The Pale of Settlement
Following the 1881 assassination of Czar Alexander II of Russia (who had promoted religious tolerance) there was a dramatic rise in anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe. During the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the Jews in Russia and Poland were forced to live in a vast area along the western border of Russia called the Pale of Settlement.  The Pale, first formed by Czar Nicholas I in 1835, lasted until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. There were numerous small villages within the Pale called shtetls (Yiddish for “little town”). Shtetls were surrounded by fields or forests and varied in size. Jews lived in the inner parts of the towns while most of the non-Jews lived outside the villages. The streets were unpaved and the buildings were constructed of wood. Shtetls often consisted of the town marketplace, wooden synagogues, churches, a Jewish cemetery, and bathhouses. After the assassination of Czar Alexander II, violent attacks against the Jews called pogroms (Russian for “devastation”) created fear among the shtetls’ populations. Many Jews were killed or tortured and their homes were destroyed. Those not physically harmed were left with nothing. As a result, many Jews fled Russia. By 1914, over 2.5 million Jews escaped the Pale to find freedom in America and Israel.

Statue of Liberty
on Ellis Island

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 Ellis Island
Between 1880 and 1924 over two million Jews entered the United States. Most arrived at the Federal Immigration Station on Ellis Island in New York City’s harbor. The island’s large buildings were used to inspect and house up to 5,000 immigrants a day. Whether escaping religious persecution, famine, restrictive governments, or simply seeking a new life, Ellis Island was the point where millions of immigrants’ dreams were tested.

 The medical inspection was first on the long list of tests for the immigrants. Chalk letters were marked on clothing if doctors noticed any physical or mental deformities. Many people failed the inspections and were detained on the island until cured. Those with incurable diseases were sometimes separated from their families and detained on the island or sent back to their homelands (children were sent with a family member).  One of the diseases that caused many to fail inspection was trachoma, a serious and contagious eye infection that causes blindness or death. Doctors would turn each immigrant’s eyelid up with a buttonhook to see if the inner lid was inflamed (a sign of trachoma).  Two percent of all immigrants who arrived on Ellis Island were refused entry to America for reasons ranging from disease to insufficient funds.

Russia		New York