ABSTRACT
David Bergelson arrived in the Birobidzhan region on 29 October 1932 for a six-week stay, and was given a royal welcome. A plenary session of the settlement council of Birobidzhan was held in his honour, and he was afforded an opportunity to tour the recently established Jewish settlements. At the fifteenth anniversary celebration of the Bolshevik revolution, an event of supreme importance, he participated as a guest of honour, despite the fact that he was a foreign national. Bergelson elegantly made up for his absence at the conference in the 'international' arena by publishing a series of articles praising the Birobidzhan plan and denouncing other imperialist 'paradises' for Jews, among them Palestine. The decision was immediately taken to build Bergelson a house and give him the use of an automobile, despite the fact that he had already purchased a co-op apartment in Moscow.
