ARTICLES Jewish Bankers, Russia, and the Soviet Union, 1900-1940

220 Pages·2006·7.67 MB·English

The American Jewish Archives Journal
Academic Advisory & Editorial Board
Jonathan D. Sarna, Chair
Brandeis University
Waltham, Mass.
Gary P. Zola, Co-Chair
Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religon
Martin A. Cohen Michael A. Meyer
Hebrew Union College- Hebrm Union College-
Jmish Institute of Religion Jewish Institute of Religion
Norman J. Cohen Pamela S. Nadell
Hebrm Union College- American University,
Jewish Institute of Religion Washington, D. C.
Karla A. Goldman
Kevin Proffitt
Hebrm Union College-
Chief Archivist,
Jewish Institute of Religon
American Jewish Archives
Frederic Krome
Lance J. Sussman
Managing Editor,
The American Jewish Archives Journal Binghamton University,
SUNY
Sara S. Lee
Ellen Umansky
Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion Fairfield University,
Fairfield, Conn.
VOLUMEX LIX NUMBER1S& 2 (1997)
The
American Jewish Archives
Journal
A Journal Devoted to the Preservation and Study
of the American Jewish Experience
Published byThe Jacob Rader Marcus Center
of the American Jewish Archives
Gary P. Zola, Ph.D., Editor
Frederic Krome, Ph.D., Managing Editor
Ruth L. Kreimer, Editorial Associate
Jacob Rader Marcus, Ph.D., Founding Editor (1896-1995)
Located on the Cincinnati campus of the
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ISSN 002-905X
O 1999 by theJacobRaderIvfarcusC enter of the
American lewish Archives
Contents
TO OUR READERS:
Gary P. Zola, Editor
pp. 7-8
ARTICLES:
Jewish Bankers, Russia, and the Soviet Union, 1900-1940: The Case of Kuhn,
Loeb and Company.
Priscilla Roberts
pp. 9-37
This article describes the evolution of the relationship between the leading Jewish
bank, Kuhn, Loeb and Company, and the Russian state from 1900 to 1940. Until 1917
the firm's patriarch, Jacob H. Schiff, took an entirely hostile view of tsarist Russia, the
result of its persecution of Jewish subjects. Schiff's influence was instrumental in rais-
ingherican finance for Japan during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and in the ab-
rogation in 1911 of the long-standing Russo-American commercial treaty. During the
First World War Schiff refused to allow his firm to participate in any Russian war fi-
nancing, an attitude that changed only with the tsarist regime's fall in 1917. Kuhn,
Loeb's initial euphoria over the Russian Revolution quickly turned to hostility when
the Bolsheviks came to power. During the 1920s and 1930s, however, a rapproche-
ment occurred and Kuhn, Loeb partners, particularly Felix M. Warburg, worked closely
with the Soviet government on the Ago-Joint Project, which resettled Russian Jews
on agricultural land in the Gimea. In the late 1920s Warburg also attempted to re-
solve outstanding issues of contention between the Soviet Union and the United
States government. Throughout this period, however, the influence that Kuhn, Loeb
could exert on either Russian or Soviet policy remained limited.
Decline in an Age of Expansion: Disappearing Jewish Communities in the
Era of Mass Migration.
Lee Shai Weissbach
pp. 39-61
Even though the half century after 1880 was a period of tremendous growth and de-
velopment for American Jewry, not every Jewish community in the United States was
expanding in that era. A few smaller Jewish centers that had been established
by immigrants from Central Europe and that had flourished in the latter part of the
nineteenth century went into decline. This study identifies thirty Jewish communities
that had achieved triple-digit populations and created vigorous communal institu-
tions before the turn of the twentieth century but that nonetheless fell on hard times
during the era of mass migration. It relates the essential history of these communities,
and it considers how and why they deteriorated in an era of general expansion.
"Training men and women in dignity, in civic righteousness, and in the respon-
sibilities of American citizenship": The Thought of Rabbi Abram Simon,
1897-1938.
Marc Lee Raphael
pp. 62-77
Histories of Reform Judaism do not have entries for "Progressive Movement,"
"Progressivism,"or"Progressive Era,"although by the 1910s many Reform rabbis were
calling themselves Progressives and a new political party by that name had formed to
embody reformist principles. Historians date the Progressive Era between 1895 and
1920 and identify a series of movements aimed at renovating or restoring American
society, its values, and its institutions. This article looks at one Progressive Reform
rabbi, Abram Simon, and suggests the themes of progressivism extended through the
1920s.
DOCUMENTS:
American Jewish Literature in Translation
A Pennsylvania Timepiece by Moritz Loeb.
Translated and Annotated by Joseph Gutmann and Stanley F. Chyet
p~7.9 -127
A Biblical Exegete Surveys the N mY orkItwish Scene by Arnold Bogomil
Ehrlich.Translated andhnotated by Jacob Kabakoff pp. 129-38
NEWS FROMTHE JACOB RADER MARCUS CENTER OF
THE AMERICAN JEWISH ARCHIVES:
Recent Acquisitions of the American Jewish Archives, 1996-1997.
pp. 139-46
Program Announcements: Going Beyond Memory: A Conference on
Synagogue Archiving pp. 147
BOOK REVIEWS:
Rafael Medoff, Zionism and the Arabs: An American Jewish Dilemma,
1898-1948. Reviewed by Joseph Brandes. pp 149-52
Baila Round Shargel, Lost Love: 7'he Untold Stoy of Henrietta Szold.
Reviewed by Eric L. Goldstein. pp. 153-56
Bobbie Malone, Rabbi Max Heller: Reformer, Zionist, Southerner, 1860-
1929. Reviewed by Micah D. Greenstein. pp. 157-160
Philippa Strum, Brandeis Beyond Progressivism. Reviewed by Arthur Gross-
Schaefer. pp. 161-64
Murray Friedman, What Went Wrong?T he Creation and Collapse of the
Black-JewishA lliance. Reviewed by Eric Jackson. pp. 165-68
Judith Laikin Elkin, The Jews of Latin America. Reviewed
by JeffreyL esser. pp. 169-71
Diane Matza, ed., Sephardic American Rices: Two Hundred Years of
Litera y Legacy. Reviewed by Kenneth Libo. pp. 173-76
Kenneth S. Stern, The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate.
Reviewed by RichardV. Pierard. pp. 177-80
JeffreyG urock, Ameriran Jewish Orthodoxy. Reviewed by Ira Robinson.
pp. 181-82
Anthony Julius, T. S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Litera y Form. Reviewed
by Beth Carole Rosenberg. pp. 183-85
Janet Hadda, Isaac Bashwis Singer. Reviewed by Ida Selavan-
Schwarcz. pp. 187-88
Alan L. Berger, Children offob: American Second-Generation Witnesses
to the Holocaust. Reviewed by Ofer Shiff. pp. 189-91
Walter Ehrlich, Zion in theValley: The Jewish Community of St. Louis,
vol. 1,1870-1907. Reviewed by Lee Shai Weissbach. pp. 193-97
Abraham J. Karp, A IIistoy of the Jews in America. Reviewed
by Holly Snyder. pp. 199-201

