"Of all the astonishing experiences of the widely dispersed Jewish people none was more extraordinary than that concerning the Khazars."
- Nathan Ausubel

"The Khazar people were an unusual phenomenon for Medieval times. Surrounded by savage and nomadic tribes, they had all the advantages of the developed countries: structured government, vast and prosperous trading, and a permanent army. At the time, when great fanatism and deep ignorance contested their dominion over Western Europe, the Khazar state was famous for its justice and tolerance. People persecuted for their faiths flocked into Khazaria from everywhere. As a glistening star it shone brightly on the gloomy horizon of Europe, and faded away without leaving any traces of existence."
- Vasilii V. Grigoriev

in his essay "O dvoystvennosti verkhovnoy vlasti u khazarov" (1835), reprinted in his 1876 compilation book Rossiya i Aziya on page 66

"Though the Jews were everywhere a subject people, and in much of the world persecuted as well, Khazaria was the one place in the medieval world where the Jews actually were their own masters.... To the oppressed Jews of the world, the Khazars were a source of pride and hope, for their existence seemed to prove that God had not completely abandoned His people."
- Raymond Scheindlin

The history of Khazaria presents us with a fascinating example of how Jewish life flourished in the Middle Ages.

 

In a time when Jews were persecuted throughout Christian Europe, the kingdom of Khazaria was a beacon of hope. Jews were able to flourish in Khazaria because of the tolerance of the Khazar rulers, who invited Byzantine and Persian Jewish refugees to settle in their country.

 

Due to the influence of these refugees, the Khazars found the Jewish religion to be appealing and adopted Judaism in large numbers. Most of the available information about the Khazars comes from Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, Byzantine, and Slavic sources, most of which are reliable.

 

There is also a large quantity of archaeological evidence concerning the Khazars that illuminates multiple aspects of the Khazarian economy (arts and crafts, trade, agriculture, fishing, etc.) as well as burial practices.
 

 

 

The Khazars were a Turkic1 people who originated in Central Asia.

 

The early Turkic tribes were quite diverse, although it is believed that reddish hair was predominant among them prior to the Mongol conquests. In the beginning, the Khazars believed in Tengri shamanism, spoke a Turkic language, and were nomadic. Later, the Khazars adopted Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, learned Hebrew and Slavic, and became settled in cities and towns throughout the north Caucasus and Ukraine.

 

The Khazars had a great history of ethnic independence extending approximately 800 years from the 5th to the 13th century.

The earliest history of the Khazars in southern Russia, prior to the middle of the 6th century, is hidden in obscurity. From about 550 to 630, the Khazars were part of the Western Turkish Empire, ruled by the Celestial Blue Turks (Kök Turks). When the Western Turkish Empire was broken up as a result of civil wars in the middle of the 7th century, the Khazars successfully asserted their independence.

 

Yet, the Kök kaganate under which they had lived provided the Khazars with their system of government. For example, the Khazars followed the same guidelines as the Kök Turks regarding the succession of kings.
 

 

 

At its maximum extent, the independent country of Khazaria included the geographic regions of southern Russia, northern Caucasus, eastern Ukraine, Crimea, western Kazakhstan, and northwestern Uzbekistan.

 

Other Turkic groups such as the Sabirs and Bulgars came under Khazar jurisdiction during the 7th century. The Khazars forced some of the Bulgars (led by Asparukh) to move to modern-day Bulgaria, while other Bulgars fled to the upper Volga River region where the independent state of Volga Bulgharia was founded.

 

The Khazars had their greatest power over other tribes in the 9th century, controlling eastern Slavs, Magyars, Pechenegs, Burtas, North Caucasian Huns, and other tribes and demanding tribute from them.

 

Because of their jurisdiction over the area, the Caspian Sea was named the "Khazar Sea", and even today the Azeri, Turkish, Persian, and Arabic languages designate the Caspian by this term (in Turkish, "Hazar Denizi"; in Arabic, "Bahr-ul-Khazar"; in Persian, "Daryaye Khazar").

