ETHNO-RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY YEKATERINBURG

Abstract

The article studies four officially recognized non-Orthodox communities in the late 19th century Yekaterinburg – Lutherans, Catholics, Jews and Muslims, who, according to the 1897 All-Russian census, were the main religious minorities in Russian Empire. On the basis of census data and local statistics, the authors analyze the size and dynamics of the city’s ethno-religious communities, as well as ethnic and occupational composition and literacy. The authors also identified and located main markers of their presence in the city’s landscape and highlighted religious minorities’ contribution to the economic and social development of the city, the professional structure and the degree incorporation of their leaders into the city elite. They argue that the late 19th century Yekaterinburg presented a rather successful model of the coexistence of various ethno-religious communities with the Russian Orthodox population, which dominated both numerically and legally. Yekaterinburg, which was commercial and industrial, had an international character since its very foundation and provided such communities with a comfortable environment for economic and cultural integration. All non-Orthodox communities in the city – Lutheran, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim – received official recognition and actively interacted with municipal authorities. Their members were active citizens, who contributed to its development. Thus, each community in its own way contributed to the modernization of itself, the city and the whole country. © 2019, Permskii Gosudarstvennyi Natsional'nyi Issledovatel'skii Universitet. All rights reserved.