Birobidzhan is a capital city of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in eastern Russia. The city was founded in 1931, and it was named after the rivers Bira and Bidsjan, which both flow in the area. The Soviet Politburo approved the establishment of the Jewish region in 1928, and Birobidzhan’s town plan was developed by Swiss Hannes Meyer. After this, the city was built and developed, and the organizations KOMZET and OZET were responsible for the distribution of land to settlers and other practical matters. There were also Jewish immigrants here from several European countries and the United States.

However, many people other than Jews also lived in Birobidzhan, and the Jewish settlers came to the area with different backgrounds and motives. Together with an undeveloped infrastructure and the weather in the region, these were factors that caused some to leave Birobidzhan again. In the years after World War II, a new wave of Jewish immigrants came to the city. These were primarily Jews from Eastern Europe who could not return to their former homes. The population of the city reached 40,000 in the late 1950s, and since then the population peaked at the end of the Soviet Union with over 80,000 inhabitants.

Today you can make some nice walks in the center of Birobidzhan, which is clear and where everything is within walking distance of each other. One can start from the city’s railway station, from which a central square and axis extends through the city center to the banks of the Bira River. In front of the railway station stands the monument to the first settlers, and from here you can walk through Victory Park. Then you can see the city’s Palace of Culture, located on the pedestrian street Ulitsa Sholom Aleykhema. Continuing to the river, you can see the Birobidzhan Regional Philharmonic. In front of the Philharmonic is a beautifully landscaped square and some lovely promenades along the river.

Along the promenades you can go to the large square, Ploshad Lenina, where you can see Birobidzhan’s statue of the head of state Lenin. Along the sides of the square are the oblast’s courthouse and government building. From Lenin Square, you can go north to the green area of ​​the Square of Friendship between Russia and China, where you can see the Friendship Monument, which was inaugurated in 2002 as a symbol of the friendship between the cities of Birobidzhan and the Chinese Hegang. Immediately north of the square is the Cathedral of the Annunciation, which was built in 2003-2005. Nearby is the Birobidzhan Oblast Regional Museum, where you can learn more about the history and culture of the region, among other things.