In addition to their role in indirectly bringing about the creation of the modern Balkan nation of Bulgaria, the Khazars played an even more significant role in European affairs. By acting as a buffer state between the Islamic world and the Christian world, Khazaria prevented Islam from significantly spreading north of the Caucasus Mountains. This was accomplished thru a series of wars known as the Arab-Khazar Wars, which took place in the late 7th and early 8th centuries.

 

The wars established the Caucasus and the city of Derbent as the boundary between the Khazars and the Arabs.
 

 

 

The first Khazar capital was Balanjar, which is identified with the archaeological site Verkhneye Chir-Yurt.

 

During the 720s, the Khazars transferred their capital to Samandar, a coastal town in the north Caucasus noted for its beautiful gardens and vineyards. In 750, the capital was moved to the city of Itil (Atil) on the edge of the Volga River.

In fact, the name "Itil" also designated the Volga River in the medieval age.

 

Itil would remain the Khazar capital for at least another 200 years. Itil, the administrative center of the Khazar kingdom, was located adjacent to Khazaran, a major trading center. In the early 10th century, Khazaran-Itil's population was composed mostly of Muslims and Jews, but a few Christians lived there also. The capital city had many mosques. The king's palace was located on an island nearby, which was surrounded by a brick wall.

 

The Khazars stayed in their capital during the winter, but they lived in the surrounding steppe in the spring and summer to cultivate their crops.

The great capital city of modern Ukraine, Kiev, was founded by Khazars or Hungarians.

 

Kiev is a Turkic place name (Küi = riverbank + ev = settlement). A community of Jewish Khazars lived in Kiev. Other towns of the Khazars, many of which also had important Jewish communities, included Kerch (Bospor), Feodosia, Tamatarkha (Tmutorokan), Chufut-Kale, Sudak, and Sarkel.

 

The local governor of Samandar was Jewish, and it may be assumed that many of the governors of these other localities were also Jewish. A major brick fortress was built in 834 in Sarkel, along the Don River.

 

It was a cooperative Byzantine-Khazar venture, and Petronas Kamateros, a Greek, served as chief engineer during the construction.

 

 

 

 

The staple foods for the Khazars were rice and fish. Barley, wheat, melons, hemp, and cucumbers were also harvested in Khazaria.

 

There were many orchards and fertile regions around the Volga River, which the Khazars depended upon due to the infrequency of rain. The Khazars hunted foxes, rabbits, and beavers to supply the large demand for furs.

Khazaria was an important trade route connecting Asia and Europe. For example, the "Silk Road" was an important link between China, Central Asia, and Europe. Among the things traded along the Khazar trade routes were silks, furs, candlewax, honey, jewelry, silverware, coins, and spices.

 

Jewish Radhanite traders of Persia passed thru Itil on their way to western Europe, China, and other locations.

 

The Iranian Sogdians also made use of the Silk Road trade, and their language and runic letters became popular among the Turks. Khazars traded with the people of Khwarizm (northwest Uzbekistan) and Volga Bulgharia and also with port cities in Azerbaijan and Persia.

The Khazars' dual-monarchy was a Turkic system under which the kagan was the supreme king and the bek was the civilian army leader. The kagans were part of the Turkic Asena ruling family that had provided kagans for other Central Asian nations in the early medieval period. The Khazar kagans had relations with the rulers of the Byzantines, Abkhazians, Hungarians, and Armenians.

 

To some extent, the Khazarian kings influenced the religion of the Khazar people, but they tolerated those who had different religions than their own, so that even when these kings adopted Judaism they still let Greek Christians, pagan Slavs, and Muslim Iranians live in their domains. In the capital city, the Khazars established a supreme court composed of 7 members, and every religion was represented on this judicial panel (according to one contemporary Arab chronicle, the Khazars were judged according to the Torah, while the other tribes were judged according to other laws).

