Тhe doctor of historical sciences Kolupaev D. V.

Altai State Technical University (Barnaul, Russia)

Jews on Service in the Siberian Cossack Army

Among the numerous historical works, dedicated to the life of the Jewish community in Russia, there is almost no research on service and various socio-economic activities of Jews in the ranks of the Cossack troops of the Russian Empire. Meanwhile, it should be noted that in many Cossack troops of Russia of persons of Jewish nationality served as technical specialists, medical workers, and as a person «nonmilitary estate» that is not the Cossacks living in Cossack villages, the Jews constantly perform certain economic functions and engaged in trade. In the Siberian Cossack host Jews appeared on the service in the beginning of 19^th century and to perform the functions outlined above.

Questions concerning the proper national, ethnic composition of the Siberian Cossack army became interested in statistical service of the army of the Board since the mid-nineteenth century. Then, in the military reports (reports atamans of the Cossack villages, settlements, military departments) began to appear graphs ethnic composition of the people who have lived in the villages of the Siberian Cossack army. Determined by ethnicity in the historical period by defining religion. Since 1865, when statistical reports strictly separated residents army estate and невойскового (so-called non-residents), it is in the ranks of the inhabitants невойскового class, who performed in the Siberian Cossack host various technical services and trade and economic operations, began to appear persons of Jewish faith, as in the nineteenth century called Jews in Siberia.

So, in the mid 1870-ies the population of Cossack villages depended on religious principle. List of 1876 gives the following picture. The total number of inhabitants of the Cossack stanitsas 100 893 rights of both sexes. Of them: Orthodox – 93 911 people, Catholics – 23 people, the Jews 55 professing Islam – 6 486 people, old believers – 419 people [2, P. 86]. This description allows us to precisely define only the national composition of the Jews, executed in the Siberian Cossack host function of specialists – medical workers and paramedics. The percentage of Jews in the Siberian Cossack host in 1876 amounted to 0.05% of the total numerical strength of the army.

The whole system of socio-economic activities of Jews in the Siberian Cossack host was reduced to two main classes: the service - to the fulfillment of tasks in the form of obstetricians, nurses, pharmacists, and classes trade. The latter was a major area of practice of the Jews on the lands of the Siberian Cossack army. The commodity structure of trade represented the following picture. Of the provinces of European Russia and of the inner regions of Siberia Jewish traders in the Cossack settlements were imported: grain bread, flour, cereals, oats, rural crafts, and also manufacture a range of goods and imported products. Export of goods from the Cossack villages as follows; horses, cattle, sheep and livestock products - skin, fat, wool: also - fish, fish eggs, fish oil, salt, garden vegetables, wax, pine nuts and pine timber - firewood logs and poles. In the course of barter trade with the Kyrgyz Jewish traders from the settlements of the Siberian Cossack army received from nomadic cattle, leather, sheepskin, мерлушки (raw skins of sheep), and small amounts of clay and wooden ware made by artisans of Central Asia.

During the 1860 in the villages of the Siberian Cossacks continued growth of the industrial enterprises. In 1869 in the Semipalatinsk region, in four of the Cossack counties – Pavlodar, Karkaralinsk, Semipalatinsk and Ust’Kamenogorsk –functioned 21 plant and 91 mill [1, P. 138] Stood out for its performance distillery in Semipalatinsk. In 1869 it was distillated 57435 buckets of wine, 557175 rubles (one bucket – 5 roubles). Beer was brewed in the amount of 320 rubles [1, P. 104 ob.]. All these achievements of the basic industrial enterprises in the Siberian Cossack host were associated with the work of the technical staff at the distillery 50% of which were technical specialists of Jewish origin.

From the 1880-s on the lands of the Siberian Cossacks appear foreign businessmen, including those of Jewish origin. In 1882, the Cossack village of Presnogorskovskaya adopted at their gathering public verdict, allowed the Swiss man of Jewish origin Abram Loretzu and Russian fallen German origin Charles Rudy, construction windmill on the Yurt village lands. Term of operation was agreed in 24 years, the fee оброчной article in станичную cashier - 38 rubles per year. [1, P. 23–26]. As seen from the conditions of the land lease, Siberian Cossacks «skinned» with the foreign citizen and his Russian counterpart amount of almost 13 times the rent with Cossacks entrepreneurs. However, and with their entrepreneurs - Cossacks from 1884 to troop governing Board decided to charge annual rental fee in stanitsa cash already 4 roubles per year [1, P. 48].

The whole system of socio-economic activities of Jews in the Siberian Cossack host was reduced to two main classes: the service – to the fulfillment of tasks in the form of obstetricians, nurses , pharmacists, and classes trade. The latter was a major area of practice of the Jews on the lands of the Siberian Cossack army. The commodity structure of trade represented the following picture. Of the provinces of European Russia and of the inner regions of Siberia Jewish traders.

Thus, the facilities at our disposal information allows making the following conclusions. With a wide promotion of market relations in the socio - economic foundations of the economic life of Western Siberia in the late nineteenth century, representatives of the Jewish ethnic group in Russia is more actively began to settle on the land of the Siberian Cossack army. In the Cossack settlements they have managed to blend in with the social totality as a highly trained technicians and well-organized merchants.

Literature

1. Historical archive, Omsk. Ф.67. Op.1. D. 1098. P. 138.

2. Usov F. The statistical description of the Siberian Cossack army. SPb., 1876. P. 86.