Voices of Birobidzhan

In 1935, Soviet authorities sought to establish a Jewish homeland in the hinterlands of eastern Russia: Birobidzhan. The new Jewish homeland rested on Russia's border with China, a swampy and mosquito-infested patch of land.

Inspired by propaganda, more than 100,000 Jews traveled east on the Trans-Siberian rail. Many left.

Today, the region still bears the name of the Jewish Autonomous District. Less than 5 percent identify themselves as Jewish.

The district depends on its Jewish identity for independence. Monuments plucked from the pages of Shalom Aleichem dot the landscape. But the question remains.

Is Birobidzhan a Jewish city? Was it ever?