The plans for the region were exemplified in 1926 by the Soviet president Mikhail Kalinin as he declared " the Jewish population must be transformed into an economically stable, agriculturally compact group Only under such conditions can the Jewish masses hope for the future existence of their nationality." (9). It will become clear that Kalinin's views would never be achieved in Birobidzhan. Birobidzhan while achieving some success would effectively be ruined by a combination of purges in the region and anti-Semitic measures undertaken both in 1936-1938 and again in 1948. .
Decisions and steps leading up to March 1928 with the creation of the Jewish Autonomous District involved a number of organizations and individuals. In late 1924 two organizations were created, OZET (Society for the Settlement of Jewish Toilers on the Land) and KOMZET (Committee for the Settlement of Jewish Toilers on the Land), to further solve the problem of resettling Jews through agriculture (10). Original plans outlined the settlement of over 500,000 Jews in the Ukraine and Crimea by December 1926 (11). The idea of agricultural resettlement of Jews in these areas was rejected for two reasons. Land suitable for agriculture in Crimea was very limited the only land not densely populated was that of the northern steppe-land. These unfavorable agricultural conditions would have forced a major financial investment from the government to make the lands suitable for use (12). More importantly there was widespread jealously among the Ukrainian and Tartar peasants in regards to any incoming Jewish population, anti-Semitism among these groups was also very evident (13). It was after this initial failed attempt at Jewish agricultural settlement that the involved parties looked eastward, towards the area of Birobidzhan. .
Named after the major tributaries of the Amur River, the Great Bira in the east and the Bidzhan in the West, the area of Birobidzhan had been annexed to Russia in 1858 (14).