Editor's Note: The Czars continually believed that Jews living along the western border were engaged in smuggling, and might also be assisting foreign invasions, e.g. Napoleon. This decree, one in a series, required them to relocate to the interior of their gubernias, causing great hardship, not only in having to sell their homes, but in less tangible ways as well, for example, being further away from cemeteries where family members were buried.
On removal of Jews living within a 50-verst distance of the border to the interior of gubernias.
From the legal position of the Committee of Ministers, after the presentation by his Minister of Justice concerning Jews living within a 50-verst zone from the border, the following April 20, with his own hand, his Imperial Majesty commanded: "All Jews living in a 50-verst zone along the borders with Prussia and Austria must remove to the interior of the gubernia, it being left to them to sell their own home within a two-year period, and to carry this out without excuse." (V.P.S.Z. Vol. XVIII, No. 16,767)
