Rozprowadzanie fałszywej monety rosyjskiej przez grupę Starozakonnych z Obwodu Białostockiego w latach 20. XIX wieku

Abstract

Possessing appropriate knowledge about the considerable profits gained out of counterfeiting of Polish coins in the eighteenth century, it was decided after 1815 to repeat this procedure with reference to financial resources of Kingdom of Poland, and then Russia itself. Already at the end of the winter of 1827/1828, preliminary information appeared that the Jewish inhabitants of the Białystok District began to import counterfeit coins into “Russia”. The First Administrative Division of Białystok Province Government issued its first arrest warrant for the Jewish citizen of Zabłudów, named Josef Nochim. As a result of further evident involvement of Jews from Białystok neighborhood in the process of transporting counterfeit coins from the United Kingdom to the territories under Russian suzerainty, the administrative authorities of both Kingdom and Empire began to suspect literally every returning from England Hebrew for personal involvement in this procedure. Finally, on April 22, 1830, the First Administrative Department of Białystok District Government published general warrant, listing many local Jews, wanted in connection with counterfeiting and distribution of tsarist coins. The police state of Alexander I and Nicholas I (in Russian Empire and in Kingdom of Poland indifferently), perfectly shaped and constructed in its control structures, did not, however, offer significant opportunities to develop such a counterfeit activity.