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The Extinction of the Krimchaks in World War II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Rudolf Loewenthal
Rudolf Loewenthal*
Affiliation:
Division of Modern Languages, Cornell University
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Extract

The crimean peninsula has been occupied by many races, nationalities, and religious groups in the course of history. In 114 B.C. it was placed under the protection of Mithridates, King of Pontus, who is supposed to have settled Jewish colonists from Asia Minor there. From inscriptions it is known that Hellenized Jews lived there as early as the first century A.D.

Gradually the settlements of the Crimea came under the political and cultural influence of Byzantium. The Khazars established themselves in large numbers in the Eastern Crimea in the vicinity of the straits of Kerch. The conversion of the Khazar royal house and part of the nobility to Judaism (about 740) disposed them to be friendly toward their co-religionists who sought shelter from Byzantine oppression in those regions of the Crimea which were controlled by the Khazars.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , April 1951 , pp. 130 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1951

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References

1 Avrahm, Yarmolinsky, “Crimea” in The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, hereafter referred to as UJE (New York, 1941), III, 414 Google Scholar; Josef, Marquart, Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzϋge (Leipzig, 1903), p. 301.Google Scholar

2 The Khazars are historically distinguishable since the end of the second century A.D., but they began to play a strategical role only since the beginning of the sixth century. For about a hundred years their royal house and part of the ruling class were converted to Judaism (approximately from the middle of the eighth to the middle of the ninth century). They lived between the Black and Caspian Seas, more accurately between the Caucasus, the Volga, and the Don. Their central geographical location involved them in numerous border wars with various contending parties. These wars brought about the eventual downfall of the Khazars and by the year 1016 their power was completely broken.

3 Russian name: Krymčak, pi. Krymčaki; English spellings: Krimchak or Krimtchak; German spelling: Krimtschak.

4 Op. cit., UJE, III,414.

5 Ibid., III,412,414.

6 Ibid., III, 412; Meisel, Josef, “Krim” in Jiidisches Lexikon (Berlin, 1929), III, 900.Google Scholar

7 Op. cit., UJE, III, 412; Rosenthal, Max, “Krimchaks” in The Jewish Encyclopedia, hereafter referred to as JE (New York-London, 1904), VII, 575.Google Scholar

8 Op. cit., UJE, III,412.

9 Ibid., III, 414.

10 Op. cit.,JE, VII, 575.

11 Op. cit., UJE, III,412.

12 Op. cit., JE, VII, 575.

13 Karaism was founded by Anan ben David of Baghdad, who published his code in 770. He led his followers to Jerusalem, whence they spread to Egypt, Syria, and South Russia. The Karaites wanted to restore the validity of the Scriptures as against the Talmud and the traditional “Oral Law” of the Talmud.

14 Op. cit., UJE, III,415.

15 Lorimer, Frank, The Population of the Soviet Union: History and Prospects (a League of Nations publication, Princeton University Press, 1946), table 23, p. 55; table 55, p. 138.Google Scholar

The figures for the Jewish population of the newly acquired territories, in Poland, in the Baltic and Balkan countries, have been disregarded in this article, as they have no direct bearing on the topic under discussion.

16 Tartakower, Arieh, “The problem of European Jewry (1939-1945),” in The Jews, Their History, Culture, and Religion, ed. by Finkelstein, Louis (Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 5710-1949), table I, I, 290.Google Scholar

17 Op. cit., UJE, III, 412, 414.

18 Figure for 1897: Brutzkus, Julius, “Krim” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, hereafter referred to as EJ (Berlin, Verlag Eschkol A.-G., 1934), X, 442 Google Scholar; figures for 1912 and 1939: op. cit., UJE, III (1941), 412 and VI (1942), 471; figure for 1926: F. Lorimer, loc. cit.

19 I. Markon, “Krimtschaken” in EJ, X, 442. About 700 Krimchaks died during the famine of the years 1921 and 1922 in Karasubazar; ibid., X, 444.

20 This section is based on the transcript of the Niirnberg War Crimes Trials; The United States of America vs. Otto Ohlendorf, et al.; Judgment and Opinion, read on April 8, 9, and 10, 1948; Military Tribunal II: Court II, Case IX; Judge Musmanno presiding. For a more general background of the extent of acts like aggression, genocide, foreign slave labor, and other crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis, consult: Office of United States Chief Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Opinion and Judgment, 11 vols. (Washington, United States Government Printing Office, 1946-1949). The publication of the International Military Tribunal, Trial of the Major War Criminals: Nuremberg, November 14, 1945 to December 10, 1946, 42 vols., 1947-1949, is too cumbersome for ordinary use because of its bulk of materials.

21 A. Tartakower, loc. cit.

22 Nürnberg War Crimes Trials, p. 6675; see also p. 6650.

23 Ibid., pp. 6651-3.

24 Ibid., p. 6655.

25 Ibid., p. 6705.

26 Ibid., p. 6675; see also p. 6787.

27 Ibid., pp. 6653-4.

28 Ibid., pp. 6665-6.

29 Op. cit., UJE, VI (1942), 471.