List of Russian Jews
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| List of Jews by country |
| Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Arab World | Israel* |
| South-East Europe |
| Austria | Hungary |
| Poland | East Europe |
| Russia | North Europe |
| UK | Germany | Italy |
| France | West Europe |
| Iberia | Latin America |
| Caribbean | Canada |
| US | Asia | Oceania |
| (*most are Jewish) |
The Jewish presence in Russia dates back to the 7th century, and a converted Jewish Khazar kingdom sprang up a hundred years later. By the formation of the Soviet Union, there were some 2.5 million Soviet Jews, mostly Ashkenazi. After its collapse, many emigrated to Israel, USA and Germany, though Russia still has one of the larger Jewish populations in the world. The following is a list of some prominent Russian Jews.
(Note: Baltic, East European and Asian Jews from the other former Soviet republics are on different lists.)
| Contents |
Historical figures
Politicians
- Mikhail Fradkov, Prime Minister (Jewish father)
- Lazar Kaganovich, Soviet politician
- Lev Kamenev & Grigory Zinoviev, ruling triumvirate with Stalin
- Sergei Kiriyenko, Prime Minister (Jewish father)
- Vladimir Lenin, Soviet Revolutionary and leader (Jewish maternal grandfather)
- Maxim Litvinov, Soviet ambassador
- Julius Martov, Menshevik leader
- Yevgeny Primakov, Prime Minister
- Peter Shafirov, Imperial Russian politician
- Aleksandr Rutskoy, Politician and General (Jewish mother)
- Leon Trotsky, Bolshevik politician
- Chaim Weizmann, Zionist leader & Israeli president
- Grigory Yavlinsky, liberal leader (Jewish mother)
- Vladimir Zhirinovsky, nationalist and anti-semitic politician (Jewish father)
Other
- Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Soviet general
- Fanya Kaplan, would-be assassin of Lenin
- Lev Rokhlin, general and politician
Scientists
Natural scientists
- Alexei Abrikosov, physicist, nobel prize (2003) (Jewish mother)
- Zhores Alferov, physicist, nobel prize (2000) (Jewish mother)
- Zora Arkus-Duntov, father of the Chevrolet Corvette
- Grigory Barenblatt, mathematician
- Abram Besicovitch, mathematician
- Eugene Dynkin, mathematician
- Ilya Frank, physicist, nobel prize (1958) (Jewish father)
- Izrail Gel'fand, mathematician
- Vitaly Ginzburg, physicist, nobel prize (2003)
- Mikhail Gromov, mathematician
- Mikhail Gurevich, co-inventor of the MiG
- Abram Fedorovich Ioffe, nuclear scientist
- A. Ya. Khinchin, mathematician (unconfirmed)
- Maxim Kontsevich, mathematician, fields medal (1998) (unconfirmed)
- Lev Landau, physicist, nobel prize (1962)
- Semyon Lavochkin, aircraft designer
- Solomon Lefschetz, mathematician
- Grigory Margulis, mathematician, fields medal (1978)
- Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, microbiologist, nobel prize (1908) (Jewish mother)
- Grigori Perelman, mathematician
- Ilya Prigogine, chemist, nobel prize (1977)
- V. A. Rokhlin, mathematician
- Yakov G. Sinai, applied mathematician
- Paul Urysohn, mathematician
- Selman Waksman, biochemist, nobel prize (1952)
- Yakov Zeldovich, astrophysicist
- Efim Zelmanov, mathemaitican, fields medal (1994)
Social scientists
- Urie Bronfenbrenner, developmental psychologist (unconfirmed)
- Aharon Dolgopolsky, linguist
- Moshe Feldenkrais, inventor of the Feldenkrais method
- Alexander Gerschenkron, economic historian
- Georges Gurvitch, sociologist
- Abraham Harkavy, historian
- Roman Jakobson, linguist
- Leonid Kantorovich, economist, nobel prize (1975)
- Mirra Komarovsky, sociologist of gender
- Simon Kuznets, economist, nobel prize (1971)
- Wassily Leontief, economist, nobel prize (1973) (Jewish mother)
- Yuri Lotman, semiotician
- Alexander Luria, neuropsychologist
