Gabriel Derzhavin reported that Jews in western Russia owned a large percentage of the land.
Posted by The Pete Quiñones Show, Checked
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The Pete Quiñones ShowOct 1, 2026
The sources confirm that Derzhavin's 1800 report blamed Jews for exploiting peasants through leaseholding and distilling, but none says he reported that Jews owned a large percentage of the land.
What was said
… No one wanted any trouble in these trade hubs, and all these cities were, and so they wanted violence ended before it began. And, of course, Dershowin, who tended to be, you know, at least neutral on the subject, came back to Petersburg and said, Well, there's some good reason for this. They manipulate the peasants, they hate them, they don't charge interest amongst themselves, but they do everybody else, they own a huge percentage of the land, more than we ever knew, and that's why that, you know, the Jewish missions, as they're called, from both Alexander the First and his predecessor were extremely important. Why very few people know about them, it's rare that you had a lot of Jewish deaths in any of this. …
The Pete Quiñones Show · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. A European Jewish studies article says Jews were excluded from owning land generally under early 1800s Russian policy, with ownership later opened only in specific regions. This cuts against the claim's implied land ownership, but it addresses Alexander I's committee rather than Derzhavin's report.[1]
Context. Wikipedia and the Jewish Encyclopedia describe Derzhavin's report as blaming Jews for exploiting peasants through leaseholding of estates, distilling and inns, not through land ownership.[2][3]
Context. A 2026 chapter on rural Jews says Derzhavin overwhelmingly blamed Jews for peasant conditions and recommended their expulsion from villages, without citing any land-ownership percentage.[4]
Context. The 1800 report is described as drawing on Polish nobility's allegations and Jewish leaseholds, and no source quotes Derzhavin giving land-ownership figures for Jews.[5][6]
Sources
6 sources: 6 not rated
- 1ISSN: 2158-7051ijors.net · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 2Gavrila Derzhavin - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · not rated · cited for: context
- 3DERZHAVIN, GAVRIIL ROMANOVICHjewishencyclopedia.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 42 The Legal Position of Rural Jews in the Russian Empiredegruyterbrill.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 5Derzhavin, Gabriel Romanovichencyclopedia.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 6Senator Derzhavin and the Jewschabad.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- Emperor Paul I sent Gabriel Derzhavin to investigate the causes of violence and hatred against Jews in western Russia.Mixed
- Jews in Poland owned most of the land and most of the religious institutions in Ukraine in the name of their lords.False
- Jews became major merchants in Russia between 1810 and 1820.Can’t tell
- In Russian-controlled Ukraine, 1% of the population owned about half the land.Can’t tell
- By the start of World War I, 95% of the Russian peasantry owned their own land.False