To Our Readers.. .
Over the past half century, American Jewish Archives earned its reputa-
tion as a distinguished scholarly journal on the history of the
American Jewish experience. The man most responsible for this
remarkable achievement is none other than the journal's venerated
founder and long-standing editor, Jacob Rader Marcus. With the help
of several extremely talented and devoted associates, specifically Selma
Taeubler, Bertram W. Korn, Stanley F. Chyet and, most recently,
Abraham J. Peck, Dr. Marcus transformed his biannual"bul1etin" into
one of two major journals devoted to the entire length and breadth of
the American Jewish experience. Today, American Jewish Archives
remains a valuable resource for the study and preservation of
American Jewish history.
In the inaugural issue of American Jewish Archives, Dr. Marcus set
forth a brief rationale for having the American Jewish Archives publish
its own journal:
In order to inform the interested public and co-workers in the
field of American history of our progress and activities, we will
publish a semi-annual bulletin: including lists of our more
important accessions and, in each issue, at least one article of
scientific caliber.
The mission that Dr. Marcus outlined one-half century ago still
endures. His vision will remain our lodestar; his academic standards
will be our touchstone. With this commitment and in this spirit, we
pause at this particular juncture to note the changng of the editorial
guard and, consequently, the beginning of a new chapter in the his-
tory of this journal.
We are pleased to make note of several new developments that are
intended to betoken the advent of some new editorial initiatives: first,
our readers will note that the name of the journal has been amended
slightly but significantly. This change has been made in order to make
a clear distinction between the name of our institution and its journal.
This serial will henceforth be known as The American Jewish Archives
Journal.
Second, we are proud to announce the establishment of the
Academic Advisory and Editorial Board. The members of this board
will provide the journal's editors with counsel relative to the journal's
academic content. Together with the journal's editors, the board
members will evaluate articles being considered for publication. The
board will also advise the editors in matters concerning the journal's
publication policies.
Third, The American Jewish Archives Journal will once again re-
dedicate itself to its long-standing interest in publishing annotated
documentary source material. In the present volume, for instance, we
are featuring the publication of two annotated translations of signifi-
cant German and Hebrew documents. Simultaneously, the journal
will continue to fulfill its original mandate by informinguthe interest-
ed public and co-workers in the field of American history of our
progress and activities" and by publishing scholarly articles and book
reviews that we expect will be of interest to our readers.
We are also introducing, with this edition of our journal, a new
cover design and layout style. It is our hope that this new graphic for-
mat will make this journal's noteworthy content ever more accessible
to our loyal readers.
The aforementioned modifications notwithstanding, the journal's
core purpose remains unchanged. The agenda that Dr. Marcus de-
lineated fifty years ago will remain this journal's primary raison d'Gtre:
We seek to ascertain the facts as they actually are; and we
desire to promote the study of materials that will further a
knowledge of the American Jew, not only for the purpose of
understanding this present period in the millennia1 history of
the Jewish people, but also so that we may grasp the ethos of
Americanism and thus make another contribution to the his-
tory of humanity.
G. P. Z.
Cincinnati, Ohio
July 1999