JEWISH SCHOOL EDUCATION IN THE KYIV EDUCATIONAL DISTRICT IN THE 1880s–1890s

Abstract

The article deals with activities of primary state and private Jewish educational institutions in the Kiev educational district during the eightiesnineties of the 19th century. The author analyzes cultural and educational life of the Jewish community on the basis of press materials and documents of the funds “the Chancellery of the Kyiv, Podillya and Volyn General Governorate” (f. 442) and “the Chancellery of the trustee of the Kyiv educational district” (f.707) of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine (Kyiv). The analysis of Jews’ educational activity offers the prospect of better understanding the dynamics of their socio-demographic development, the place and role in the cultural life of Ukrainian provinces, the influence of state structures on the regulation of internal life of the Jewish community. The material concerning the history of cultural and educational activities of the Jewish community in the late nineteenth century forms the basis for an understanding of the balance between orientation of Jews to the preservation of their own traditions, on the one hand, and ability to adapt to a different society, on the other. Russification policies in education, aimed at the assimilation of the younger generation, played a key role in the imperial strategy of destruction of the Jewish community’s traditional lifestyle and cultural identity.

The problems of Jewish population’s adaptation to the Russian Empire’s multilayered socio-cultural landscape, the interaction with the state authorities of the post-reform period (1880–1890s), the incorporation of Jewish communities into an administrative imperial system, the transformation of the traditional lifestyle, the everyday culture of Jews, the development of interethnic relations are key in the understanding the specifics of Dnipro Ukraine’s historical development as a unique space of the interaction of various cultural phenomena.

Ivanenko, O. (2018). Jewish School Education in the Kyiv Educational District in the 1880s–1890s. Mìžnarodnì zv’âzki Ukraïni: naukovì pošuki ì znahìdki – The International relations of Ukraine: scientific searches and findings, 27, 186-208 [in Ukrainian].