- Abraham Maslow, psychologist
- Eugene Minkowski
- Ayn Rand, philosopher
- Anatol Rapoport, game theorist
- Lev Vygotsky, developmental psychologist
- Mikhail Epstein, philosopher
- Vladimir Bibler, philosopher
- Nathan Eidelman, historian
- Lev Shestov (Leon Chestov), philosopher
- Matvei Kagan, philosopher
Cultural figures
Musicians
- Vladimir Ashkenazi, pianist (Jewish father)
- Rudolf Barshai, conductor
- Yuri Bashmet, violist
- Irving Berlin, songwriter
- Lazar Berman, pianist
- Semyon Bychkov, conductor
- Isaak Iosifovich Dunayevsky, composer
- Vladimir Feltsman, pianist
- Emil Gilels, pianist
- Grigory Ginsburg, pianist
- Natalia Gutman, cellist
- Oleg Kagan, violinist
- Evgeny Kissin, pianist
- André Kostelanetz, conductor
- Serge Koussevitzky, conductor
- Josef Lhévinne, pianist
- Shlomo Mintz, violinist
- Roman Nodel, violinist
- David Oistrakh, violinist
- Anton Rubinstein, pianist
- Nikolai Rubinstein, pianist, composer
- Alfred Schnittke, composer (Jewish father)
- Daniil Shafran, cellist
- Beverly Sills, opera singer
- Nicolas Slonimsky, musicologist & composer
- Regina Spektor, singer/songwriter
- Vladimir Spivakov, violinist
- Sophie Tucker, singer
- Maxim Vengerov, violinist
- Efrem Zimbalist, violinist
- Naum Shtarkman, pianist virtuoso
Others
- Leon Bakst, painter & costume designer
- Sergei Eisenstein, director (Jewish father)
- Yevgeny Khaldei, photographer
- El Lissitzky, designer
- Solomon Mikhoels, actor & director
- Alla Nazimova, actress
- Yuri Norstein, animator
- Maya Plisetskaya, ballerina
- Arkady Raikin, comedian
- Dziga Vertov, director
- Roman Kartsev, comedian
- Victor Il'chenko, comedian
- Chaim Sutin, artist
- Mark Chagal, artist
- Savely Kramarov, comedy movie star
- Faina Ranevskaya, actress
Authors and poets
- Isaac Asimov, science fiction writer
- Isaac Babel, writer
- Saul Bellow, writer, Nobel Prize (1976) (Russian parents)
- Joseph Brodsky, poet, Nobel Prize (1987)
- Ilya Ehrenburg, writer
- Jacob Gordin, playwright
- Peretz Hirshbein, playwright
- Ilya Ilf, humorist
- Wladimir Kaminer, writer, dj
- Lev Kopelev, author & dissident
- Osip Mandelstam, poet
- Boris Pasternak, writer, Nobel Prize (1958)
- Lyudmila Ulitskaya, writer
- Mikhail Zhvanetskiy, writer
- Alexander Galitch, poet and song writer
- Psoy Korolenko (Pavel Lion), poet and song writer
- Alexander Gorodnitskiy, poet and song writer
- Evgeniy Kliachkin, poet and song writer
- Alexander Rosenbaum, poet and song writer
- Dmitriy Kimmelfeld, poet and song writer
- Arkadiy & Boris Strugatskiy, writers
Business figures
Entrepreneurs
- Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google
- Maurice Greenberg, founder of Coleco
- Michael Kogan, founder of Taito
- Morris Markin, founder of Checker Cab
- Rose & Morris Michtom, creators of the Teddy Bear
Oligarchs
- Roman Abramovich, billionaire, owner of Chelsea FC
- Boris Berezovsky, exiled ex-billionaire
- Mikhail Fridman, billionaire
- Vladimir Gusinsky, exiled former media tycoon
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky, imprisoned oil billionaire
Sport figures
Chess
- Mikhail Botvinnik, World Champion
- Garry Kasparov, World Champion (Jewish father)
- Alexander Khalifman, World Champion (unconfirmed)
- Viktor Korchnoi, World Championship challenger (Jewish mother)
- Alla Kushnir, Women's World Championship challenger
- Vasily Smyslov, World Champion (unconfirmed Jewish mother)
- Peter Svidler, Grandmaster (unconfirmed)
- Mark Taimanov, Grandmaster & concert pianist
Other sports
- Nikolay Epstein, Soviet hockey coach
- Alexander Gomelsky, Soviet basketball coach
- Maria Itkina, sprinter
- Fania Melnik, discus thrower
- Irina Slutskaya, figure skater (Jewish father)