Talk:Useful Jew

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[edit] Prostitutes

I'd like to express a doubt that prostitutes were considered "useful Jews" in Imperial Russia. Any confirmations? mikka (t) 23:26, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

More than enough. "The freest Jewish professionals were prostitutes, who could live anywhere in the empire as long as they could prove they were plying their trade". (How Russia Shaped the Modern World: From Art to Anti-Semitism, Ballet to Bolshevism by Steven G. Marks, p.142). I'm sure it is easy to find more. If I'm not mistaken, Alexander Kuprin wrote about it in "Яма". ←Humus sapiens←Talk 09:28, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I was speaking about more direct sources. I doubt any law or ukase existed that included prostitutes explicitely. The only possible reason I see is that prostitutes fell under the category of "skilled laborers", if such existed for the purposes of the Pale of Settlement. There could be other reasons. One may recall that bordellos were a favorite milking cow of corrupted officials. Also in coud be possible that the "yellow ticket" of the prostitute didn;t give rights for permanent residence, so technically prostitutes were not under the regulations of the Pale, since they could be evicted at any moment. In any case, the item sticks out in a kind of sensationalist way, and IMO better be placed into a proper context. mikka (t) 18:52, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Quoting: ...the urban legend of the false prostitute. Novels, films, and memoirs produced in the period in Russia and abroad repeated the story of the nice Jewish girl who signs up as a prostitute solely to get permission to live in Moscow or St. Petersburg. This narrative was undoubtedly so popular because of its titillating combination of sex, deception, and chastity. mikka (t) 18:57, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)