THE JEWISH POPULATION OF THE RUSSIAN-AUSTRIAN BORDERLAND AT THE TURN OF THE 19th – THE 20th CENTURIES: ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND DAILY PRACTICES (BASED ON DOCUMENTARY POSTCARDS)

Abstract

The relevance of the study is determined by the shifts in recent decades in the perception of visual sources, as intellectual activity has encouraged researchers “to rediscover” their sources. The research priorities reorientation has led to the academic community recognizing documentary postcards and their written messages as significant sources with great potential for understanding a spiritual and material life, everyday practices, and mentality of the population of a given era. The purpose of the research is to outline the economic activities, everyday practices, and interactions with the surrounding world of members of the Jewish communities in the region of the eastern section of the Russian-Austrian borderland at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. The main source of the study consists of nearly 400 documentary postcards from private and museum collections, published in 1896 – 1918. The research methodology is based on the application of analytical and synthetic, historical and cultural attribution, iconographic, and comparative analysis methods. The scientific novelty of the study consists in expanding current understanding of the economic activity and everyday practices of the Jewish population in the Russian-Austrian borderland at the end of the 19th century, on the eve of and during World War I. Conclusions. The iconography of the postcards represents the everyday visual world of the Jewish population in the Russian-Austrian borderland, offering personal testimonies and opening up avenues for the study of their culture, economic activities, and daily practices. The imagery affirms that the synagogue functioned as the focal point of the Jewish communal life, while religious rituals-binding for all members of the community-constituted the supreme normative framework. The unquestioned authority of rabbis is reflected in their portraits and the depictions of their residences featured on the postcards. The visual content of the postcards attests to a significant role played by the Jewish entrepreneurs in the economic development of the imperial borderlands across adjacent regions. It visualizes the economic activity of the Jewish capital in the sugar, flour-milling, timber, and brick industries within the border provinces of the Russian Empire. This involvement contributed to the completion of the industrial transformation in the frontier regions – Volhynia, Podillia, Bukovyna, and Eastern Galicia. It also facilitated the development of transport infrastructure, accelerated urbanization processes, and led to the numerical predominance of the Jews among the urban population in the contact zone between the two empires. The imagery captured on the postcards documents the national character, leisure activities, domestic life, traditional dress, and everyday practices of the Jewish communities members. It reflects the patriarchal structure of the family, where male authority and leadership were dominant, yet women played a decisive role in key family decisions, upheld the Jewish religious principles, and ensured the satisfaction of daily needs. The postcards also reveal that individuals who sought to break away from familial and communal authority often renounced tradition and, as a result, faced social condemnation. The prevalence of antisemitism and the outbreak Jewish massacres, prompted waves of emigration from the western provinces of the empire to countries across the American continent. At the same time, the visual materials from World War I period attest that, even amid the turmoil of war, members of urban Jewish communities, despite numerous hardships and obstacles, persisted in maintaining established economic routines and everyday practices.

Key words: Jews, Jewish population, Austro-Russian borderland, postcard, documentary postcard, visual source.