In tsarist Russia, a Jewish identity made a subject dangerous regardless of conversion

Evidence

Subjects marked by Jewishness could thus be dangerous whether they wanted to remain Jews or not. … As the Moscow chief of police put it, ‘The very people who resist a transition to the peaceful program are the Jews, who recently have been quietly attempting to grasp the initiative of the revolutionary movement into their hands.’ — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 543 (#expands, via linked claim)

Becoming a Christian had backfired in the end, therefore. Instead of doing away with the suspicion that Jews suffered as an alien element in a Christian society, it only added to it, confirming the inauthenticity that was presumed to be inherent in the Jewish mind. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 1667 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Russia gave up converting Muslims but kept hoping to convert Jews; Jewish-convert composers faced dismissal while Muslim-origin composers embodied Russian authenticity; Conversion could not erase Jewishness in the racialized Russian view (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Tsarist police racialized Jews as revolutionary regardless of conversion #expands (0.96) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 543
• Conversion reinforced rather than reduced antisemitic suspicion of Jews #corroborates (0.94) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 1667
• Religious conversion confirmed rather than dispelled antisemitic suspicion #corroborates (0.93)