By focusing on the legal restrictions on residency, movement and occupations imposed on the Jewish population in the Pale of Settlement, this talk explores the impact of prejudice on Jewish culture, politics and everyday life in what was one of the largest Jewish communities in the world.  The Pale of Settlement, which restricted Jewish residency to that region within the Russian Empire, was established by Catherine the Great in 1791.

 

Elissa Bemporad is Professor of History at Queens College and the Graduate Center – CUNY who specializes in East European Jewish History and the Holocaust. She is a three-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, author of three monographs, and editor of several volumes. Her work has appeared in numerous foreign languages, including French, Hebrew, Yiddish, Italian, and Russian.