In northern Azerbaijan near the Russian border, Krasnaya Sloboda residents are almost exclusively “Mountain Jews”— indigenous Caucasian Jews who speak their own language, related to Persian. The town was founded in 1742 by Fatelli Khan, Muslim emir of the adjacent town Quba,as a haven for Jews. The flat area south of the modern-day border with the Russian province of DAGESTAN, the rugged and remote area to the north served as a haven for Jews for centuries. Unrest in the 18th century meant local Sunnis turned on their Jewish neighbors. One Jewish town was burned down.The Jews fled to build Kasnaya Sloboda.
A Chabad-Lubavitch emissary is trying to increase the dwindling population as the youth move to Russia. While for a time in the mid-20th century the town was considered by some to be the largest all-Jewish settlement outside the land of Israel, numbers have since dwindled from an estimated peak of 18,000 to . . . around 1,000 permanent residents. [June 2016]
Jewish history [June 2016]
CEMETERIES:
Three cemeteries perch on a hill overlooking Krasnaya Sloboda. Source with photos. [June 2016]
A Glimpse into Azerbaijan's Hidden All-Jewish Town has descriptions and photos. [Dec 2017]