After the partitions of Poland and the annexation of the Right-Bank Ukraine and Belarus by the Russian Empire in the late 18th century, 800,000 Jews, the largest Jewish community in Europe, became the subjects of Russian monarchs. The Russian authorities have discriminated against this category of new subjects. The Pale of Settlement was implemented for Jews, identifying areas beyond which Jews were prohibited from settling. In the Ukrainian lands, Yekaterynoslav, Kiev, Volyn, Podil, Kherson, Tavriy, Chernihiv, and Poltava provinces were included to the Pale of Settlement. Finally, its status was enshrined in a decree of 1804.

Within the Pale of Settlement, there was a special form of Jewish settlements - Shtetls. These were small towns where the majority of the population was Jewish. The multimedia kiosk and collage of this section give an idea of the atmosphere of the Jewish community life. These towns were a separate Jewish space, closed and self-sufficient in relation to religion and culture, but at the same time closely linked to the outside world. In the Russian Empire, the existence of Shtetls was, first and foremost, caused by a prohibition on the residence of Jews in rural areas. So, such a town was a crowded "remote place" from which there was nowhere to go in search of a better life. The images on the collage let you imagine the of Shtetl views and its inhabitants, to feel the provincial current of local life. One of the traditional occupations of the townspeople was the trade. On the left, you can see the floor scales of the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries that traders used at that time. To the right stands the sewing machine of the famous brand - Singer, an exhibit associated with representatives of another popular profession among Jews - tailors.

In a crowded town it was difficult to find a livelihood for each of its inhabitants. Therefore, there were organizations in each shtetl that were helping the needy. They existed for the submission of members of the community, donations of wealthy people, funds provided for charity by merchant and artisans organizations. About 20 percent of Shtetl residents have existed only due to such donations.

Shtetls were also centers of the origins and spread of Hasidism. Some of them had famous yeshivas - Jewish religious schools, where people were gathering to listen respected God’s Law teachers. Magids (preachers) traveled throughout shtetls with their preaches.