Located on the southern edge of the Caucusus, and bordered by Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Iran and the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan has a population of over eight million. The majority of its inhabitants are Turkish-speaking Shiite Muslims, as well as Armenians and Christian Lezgins. Approximately 12,000 Jews live in the country.
Early History
Jews have lived in Azerbaijan for centuries and can be divided into two groups: Ashkenazi and Jews of Persian origin. Ashkenazim settled in Azerbaijan in the 19th century during a Czarist Russian attempt to infuse Russian culture into the region. Other Ashkenazim came to Azerbaijan during World War II to escape the Nazis. The Persian Jews, also known as Caucasian Mountain Jews, can be traced to Azerbaijan from before the 5th century. Their history is more than 2,000 years long and Azerbaijan has historically been very welcoming toward them.
Mountain Jews have lived in Caucasia for centuries. Their ancestors inhabited southern Azerbaijan, now the northwestern part of Iran, where they adopted the Muslim Tat language, but remained Jewish. The language has evolved to become a distinct Jewish dialect called Judeo-Tat or Judeo-Persian. After fleeing persecution in Persia, many Jews migrated to mountain villages on either side of the Black and Caspian Seas. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Mountain Jews lived as farmers and gardeners in their small, isolated communities. This historic way of life flourished in the towns of Privolnoe, Krasnaya Sloboda, and Vartashen.
Baku
Baku, the country’s capital, is the home of the vast majority of Azerbaijan’s Jews. The Jewish community has been able to grow in an environment of governmental tolerance. The new Azerbaijan constitution grants religious freedom and asserts that there is no state religion. However, emigration to Israel, Russia and Germany has decimated the Jewish community from the 80,000 people present in the early 1990s. While Jews are able to practice their religion more freely today, economic conditions have caused many to emigrate over the past decade.
The Jewish community in Baku is made up Mountain Jews, a smaller population of Ashkenazim, and a still smaller population of Jews from Georgia. Some believe the Mountain Jews are the descendents from the 10 lost tribes who were exiled from Israel. Others believe that the Mountain Jews immigrated from what is now Iran in the mid-18th century and established Krasnaya Sloboda, around the city of Quba in the highlands of northern Azerbaijan.
The European Ashkenazi community arrived in Baku in the early 19th century, after the annexation of Azerbaijan to Russia.
Quba
A number of Sloboda residents came from the highland Tati village of Shuduh. An investigation found that one of the Tati Muslim clans is called Israili, and the Muslim Tatis of Shuduh believe that the Jews of Sloboda are their kin, and treat them with special appreciation. Long ago, some Shuduh Jews converted to Islam, while others left the village and settled in the Sloboda. The Tatis of Shuduh and the Jews of Sloboda have maintained a close relationship.
In the late 19th century, 972 families of Mountain Jews lived in Sloboda, running 11 synagogues and 20 Jewish schools. Free from the virulent anti-Semitism and pogroms of Eastern Europe, and living peacefully with their Muslim neighbors, the Jewish community flourished. Sloboda became known as Little Jerusalem, as it was the only completely Jewish community outside of Israel. However, when the Soviet Union enveloped Azerbaijan in 1920, the Tat way of life was all but annihilated. In 1928, the Soviets forced the Mountain Jews to change the Tat language from its traditional Hebrew letters to the Latin alphabet. Then, in 1938, the Tats were made to adopt the Cyrillic alphabet and the Soviets closed down their cultural institutions and converted all but one of the 11 synagogues into storehouses and workshops. In 1937, the Communists banned the use of Hebrew, executed five rabbis, and exiled others to Siberia.
In 1933, under the Communists, Sloboda’s Jewish population peaked at 18,500.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Sloboda gradually fell into recession. Jobs were scarce and large numbers of Jews went abroad in search of better economic opportunities, immigrating to Israel, America and Europe.
Today, although immigration to Israel has taken its toll, Sloboda is still populated almost entirely by Mountain Jews. Some affluence can be noticed in building refurbishment, as hard currency sent from families in Israel makes life easier. Most Jews living in Sloboda are generally well-educated and wear Western clothing; and many own and operate businesses.
Anti-Semitism
Traditionally, anti-Semitism has not been an issue in Azerbaijan. However, under Communism, the Soviets took over the majority of Jewish property in Baku and Quba. After the fall of the Soviet Union, many of these buildings were returned.
Many cemetery desecrations have also occurred in Azerbaijan. In October 2001, 47 tombstones in the City Cemetery, one of Baku’s two Jewish cemeteries, were desecrated. After the discovery of the attack, which reportedly occurred the day after the installation of Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, the Prosecutor General launched a thorough investigation and the Baku Mayor’s Office began repairs on the cemetery.
For the most part, the Jewish community has enjoyed warm relations with the Azerbaijani government. Azerbaijan and Israel have had diplomatic relations since 1991, when Azerbaijan emerged from the Soviet Union, and Israel has an embassy in Baku.
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This article was adapted from jewishvirtuallibrary.org, and was edited for space.
