In Soviet educational greenhouses: on the problem of language teaching to the Bukharan–Jewish children of Uzbekistan, 1917–47

ABSTRACT In this article we will consider the language policy the Soviet authorities directed toward the Bukharan Jews in Uzbekistan. These reforms were carried out in several stages. Initially, traditional Hebrew education was banned in favour of the Judeo-Tajik language. Then, in the late 1930s, it was the turn of the ban in favour of the Russian, Tajik and Uzbek languages. At the same time, the national schools of the Bukharan Jews were liquidated. All this, as well as the alphabet of education, changed twice in the 1930s, harmed the level of education of Bukharan Jews. As a result, many Bukharan–Jewish children could not handle the language innovations and began to study worse or even stopped attending public schools. Concerned about this, the authorities were forced to temporarily restore Bukharan–Jewish schools and classes with Judeo-Tajik or Tajik language instruction in the mid-1940s. This history shows that the Soviet authorities carefully monitored the reaction of the population and were able to show flexibility in matters that were not points of principle.