In 1929, the Soviet government decided to create a Soviet homeland for Jews.  The Jews who had been forced under the Tsars to live “beyond the Pale” could finally have their own homeland, free from oppression, pogroms, etc., and create a wonderful Soviet paradise.  The only problem was, that the area afforded the Jews, Birodidzhan, an area of 14,800 squa miles (Israel encompasses 9,800 square miles) made current day pre-Israel land look like a garden of paradise.  With little water, forested mountains, swamps, many bugs and wild animals, few roads and no natural resources, it offered little to Jews who migrated there, mostly from the cities of the Soviet Union.  Ill prepared for frontier life (many settlers were artists, poets, etc.), many gave up when they realized that there were no paved roads, few buildings (most “settlers” lived in tents) and little if any help from the central government.