Ancient communities of Jews existed in the Crimean Peninsula, a fact proven by much archaeological evidence. It is significant that the Crimea came under the control of the Khazars. The Crimean Jewish communities were later supplemented by refugee Jews fleeing the Mazdaq rebellion in Persia, the persecutions of Byzantine emperors Leo III and Romanus I Lecapenus, and for a variety of other reasons.

 

Jews came to Khazaria from modern-day Uzbekistan, Armenia, Hungary, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and many other places, as documented by al-Masudi, the Schechter Letter, Saadiah Gaon, and other accounts. The Arabic writer Dimashqi wrote that these refugee Jews offered their religion to the Khazar Turks and that the Khazars "found it better than their own and accepted it".

 

The Jewish Radhanite traders may have also influenced the conversion. Adopting Judaism was perhaps also a symbol of political independence for Khazaria, holding the balance of power between Muslim Caliphate and the Christian Byzantine Empire.

Under the leadership of kings Bulan and Obadiah, the standard rabbinical form of the Jewish religion spread among the Khazars. King Bulan adopted Judaism in approximately the year 838, after supposedly holding a debate between representatives of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. The Khazar nobility and many of the common people also became Jews. King Obadiah later established synagogues and Jewish schools in Khazaria.

 

The books of the Mishnah, Talmud, and Torah thus became important to many Khazars. Saint Cyril came to Khazaria in 860 in a Byzantine attempt to convert the Khazars to Christianity, but he was unsuccessful in converting them away from Judaism. He did, however, convince many of the Slavs to adopt Christianity. By the 10th century, the Khazars wrote using Hebrew letters.

 

The major Khazar Jewish documents from that period were written in the Hebrew language. The Ukrainian professor Omeljan Pritsak estimated that there were as many as 30,000 Jews in Khazaria by the 10th century. In 2002, the Swedish numismatist Gert Rispling discovered a Khazar Jewish coin.

In general, the Khazars may be described as a productive and tolerant people, in contact with much of the rest of the world and providing goods and services at home and abroad.

 

Many artifacts from the Khazars, exhibiting their artistic and industrial talents, have survived to the present day.
 

 

 

During the 10th century, the East Slavs were united under Scandinavian overlordship.

 

A new nation, Kievan Rus, was formed by Prince Oleg. Just as the Khazars had left their mark on other peoples, so too did they influence the Rus. The Rus and the Hungarians both adopted the dual-kingship system of the Khazars.

 

The Rus princes even borrowed the title kagan.

 

Archaeologists recovered a variety of Khazar or Khazar-style objects (including clothing and pottery) from Viking gravesites in Chernigov, Gnezdovo, Kiev, and even Birka (Sweden). The residents of Kievan Rus patterned their legal procedures after the Khazars. In addition, some Khazar words became part of the old East Slavic language: for example, bogatyr ("brave knight") apparently derives from the Khazar word baghatur.

The Rus inherited most of the former Khazar lands in the late 10th century and early 11th century. One of the most devastating defeats came in 965, when Rus Prince Svyatoslav conquered the Khazar fortress of Sarkel. It is believed that he conquered Itil two years later, after which he campaigned in the Balkans. Despite the loss of their nation, the Khazar people did not disappear.

 

Some of them migrated westward into Hungary, Romania, and Poland, mixing with other Jewish communities.2
 

 

1. Many medieval writers attested to the Khazars' Turkic origins including Theophanes, al-Masudi, Rabbi Yehudah ben Barzillai, Martinus Oppaviensis, and the anonymous authors of the Georgian Chronicle and Chinese chronicle T'ang-shu.

 

The Arabic writer al-Masudi in Kitab at-Tanbih wrote:

"...the Khazars... are a tribe of the Turks."

T'ang-shu reads:

"K'o-sa [Khazars]... belong to the stock of the Turks."

In his Chronographia, Theophanes wrote:

"During his [Byzantine emperor Heraclius] stay there [in Lazica], he invited the eastern Turks, who are called Chazars, to become his allies."

The claim that the Khazars were Scythians is completely without merit.
 

