Biro-Bidjan. An Eye-Witness Account of the New Home for the Jews
London: Friends of the Soviet Union, [1934]. First edition. Softcover. octavo. 21pp. [1]. Staple-bound photo-illustrated b/w wrappers with black lettering on the front and back covers. This scarce publication takes the form of a report by British politician and diplomat, Dudley Leigh Aman (Lord Marley) on his experiences in Birobidzhan, also known as the "Jewish Autonomous Oblast" of the Soviet Union. In reality, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast was established by Stalin in 1928 in the the remote Russian Far East region, as a means to promote increased settlement in the area and sure up the border region with China. As a side-effect it was to generate good will with the country's Jewish population, who had in recent years faces large amounts of discrimination and violence at the hand of local and Soviet authorities. Although designated as an official home for the Jews, it was nowhere near the areas of the Soviet Union where Jews lived, necessitating large scale immigration across vast distances. In this publication Lord Marley discusses the region with praise for efforts to improve the lives of Soviet Jews and the sense of frontier living, recounting the activities and daily lives of the residents. Illustrated throughout with b/w photographic reproductions. Wrappers with some light water stains and smudges to the covers. Wrappers in very good-, interior in near fine condition. vg- to vg. Item #46801
Price: $375.00