traditions, different from those of the Ashkenazim [24]. Although Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions co-existed in some contexts –in the former Ottoman Empire for example – the new group seemed alien to the small, geographically rooted, and culturally divergent Bukharan community.

Throughout much of their history, the Bukharans relied on their namesake town, Bukhara, for religious and legal guidance. As there were no Jewish schools in the area, those wishing to pursue education studied in Samarkand, whilst the only separate Jewish cemetery was in Osh [25]. The small group of Bukharan Jews had good relations with their Kyrgyz compatriots, gaining acceptance from the Muslim opposition during the First World War ‘as a genuine anti-Russian element’ [26]. The few Ashkenazim who had settled in the region following Russian annexation in 1876 were viewed less favourably by the local Kyrgyz population, seen instead as a pro-Russia third column [27]. What this illustrates is that the perception of the Jewish community in Kyrgyzstan was segregated. Yet it is unsurprising that the Kyrgyz regarded the Bukharans as compatriots: they built their houses in an Uzbek style and shared similar food and dress, despite living in separate communities [28].

Putting down Roots

Adrift in a foreign land, the Jewish Theatre Company of Warsaw provided a cultural outlet for the Ashkenazim to express themselves. Ida Kaminska was, perhaps, the most well-known performer from the troupe, acting between 1941 and 1944 in Yiddish, Polish, Ukrainian and Belarusian to provide a glimpse into a home thousands of miles away. On the Kyrgyz screen, meanwhile, the Gershtein brothers helped to pioneer cinematography in the country [29].

Resilience was not confined to the cultural sphere – in 1941, a public synagogue was opened in Bishkek for the first time, which became a focal point for community life and symbolised perseverance [30]. For those displaced, learning the local language was often of secondary importance due to the belief that they would soon be returning home, and maintaining a separate cultural life was a way for the Jewish community to keep its spirit alive [31].

Following the end of the war, most Ashkenazim slowly made their way back to Eastern Europe. However, many others, such as Leonid Zelichenko, stayed [32]. When asked, Zelichenko noted that the deep community roots he fostered during four years of war had made it impossible for him to leave. Occasionally, the number of Jews in Kyrgyzstan would rise as waves of deportations brought new people into the community, although this trend mostly abated with the end of the Stalinist period. The end of the Soviet Union and the eschewing economic uncertainty brought about a new wave of emigration, especially to Israel. Even so, the Jewish community of Kyrgyzstan persists.

The man at the beginning of this article stands in for the grandfather of a good friend. She recounted how, after moving from Ukraine, her father’s family felt most at peace in Tashtak. Over two generations, they were accepted by the village and, seeing little reason to relocate, they settled. Outside of Osh and far from Bishkek, the green fields below the Kyrgyz mountains had become their home.

* Surname withheld

Thank you to Nadia Ioannou for her help in researching this article

Sources:

[1] https://portal.ehri-project.eu/countries/kg

[2] https://www.jewish-impact.org/post/the-kyrgyz-muslims-who-saved-thousands-of-jews-during-the-holocaust

[3] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kyrgyzstan-virtual-jewish-history-tour

[4] https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/KG

[5] https://eurasianet.org/kyrgyzstan-jewish-community-torn-between-emigration-and-home

[6] https://eurasianet.org/kyrgyzstan-jewish-community-torn-between-emigration-and-home

[7] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kyrgyzstan-virtual-jewish-history-tour

[8] https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e215281/Place/Kyrgyzstan

[9] https://www.azattyk.org/a/judaism-history-religion/30490553.html