The term useful Jew was used in various historical contexts, typically describing a Jew useful in implementing an official authority's policy, sometimes by oppressing other Jews.
In 1744, Frederick II of Prussia introduced the practice of limiting Jewish population to a small number of the most wealthy families, known as Schutzjuden ("protected Jews").[1] The first-born son in such families inherited this privilege; other children were considered useless by the authorities and had the choice of either abstaining from marriage or leaving.[2]
Following the establishment of the Pale of Settlement by Imperial Russia, only "useful Jews" (Russian: полезные евреи) were allowed to live outside the Pale; these included Jews such as wealthy first-rung merchants (Russian: купцы первой гильдии), persons who had received higher education, cantonists (after serving their full term in the army), and some other categories.[3][4]
↑ (in Russian)The infamous AZCSP (in Russian) Prepared by Moscow Bureau for human rights. Contains excerpts from June 6, 1983 AZSCP press-conference from the press-center of Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (sem40.ru)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.