(Source: http://tedjas.ru/shkolnikam/birobidzgan)

Could the Far East railway station Tikhonkaya imagine that it had become a hotbed of Soviet Jewish history? But in 1928 the country made a decision: there was a need for full settlement of free lands of Amur River Region by the working Jews! And Jewish Autonomous Region grew up around the Trans-Siberian with the capital Birobidzhan.

And the origin of the name is of Evenki: "Bira" means a river, "Bija" means a permanent camp. Today, the "permanent camp" of Jews remained 4%, before there was in two or three more. But there is all that is necessary for life and color: images of stars of David and the menorah on each step, the synagogue, the educational language and culture centers and Jewish society. Newspaper is published in two languages, "Birobidzhaner Shtern" ( "Birobidzhan Star").

On the front page there is praises to the city's United Russia party members: they together chipped in on the car for the children's hospital. Next there was a story about a new book by Yuri Fainzilberg "Russia's glorious sons": it is how the settlers moved in 1930 to Birobidzhan, and each was reckon on a gift: a small library and a gramophone. And for a snack there was a story about the holiday of stuffed pike. The religious community "Freud" cooks the fish of 30 meters long! The rest it is a usual Far Eastern city. There is a hill, wonderful views and lotus blooms around the city. But there are not the Chinese in Birobidzhan now.

History

In the middle of the XVII century these lands were part of the Albazinskiy province, and after the conclusion of the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 between China and Russia the region remained without border. It was not allowed to develop the land and to build there. And only 70 years later, following the conclusion in 1858 Aigun agreement with China, the territory on the left bank of the Amur River officially became as a part of Russia.

However, the left bank of the Amur became populated a little bit earlier, when the governor of Eastern Siberia N.N. Muraviev-Amurskiy addressed to the Tsar  with a petition to hold military floats on the lower reaches of the Amur. The resolution of the Tsar had been received, and since 1854 the Cossacks and linear soldiers on barges and rowed delivered a lot of troops, weapons and food to the mouth of the Amur. Then the colonization of the left bank of the river began, mostly by immigrants from Trans-Baikal. The second wave of settlement of Birobidzhan region began in connection with the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway. At the beginning of the XX century by the decision of the tsarist government settling of railway line of Amur Railway began. There were new settlements on the map, including the little stop Tikhonkaya (modern Birobidzhan). The name was given to the village by existing in this place Zaimka - Sopka of Tikhonkaya. In Soviet times the city was known as a center of light industry in all the Far Eastern region.