History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Volume 3 [of 3]: From the Accession of Nicholas II until the Present DayDubnow, Simon
History
History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Volume 3 [of 3]: From the Accession of Nicholas II until the Present Day
Dubnow, Simon
Jews -- Poland -- History; Jews -- Russia -- History; Poland -- History; Russia -- History
The principal victims of this protracted St. Bartholomew night were
the new Huguenots of the emancipation movement--the Jews. They were
to pay the penalty for having assisted in wresting from the despotic
Government the manifesto with its promise of liberties. In the
course of one week, nearly fifty anti-Jewish pogroms, accompanied
by bloodshed, took place in various cities (Odessa, Kiev, Kishinev,
Kalarash, Simferopol, Romny, Kremenchug, Chernigov, Nicholayev,
Yekaterinoslav, Kamenetz-Podolsk, Yelisavetgrad, Orsha, etc.), in
addition to several hundred "bloodless" pogroms, marked in regular
fashion by the destruction of property, plunder, and incendiarism. The
pogroms directed against the Christian participants in the emancipation
movement, such as intellectuals, students, etc., in Tver, Tomsk, and
other interior Russian cities, amounted in all to a score or two.
This disproportion alone shows the direction in which the organized
dark forces were active. The strict uniformity and consistency in the
carrying out of the counter-revolutionary conspiracy was too palpable
to be overlooked.
The customary procedure was as follows: In connection with the
manifesto of October 17, the progressive elements would arrange a
street procession, frequently adorned by the red flags of the left
parties and accompanied by appropriate acclamations and speeches
expressive of the new liberty. Simultaneously, the participants in the
"patriotic demonstration"--consisting mostly of the scum of society,
of detectives and police officials in plain clothes--would emerge
from their nooks and crannies, carrying the portrait of the Tzar
under the shadow of the national flag, singing the national hymn and
shouting, "Hurrah, beat the Zhyds! The Zhyds are eager for liberty.
They go against our Tzar to put a Zhyd in his place." These "patriotic"
demonstrators would be accompanied by police and Cossack patrols (or
soldiers), ostensibly to preserve order, but in reality to enable the
hooligans to attack and maltreat the Jews and prevent the victims from
defending themselves. As soon as the Jews assembled for self-defence,
they would be driven off by the police and troops. Thereupon, the
"patriotic" demonstrators and the accomplices, joining them on the
way, would break up into small bands and disperse all over the city,
invading Jewish houses and stores, ruin, plunder, beat, and sometimes
slaughter entire families.
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