2. Timothy Miller discovered that Jewish Khazars were members of the Jewish community of Pera in the Byzantine Empire around the 11th century (see Timothy S. Miller, "The Legend of Saint Zotikos According to Constantine Akropolites," Analecta Bollandiana vol. 112, 1994, pp. 339-376).

 

Suggestions for further research

Here are some useful published introductory materials on the Khazars.

 

Some are available from retail bookstores, while others are only available through libraries.

"The Jews of Khazaria, Second Edition" by Kevin Alan Brook (2006). 10 chapters, plus glossary, timeline, bibliography, maps, notes.

The Jews of Khazaria - Anna’s Archive (annas-archive.org)

"The World of the Khazars" edited by Peter B. Golden, Haggai Ben-Shammai, and András Róna-Tas (2007)

The World of the Khazars. New Perspectives - Anna’s Archive (annas-archive.org)

"Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century" by Norman Golb and Omeljan Pritsak (1982). Russian translation: "Khazarsko-yevreiskie dokumenty X veka" by Golb and Pritsak, with new section by Vladimir Ia. Petrukhin (1997).

Khazarian Hebrew documents of the tenth century - Anna’s Archive (annas-archive.org)

"The History of the Jewish Khazars" by Douglas M. Dunlop (1954, 1967)

The History of the Jewish Khazars - Anna’s Archive (annas-archive.org)

"Khazar Studies: An Historico-Philological Inquiry into the Origins of the Khazars" by Peter B. Golden (1980)

Khazar Studies. An Historico-Philological Inquiry into the Origins of the Khazars Vol. 1 - Anna’s Archive (annas-archive.org)

Journal article "Khazaria and Judaism" by Peter B. Golden, in Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, volume 3, 1983, pages 128 to 156.

"The Kuzari: In Defense of the Despised Faith" by Yehudah HaLevi, translated by N. Daniel Korobkin (1998)

"The Emergence of Rus 750-1200" by Jonathan Shepard and Simon Franklin (1996)

The Emergence of Rus, 750–1200 - Anna’s Archive (annas-archive.org)

"A History of Russia, Central Asia, and Mongolia - Volume 1: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire" by David Christian

A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, 1: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire - Anna’s Archive (annas-archive.org)

The kingdom of the Khazars vanished from the map of the world many centuries ago.

 

Today many people have never even heard of it yet in its day the Khazar kingdom [Khazaria] was a very major power, indeed holding sway over a large empire of subjugated peoples. It had to be reckoned with by the two neighboring superpowers of that day. To the south and west of Khazaria the Byzantine Empire was in full flower with its Eastern Orthodox Christian civilization. To the south-east, the Khazar kingdom bordered on the expanding Moslem Empire of the Arab Caliphs.

 

The Khazar’s influenced the histories of both of these empires but, far more importantly, the Khazar kingdom occupied what was later to become a southern portion of Russia between the Black and Caspian Seas.

 

As a result, the historical destinies of the Russians and the Khazars became intertwined in ways which have persisted down to the present day.

In case you have never heard of the Khazars, I think I should mention where you can look to learn more about them. In 1976 a book about the Khazars was published by the British writer [a Jew] Arthur Koestler. The book is titled, The thirteenth tribe - The Khazar Empire And Its Heritage. The American publisher is Random House, New York.

History records that the Khazars were derived from a mixture of Mongols, Turks and Fins. As early as the 3rd Century AD, they were identifiable in constant warfare in the areas of Persia and Armenia. Later, in the 5th Century, the Khazars were among the devastating hordes of Attila, the Hun.

 

Around 550 AD, the nomadic Khazars began settling themselves in the area around the northern Caucasus between the Black and Caspian Seas. The Khazar’s capital of Itil was established at the mouth of the Volga River where it emptied into the Caspian Sea, in order to control the river traffic. The Khazars then exacted a toll of 10% on any and all cargo which passed Itil on the river. Those who refused were attacked and slaughtered.

