A Jewish family works outside their home in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Their underground home, known as a zemlianka, was a mud hut with sod and thatch built over a hole in the ground. In the early days of settlement, Jewish migrants frequently slept out-of-doors until tents arrived and barracks were erected.
Jews from Minsk interested in moving to Birobidzhan apply at a KOMZET (Committee for the Settlement of Jewish Toilers on the Land) office, circa 1928. KOMZET was the government organization in charge of recruiting and supervising the agriculture settlement of Jews.	Jewish settlers arrive at the train station in Tikhonka, a small village along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Chief point of disembarkation for people moving to the region, Tikhonka grew rapidly after 1928 and was renamed Birobidzhan several years later.