Saturday, August 24, 2024

A look at Grigory Potemkin's 'Jewish Cossacks' in tsarist Russia

Very recommendable! History is full of curiosities!

The lover of empress Catherine the Great did not only build Potemkin villages! 😊

"... This bold move to create an entirely Jewish military unit and lead it in the reconquest of Jerusalem demonstrated Potemkin’s unique philo-Semitism and Zeitlin’s influence, though it was a challenging idea given the antisemitism of the age, especially among the Cossacks.

Potemkin wanted the Israelovsky Regiment to be a mix of infantry and cavalry, and by March 1788 some 35 bearded Jewish Cossacks were in training. Soon, the regiment grew to two squadrons, with Potemkin optimistic about recruiting more from Poland. ...
“Potemkin was the first person to really arm Jews since the 7th century. He was a kind of political impresario ...
horse-backed Jews whose beards reached past their stirrups ...
The idea seemed to plant a seed, however. Just a few years later, in 1794, Berek Joselewicz, a Polish Jewish colonel, would form another all-Jewish unit to serve during the Kościuszko Uprising, when Poles rose up and rebelled against Russia. ..."

A look at Grigory Potemkin's 'Jewish Cossacks' in tsarist Russia - The Jerusalem Post One of the most curious episodes of Jews bearing arms in a military capacity occurred 250 years ago in the Russian Empire under the Romanovs. It was Potemkin's Israelovsky Regiment.

Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (1739-1791)




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