Birobidjan and Khlysti

From: HCarteau_at_aol.com
Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 16:16:46 EDT


Birobidjan was the soviet name for a "jewish indepedent republic" which the sovs created in the fifties (I think), right in a very civilized region on the mongolian border. A few ten of thousands of "volunteers" were sent there. Now, only a few old people seem to remain (I saw a report on french TV about them a few months ago).
There's also a russian joke : when comrade Brezhnev asks who will be the republic's first secretary, all his aides have to admit that there IS a problem : all candidates are jewish...
Seriously, Birobidjan was like a Bantustan in South Africa before appartheid ended : a shadow of a state, a parody set for international propaganda. I wonder what the lunars (curse them) use for birobidjans. Perhaps Holay, Saird, Balazar (remember king glyptus of elkoi ?) Comparing the Khlysti to Chaos monks is fascinating. Reading all these mails, I realize that the lunar empire has a lot in common not only with the soviets but also with russian traditions, as well as jewish, caucasian (from the Caucasus), turkish and tundra people tales.

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