With the kingdom finally established in the Caucasus, the Khazars gradually began to create an empire of subjugated peoples. More and more Slavonic tribes, who were peaceful compared with the Khazars, were attacked and conquered. They became part of the Khazar Empire, required to pay tribute continually to the Khazar Kingdom. Tribute by conquered peoples has always been a feature of empires, of course, but not in the fashion of the Khazars. The so-called great empires of the world always gave something in return for the taxes they extracted. Rome, for example, made citizens of those they conquered; and in return for the taxes they levied, they brought civilization, order and protection against attack from would-be invaders.

But not so in the Khazar Empire. The people who were subject to the Khazars received only one thing in return for their payments of tribute, and that was a shaky promise - the Khazars would refrain from further attacks and pillage so long as the tributes were paid. Therefore, the subjects of the Khazar Empire were nothing more than the victims of the giant protection racket.

 

The Khazar overlords were therefore resented universally and bitterly throughout their domain, but they were also feared because of the merciless way in which they dealt with anyone who stood up to them. And so the Khazar Empire expanded northward to Kiev [Kiev now the capital of UKRAINE], on the Dnieper River. It is Ukraine’s largest city and a major port. One of the oldest European cities, it was a commercial centre as early as the 5th century, and became the capital of KIEVAN RUSSIA in the 9th century and westward to include Magyars, the ancestors of modern Hungary.

In about 740AD, a stunning event took place. The Khazars had been under continual pressure from their Byzantine and Moslem neighbours to adopt Christianity or Islam, but the Khazar ruler, called the Khakan, had heard of a third religion called JUDAISM. Apparently for political reasons of independence, the Khakan announced that the Khazars were adopting Judaism as their religion. Overnight an entirely new group of people, the warlike Khazars, suddenly proclaimed themselves Jews - adoptive Jews. The Khazar kingdom began to be described as the ’Kingdom of the Jews’ by historians of the day. Succeeding Khazar rulers took Jewish names, and during the late 9th Century the Khazar kingdom became a haven for Jews of other lands.

Meanwhile the brutal Khazar domination over other peoples continued unchanged. But then a new factor appeared on the scene. During the 8th Century there came coursing down the great rivers - the Dnieper, the Don and the Volga - the eastern branch of the Vikings. They were known as the VARANCIANS, or the RUS. Like other Vikings, the Rus were bold adventurers and fierce fighters, but when they tangled with the Khazars, the Rus often ended up paying tribute like everyone else.

In 862 a Rus leader named Rurik founded the city of Novgorod, and the RUSSIAN NATION was born. The Rus Vikings settled among the Slavonic tribes under Khazar domination, and the struggle between Vikings and Khazars changed in character. It became a struggle by the emerging nation of Russia for independence from Khazar oppression.

Over a century after the founding of Russia’s first city, another momentous event took place. Russia’s leader, Prince Vladimir of Kiev, accepted baptism as a Christian in the year 989. He actively promoted Christianity in Russia, and his memory is revered by Russians today as ’Saint Vladimir;’ and so a thousand years ago Russia’s tradition as a Christian nation began.

Vladimir’s conversion also brought Russia into alliance with Byzantium. The Byzantine rulers had always feared the Khazars, and the Russians were still struggling to free themselves. And so in the year 1016, combined Russian and Byzantine forces attacked the Khazar kingdom. The Khazar kingdom was shattered, and the kingdom of the Khazars fell into decline. Eventually most of the Khazar Jews migrated to other areas. Many of them wound up in eastern Europe, where they mingled and intermarried with other Jews. Like the Semitic Jews some 1000 years earlier, the Khazar Jews became dispersed.

 

The kingdom of the Khazars was no more.

As the Khazars moved and lived amongst the Jewish people, the Khazar Jews passed on a distinct heritage from generation to generation. One element of the Khazar Jew heritage is a militant form of ZIONISM. In the view of Khazar Jews, the land occupied by ancient Israel is to be retaken - not by a miracle but by armed force. This is what is meant by Zionism today, and this is the force that created the nation which calls itself Israel today.

