History of the Jews in Azerbaijan
The history of the Jews in Azerbaijan dates back many centuries. Today, Jews in Azerbaijan mainly consist of three distinct groups: Mountain Jews, the most sizable and most ancient group; Ashkenazi Jews, who settled in the area during the late 19th-early 20th centuries, and during World War II; and Georgian Jews who settled mainly in Baku during the early part of the 20th century.
History of the Jews in Azerbaijan
A class held at a Jewish school in Quba (early 1920s)
Synagogue of the Ashkenazi Jews in Baku
Azerbaijani Jew dance group. Khari Bulbul Music Festival
Mountain Jews or Caucasus Jews, also known as Juhuro, Juvuro, Juhuri, Juwuri, Juhurim, Kavkazi Jews or Gorsky Jews, are Jews of the eastern and northern Caucasus, mainly Azerbaijan, and various republics in the Russian Federation: Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Kabardino-Balkaria. The Mountain Jews comprise Persian-speaking Jewry along with the Jews of Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. The Mountain Jews are the descendants of Persian Jews from Iran, and fall within the Mizrachi category of Jews. Mountain Jews took shape as a community after Qajar Iran ceded the areas in which they lived to the Russian Empire as part of the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813.
Mountain Jews
Synagogue at Qırmızı Qəsəbə, Azerbaijan
Synagogue in the Gilaki quarter of Qırmızı Qəsəbə, reopened in 1941 after being closed by Bolsheviks
Mountain Jew Eric Sireni and his family with chokha resting after a day of work