Jews, Russians, Karaites: the development of Karaite nationalism in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century

ENThe article examines the rise and consolidation of Karaism in Tsarist Russia from the first half of the nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The creation of a specific national culture was on the one hand a consequence of the hostile policy the authorities applied towards Jews, which eventually favored Karaite’s departure from the originary community. On the other hand, and despite the late spread of Haskalah within Karaites as compared to the larger Rabbanite surroundings, the article claims that the former ones did share Maskilic ideals, partly because Karaites already displayed in the majority of cases distinctive signs of acculturation and secularization—all predisposing elements for the formation of a new feeling of national belonging. [From the publication]

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• The Sons of scripture : the Karaites in Poland and Lithuania in the twentieth century / Mikhail Kizilov. Warsaw : De Gruyter Open, 2015. 546 p.