NO. II THE RACES OF RUSSIA — HRDLICKA IO, 



THE JEWS 



The Russian Jews are in the main, if not entirely, tne descendants 

 of refugees driven out of Germany during the persecution of the 

 race in the middle ages. Some Jews penetrated into Poland and 

 Lithuania as early as the middle of the eleventh century, but by far 

 the larger number came later, particularly under the Polish king, 

 Casimir the Great, whose wife was of Jewish extraction. From 

 Poland they spread to Lithuania, Courland, and what is now Ukraina 

 and Bessarabia. Peter the Great, and particularly Catherine II, 

 opened to them the door of Russia. 



A small branch of the Russian Jews are known as the Karaites. 

 They differ in many respects from the remainder, are settled in 

 Crimea where they speak Tartar and in western Russia where they 

 speak Polish, and are principally agricultural. Their origin is still 

 in dispute. 



The total present number of Jews in European Russia before the 

 war approximated 4,000,000, in Russian Poland 1,300,000, and in 

 Caucasus 50,000. In addition there were about 50,000 in Siberia and 

 Central Asia. 



It is very interesting to note that physically the Russian Jews of 

 to-day resemble to a considerable extent the Russians themselves 

 (compare Maurice Fishberg, The Jews, N. Y., 191 1). In Poland 

 the approximation of the two types of population is much less 

 apparent. The Karaites, whom some suppose to be the descendants 

 of the Khazars, show anthropologically some affinity with the 

 Tartars. 



THE GERMANS 



The total number of Germans in the lands under Russian dominion 

 amounted at the beginning of the present war to a little over 1,800,- 

 000. They were scattered over practically all except the poorest 

 parts of the empire, especially in the cities. In the Baltic provinces 

 they were the privileged landed proprietors. In southern Russia 

 and other agriculturally rich regions there were German agricultural 

 colonies, some recent, some of older formation. 



The German influx into Russia started in the sixteenth century 

 and was especially active during the reign of Peter the Great. They 

 came as artisans and merchants, frequently on invitation ; and in 

 1762 they were invited to settle in some parts of southern Russia 

 in agricultural colonies, which gradually and in a scattered way ex- 

 tended to the Don and the Caucasus. These colonies received special 

 privileges, were practically self-governing, and fused but little with 



