
The Times of Mendes Cohen
The three timelines below explore some key highlights of history during Mendes Cohen's long life.
Explore some of the events in "the old world" and America, as well as the technological innovations that occuring over Mendes' nearly century-long life by clicking through each of the three slideshows below.

Image of map showing the Pale of Settlement. Text: Following the partition of Poland, more than 300,000 Jews found themselves under Russian rule. In 1791, Czarina Catherine the Great confined then Jewish population to the “Pale of Settlement” – the westernmost regions of her empire.

Image: A man in military uniform rides on a horse. Text: Many members of the first Jewish military unit in modern times, called “the Beardlings” were allowed to keep their beards and other Jewish customs and laws. Led by Berek Joselewicz, the unit unsuccessfully defended a rebellion in Poland in 1794 and were nearly wiped out.

Image: Group of immigrants on a ship in sight of the Statue of Liberty. Text: In the wake of the pogroms in Odessa, Monye Bokal formed an organization called Am Olam whose goal was to help his community move to agricultural colonies in America. Beginning in 1882, this wave of new arrivals added more than two million to the U.S. Jewish population prior to World War I. More were city dwellers than farmers.

Image of map showing the Pale of Settlement. Text: Following the partition of Poland, more than 300,000 Jews found themselves under Russian rule. In 1791, Czarina Catherine the Great confined then Jewish population to the “Pale of Settlement” – the westernmost regions of her empire.







