Ukrainian lands in Tsarist Russia 1770s –1914 Chapter Six With the partitions of Poland, Russian Empress Catherine II came to rule over 85 percent of Ukrainians and the world's largest Jewish population. Repression followed in train. The vast majority of Ukrainians worked on state-owned lands or as serfs on large private estates. Jews were prohibited from residing outside the designated "Pale of Settlement" and were subjected to aggressive russification and assimilationist policies. The "great reforms" of the 1860s abolished serfdom and Ukrainians experienced a nationalist awakening in the nineteenth century, triggering Tsarist suppression of Ukrainian-language schools, publications, and cultural organizations. For their part, Jews experienced inconsistent policies, ongoing official anti-Jewish discrimination, and several waves of traumatizing pogroms. Poverty was prevalent among both the Ukrainian and Jewish masses. Emigration was an important response for both Ukrainians and Jews, as was nationalism. Politics Demography and Migration Economy and Society Culture and Religion Antisemitism Ukrainian-Jewish Relations