 

The other major ingredient of the Khazar Jew heritage is hatred for Christianity, and for the Russian people as the champions of the Christian faith. Christianity is viewed as the force that caused the ancient so-called Kingdom of the Jews; the Khazar kingdom [Khazarial] to collapse. Having dominated much of what is present-day Russia, the Khazar Jews still want to re-establish that domination - and for a millennium they have been trying continually to do just that.

In 1917 the Khazar Jews passed a major milestone towards the creation of their own state in Palestine. The same year they also created the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. There followed a Christian holocaust, the likes of which the world has never seen. The Khazar Jews were once again in control of Russia after more than 900 years, and they set about the task of destroying the Russian Christians - over 100-million of them, at the same time over 20-million religious Jews also died at the hands of the Khazar Jews. This is what the Russian Christians were up against in their 60-year struggle to overthrow the atheistic Bolsheviks, but they finally succeeded in their overthrow program, and now the 1000-year-old war between the Russian Christians and the Khazar Jews is reaching a climax.

On August 19, 1979, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum died in New York. He died in the morning, and was buried the same afternoon. Very short notice, and yet 100,000 Jewish men arrived in time for the funeral. It is hard to imagine how many more hundreds of thousands could not arrive on such short notice. A month later, September 18, his followers placed a memorial tribute by way of a paid advertisement in the "New York Times," and clearly it spoke for many Jews. Among other things it said, quote:

These words were spoken by Orthodox Jews mourning for their fallen leader. And the new Christian rulers of Russia would agree, for they too regard the Zionist state of Israel as a counterfeit, a cruel and dangerous hoax for Christians and Jews alike. The Khazar state called the "Kingdom of the Jews" [Khazaria] a thousand years ago was a parasite, living on the tribute from conquered peoples. Likewise today, Israel depends for its survival on a never-ending flow of support from outside. Left unchecked, the Russians believe that the Khazar Jews will destroy Christianity by means of Zionism; so Russia’s Christian rulers are on the offensive against their enemies of a thousand years - the Khazars.

We Americans who call ourselves Christians have not cared enough to open our eyes to try to save our own country, or to defend our faith. So our land has become the battle-ground of the Christian Russians and their deadly enemies - the Bolsheviks and the Zionists. And like it or not we are caught up in this all-out war.

(Source: Dr Peter David Beter’s Audio Letter #50.

 

Transcribed by Amber Clark and published in the Wisconsin Report, October 25, 1979).

Anti-Semitism - Jews and Khazars
Hidden History of the Incredibly Evil Khazarian Mafia
Maps of The Khazar Kingdom from 300 c.e. to 1000 c.e.
Russian Jews Descended from The Khazars
The 1000-Year War Between Russia and the Khazars - from Wisconsin Report
The Khazars and The Modern Jews
The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry - Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses
The Rothschilds - Main File
Who Are The Real Israelites 

Chabad Seeks to Rebuild Khazaria in Ukraine (basecamp.com)
Codex Cumanicus
Do Jews Suffer from False Consciousness? - Kiev Is My Jerusalem
The Ancient Hebrews - extracted from 'Blue Blood, True Blood, Conflict and Creation.'
The Israel Connection - from 'Tales from Time Loop' by David Icke

 
The Synagogue of Satan - by Andrew Carrington Hitchcock
The Thirteenth Tribe - The Khazar Empire And Its Heritage - by Arthur Koestler

  

Compiled after 15 months' filming and editing, this fast-moving, professional video documentary will give you a unique education on the inner teachings of Judaism and the Talmud.

 

Through the television camera "The Other Israel" takes you where few Christian scholars have gone before.

 

 
Black Nobility (basecamp.com) - Main File
New World Order - Novus Ordo Mundi (basecamp.com) - Main File
Wisconsin Report - Complete Dr. Beter Audio Letters | 
Illuminati: Order of the Illumined Wise Men (basecamp.com)
The Rothschilds
Russia and the EU
The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion

Humanity's History & Ancient Civilizations (basecamp.com)