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Samara: Cities
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The city of Samara is situated on the lower Volga Region of European Russia. Between 1935-1991, the city was known as Kuibyshev. The territory of Samara came under the influence of the Khazar Khanate in the 7th century. It was crossed with major trade routes, which connected Khazaria with China. Khazar rule was brought to an end in the late 10th century when the troops of the Kievan prince Svyatoslav defeated the troops of Josef, the Khagan of Khazaria. The city of Samara was founded in 1568 in order to defend the southeastern borders of the Russian state from Nogay and Crimean Tatars.
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Even in the 19th century, Samara Region had a very interesting cultural life and rich and varied theatrical traditions. The city's oldest theaters have memories of performances by celebrated artists, such as Fedor Chaliapin, Ivan Kozlovsky, R. Glier, David Oistrakh, L. Utesov, L. Sobinov, and many others. The famous Russian actors Pelageya Strepetova, Modest Pisarev, and Aleksandr Lensky ... worked here.
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Jews were among the initiators and organizers of the Orenburg project that led to the laying of a railway connecting Samara with the central Russian guberniyas. In 1874, the first rabbi arrived in Samara. Two synagogues were opened in 1880 and 1887, but the official registration of the Jewish community of Samara was delayed until 1895. A little over 1300 Jews lived in Samara in 1897 representing 1.5% of the city population, and three years later, their numbers had grown to about 1550. Large Jewish traders began exporting agricultural products from the Samarskaya Guberniya. They ... established the first beer factory, producing the Zhigulevskoe beer, a brand that is still famous today.
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During the Second World War, Samara became one of Russia's largest industrial centers after a number of engineering and aircraft plants were evacuated here from the west. The main government offices and foreign embassies ... moved to Kuibyshev in late 1941, so that the city was rightly known as the capital of the home front.
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