Archangel

ARCHANGEL (Rus. Arkhangelsk), White Sea port and capital of Archangel district, Russia; excluded from the *Pale of Settlement . The nucleus of the Jewish community was formed between 1828 and 1856 by young Jewish conscripts who had been sent to the *Cantonists' institution in Archangel and were allowed to settle there after being discharged from the army. In 1897 there were 248 Jews in Archangel. After the Pale was abolished in 1917 the number of Jews increased, reaching 850 by 1923. In 1926 there were 1,449 Jews in the entire oblast (0.3% of the total population). In 1939 they numbered 1,346 in the city and 1,858 in the entire district. Between 1939 and 1941 many Jews from the western areas then annexed by the Soviet Union were deported to Archangel and its environs.

[Yehuda Slutsky]