JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN KURLAND. In memory of my native town Windau
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN KURLAND. In memory of my native town Windau

Author(s): Shaul Lipschitz
Subject(s): Ethnohistory, Local History / Microhistory, History of Judaism
Published by: CEEOL Digital Reproductions / Collections
Summary/Abstract: Kurland was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1795. Its Jewish population at that time amounted to less than 5000 souls. It is interesting to note that only 20% lived in towns, while 80% found a livelihood in the countryside, on the large estates of the German Barons, as petty artisans, innkeepers, land tenants and peddlers. In 1850, fifty-five years later, the Jewish population in Kurland had grown to 22,000; and by the end of the century, in 1897, it reached the impressive number of 51,000.

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