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| Jewish Migration in the Early Twentieth Century |
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Untitled Document
MIGRATION HISTORY
One of the major and far-reaching changeovers in the life of the Jewish people which occurred between the first third of the nineteenth century and World War II was the phenomenon of emigration from Europe to overseas countries. The emigration of Jews was an integral part of the emigration of masses which included some 65 million people, of whom about 4 million were Jews. The peak years of Jewish emigration were 1870-1914. In the course of those 44 years nearly 2.5 million Jews crossed international borders, heading to the democratic and liberal countries in the West. Some two million immigrants reached the USA and the rest dispersed among: England, Argentina, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Palestine.
Notwithstanding the above, the seventies of the nineteenth century do not mark a new beginning or phenomenon in the history of Jewish emigration. Already in the twenties of that century a mass wave of emigration started moving from Europe to the USA. Most immigrants who arrived at the beginning of the nineteenth century to the USA came from Germany and Ireland. The emigrants from the German princedoms also included Jews. In the seventies of the nineteenth century East Europe formed the major emigration source. The rates of emigration from that area were higher than ever known before. The 44 years of massive emigration marked the beginning of the decline of East European Jewry and the beginning of the creation of new Jewish communities worldwide, the most prominent and important of which were those of the USA and the State of Israel.
The Jewish emigrants left East Europe in four waves: the first wave started in the early seventies of the nineteenth century – from the area of Lithuania, and during its course – until 1881 – about 8,700 Jews immigrated to the USA. The second wave started in 1881/2; the third – in 1890/1; and the fourth wave in 1904. The latter, being the largest among immigration waves, was the one generating – in a period of merely ten years – one of the most significant turnovers in the life of the Jewish people. Among 1,700,000 Jewish immigrants arriving in the USA between 1881 and 1914, seventy percent (1,200,000) came during the years 1904-1914. In just four years – from the beginning of the fourth wave until 1907 – more than 500,000 Jewish emigrants left the borders of Czarist Russia in the direction of the USA. In 1904 Jewish emigration crossed the annual 100,000 limit for the first time, and in 1906 – a peak year in Jewish emigration – more than 150,000 people left East Europe to the direction of the USA. As mentioned, an overwhelming majority of emigrants directed themselves towards the USA. Throughout the entire emigration period 300,000 Jewish immigrants came to England, 100,000 to Argentina, 80,000 to France, 60,000 to Canada and 50,000 to South Africa. According to an estimate, around 60,000 people arrived in Palestine during the years 1881-1914.
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Copyright © 2005 by Dr. Gur Alroey and the University of Haifa.
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