Zhankoye

[Andy Rubin <andyrubin...>]

1/31/99

Could someone perhaps provide me with some background to the Yiddish song
Zhankoye? Ruth Rubin (no relation), in her collection of Yiddish folksongs,
introduces it this way:  "Dzhankoye was a depot in the Crimea to which the
Jewish collective farmers from the surrounding region would bring their
produce. During the German occupation the entire region was burnt to the
ground."

It interests me that there were, apparently, Jewish collective farms (or
farmers) outside of the "Jewish autonomous region" of Birobidjian. Does
anyone know anything about this? Were there Jewish farmers in the Crimea
that were forced into collectives during the Stalinist decades? Did these
collectives maintain some sort of Jewish identity?

The lyrics have a Soviet propagandistic ring to them. Was the song meant as
some type of recruiting song to collective farms?

Any information would be much appreciated.

-Andy Rubin
Sacramento, CA



---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+