Jewish philanthropists were also quite active in the field of higher education, and played a central role in the establishment of Kiev's Polytechnical and Commercial Institutes. The former was established in 1898 on the initiative of the Brodsky brothers, who, together with other magnates such as N. A. Tereshchenko, helped to raise much of the capital. (Lazar’ Brodsky himself donated 100,000 rubles.)74
Because neither institution was under direct control of the Ministry of Education but rather supervised by the Ministry of Trade, each had a bit more flexibility when it came to the regulations governing the numerus clausus for Jewish men, and as a result both institutes enabled many more Jews to obtain a professional education than would have been possible otherwise. There is little doubt that the significant role of Jews in the founding of the institutes and presence on their governing boards had something to do with this policy.75 In 1905, official statistics showed the Jewish proportion in the Polytechnical Institute's student body to be 16 percent, just over the quota, but by 1909, the institute's administration had become embroiled in a dispute with the government over its apparent admission of Jews at a rate of 40 percent of the total (the additional 25 percent were to be considered ex-terns [vne otdelenii ]!).76 Even after the authorities had intervened and ordered the institute's administrators and governors to adhere to the strict construction of the law, they refused to back down, and the board even passed a resolution that it would not comply with the government's order.77
As for the Commercial Institute, its first trustees included David Margolin and Lev Brodsky, who also served as chair of the board of overseers, and among its many Jewish students were such future Soviet Jewish cultural luminaries as Solomon Mikhoels and Isaak Babel.78 This strong Jewish presence may help to explain the anonymous denunciation submitted to the authorities in 1914 about antigovernment tendencies within the institute. The writer complained that entire board of overseers were "zhids and zhid sympathizers" (zhidy i zhidovstsvuiushchie)—an exaggeration of the Jewish presence on the board, no doubt, but nonetheless an interesting insight into how some outsiders perceived the institute and its sponsors.79
World History
