Odessa pogrom

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Odessa pogrom may refer to antisemitic communal violence in the city of Odessa (in today's Ukraine). Such events took place in 1821, 1859, 1871, 1881, 1886 and 1905.[1] Odessa is a port city on the Black Sea and its multi-ethnic population included Greek, Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian, and other communities.

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906 ed.),

"The community did not escape the horrors of the pogrom. Indeed, the very first pogrom in Russia occurred in Odessa in the year 1859. This was in reality not a Russian but a Greek pogrom; for the leaders and almost all of the participants were Greek sailors from ships in the harbor, and local Greeks who joined them. The pogrom occurred on a Christian Easter; and the local press, in no wise unfriendly to the Jews, attempted to transform it into an accidental fight, the Greek colony at that time being dominant in the administration as well as in the commerce of Odessa. Further pogroms occurred in 1871, 1881, and 1886."[2]

Historians note economic antagonism between the two urban minorities, in addition to religious frictions.[3] In the 1881 and 1905 pogroms, many Greek houses were also destroyed.[4]

Pogroms were often perpetrated with tacit approval of the Tsarist authorities.[5] Evidence exists that during the 1905 pogrom, the army supported the mob:

The Bolshevik Piatnitsky who was in Odessa at the time recalls what happened: "There I saw the following scene: a gang of young men, between 25 and 20 years old, among whom there were plain-clothes policemen and members of the Okhrana, were rounding up anyone who looked like a Jew—men, women and children—stripping them naked and beating them mercilessly… We immediately organised a group of revolutionaries armed with revolvers… we ran up to them and fired at them. They ran away. But suddenly between us and the pogromists there appeared a solid wall of soldiers, armed to the teeth and facing us. We retreated. The soldiers went away, and the pogromists came out again. This happened a few times. It became clear to us that the pogromists were acting together with the military."[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Odessa Pogroms Center of Jewish Self-Education "Moria"
  2. ^ Odessa, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 ed.
  3. ^ The Revolution of 1905 in Odessa: Blood on the Steps, Robert Weinberg, p. 16
  4. ^ Port Jews: Jewish Communities in Cosmopolitan Maritime Trading Centres, 1550, David Cesarani, p. 168
  5. ^ Nicholas II. Life and Death by Edward Radzinsky (Russian ed., 1997) p.89. According to Radzinsky, Sergei Witte appointed Chairman of the Russian Council of Ministers in 1905, remarked in his Memoirs that he found that some proclamations inciting pogroms were printed and distributed by Police.
  6. ^ Alan Woods. Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution. Part Two: The First Russian Revolution

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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