A short, scholarly article over at Aish.com…
In contrast to the Russian royal family, Catherine the Great seems to have harbored a less visceral hatred of Jews (!), but she also created the Pale of Settlement, for example.
Excerpt:
Catherine the Great is remembered today in much of the world as a reformer, an enlightenment thinker, and idealist, who attempted to modernize Russia. Her long reign was a time of turbulence, war, and great victories for the vast Russian empire she ruled. Yet for Russia’s Jews, Catherine the Great was a complex figure. While she afforded Jews some rights, she also restricted their movements and made them beleaguered foreigners in their own country.
Define “Great”… See what we wrote here before about political “greatness”.