19th century
Expulsion of Jews from the villages of the provinces of Mogilev and Vitebsk, ordered by Alexander I
1823-1825·Biélorussie
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
The order issued by Alexander I expels Jews from the villages of the provinces of Mogilev and Vitebsk, in Belarus, forcing them back toward towns and cities between 1823 and 1825. The pretext invoked is the trade in alcohol in the countryside; the result is the uprooting of families established for generations near manorial estates, where they kept inns, mills, or coaching houses.
The expelled arrive in already overcrowded market towns, with no right of return and no compensation, and many sink into destitution there. The measure inaugurates a policy that would be resumed and hardened under the following reign: displacing Jews rather than integrating them, making their very presence a matter of administrative policing.
- Period :
- 19th century
- Type :
- Expulsion
- Region :
- Central and Eastern Europe
- Country :
- Biélorussie
Recueil complet des lois de l'Empire russe ; rapports des gouverneurs de Moguilev et de Vitebsk.