Work in Eastern Europe

Work in the Shtetl

• Most East European Jews lived in shtetls and there were a limited number of ways to make a living.
• From World of Our Fathers by Irving Howe: “Women often became breadwinners so that their husbands could devote themselves to study, while householders thought it their duty, indeed privilege, to support precocious sons-in-law studying the Holy Word” (8).

• Some Jews worked as peddlers, who traveled from village to village selling whatever goods they could carry. Others worked as artisans such as shoemakers, blacksmiths, and carpenters. Still others, sold goods in the marketplace.
• From 1894-1898, the number of Jewish paupers increased by almost 30 percent.
• In some Jewish communities, up to 40% of the population were “luftmenshn”— “persons without any particular skills, capital, or specific occupations”
• Many young people began to move to cities like Warsaw, Vilna, and Minsk to find work–development of the Jewish proleteriat (working class)
• From petition sent to the governor of Vilna, Lithuania in 1892:
  • Work lasted from 7 AM to 11 PM/12AM
  From a Report Submitted by the Bund to the International Socialist Congress of 1896:
  • Avg. Working Day: 14 to 16 hours
  • Pay as low as 2 or 3 rubles per week.

                        Peddler                                Shoemaker                                       Tailor

Photo Sources:

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/07/13/bibi-buys-un-votes-against-palestinian-statehood/ ((Leo Baeck Institute) (Peddler)

http://www.staszow.co.uk/rt_photos.html (Jewish shoemaker in Staszow, Poland)

View of the marketplace, Rezhishtshev (Rzhyshchiv, Ukr.), ca. 1900.

Source: YIVO