47°02′15″N28°48′16″E / 47.0376°N 28.8045°E /47.0376; 28.8045
| Kishinev pogrom | |
|---|---|
| Part of thepogroms in the Russian Empire | |
 Bodies in the street | |
| Location | Kishinev,Bessarabia Governorate,Russian Empire (nowChișinău,Moldova) |
| Date | 19–21 April [O.S. 6–8 April] 1903 |
| Target | Bessarabian Jews |
Attack type | |
| Deaths | 49 |
| Injured | 92 gravely injured >500 lightly injured |
| Perpetrators | Russian pogromists |
| Motive | Antisemitism |
TheKishinev pogrom orKishinev massacre was ananti-Jewishriot that took place in Kishinev (modernChișinău,Moldova), then the capital of theBessarabia Governorate in theRussian Empire, on 19–21 April [O.S. 6–8 April] 1903.[1] During the pogrom, which began on Easter Day, 49 Jews were killed, 92 were gravely injured, over 500 were lightly injured and 1,500 homes were damaged.[2][3] American Jews began large-scale organized financial help, and assisted in emigration.[4] The incident focused worldwide attention on the persecution of Jews within the Russian Empire,[5] and ledTheodor Herzl to propose theUganda Scheme as a temporary refuge for the Jews.[6] A second pogrom erupted in the city in October 1905.[7]
The most popular newspaper in Kishinev at the time, the Russian-languageanti-Semitic newspaperБессарабец (Bessarabets, meaning "Bessarabian"), published byPavel Krushevan, regularly published articles with headlines such as "Death to the Jews!" and "Crusade against the Hated Race!" (referring to theJews).[8] When aUkrainian boy, Mikhail Rybachenko, was found murdered in the town ofDubăsari, about 40 km (25 mi) north of Kishinev, and a girl who committed suicide by poisoning herself was declared dead in a Jewish hospital, theBessarabetz paper insinuated that both children had been murdered by the Jewish communityfor the purpose of using their blood in the preparation ofmatzo forPassover.[9] Another newspaper,Свет (Svet, "Light") made similar insinuations. These allegations sparked thepogrom.[7]
The pogrom began on April 19 (April 6 according to theJulian calendar, then in use in the Russian Empire) after congregations were dismissed from church services on Easter Sunday. In two days of rioting, 47 (some put the figure at 49) Jews were killed, 92 were severely wounded and 500 were slightly injured, 700 houses were destroyed, and 600 stores were pillaged.[7][10]The Times published aforged dispatch byVyacheslav von Plehve, the Minister of Interior, to the governor of Bessarabia, which supposedly gave orders not to stop the rioters.[11] Unlike the more responsible authorities at Dubăsari, who acted to prevent the pogrom, there is evidence that the officials in Kishinev acted in collusion or negligence, turning a blind eye to the impending pogrom.[7][12]
On 28 April,The New York Times reprinted aYiddish Daily News report that was smuggled out of Russia:[4]
The mob was led by priests, and the general cry, "Kill the Jews", was taken-up all over the city. The Jews were taken wholly unaware and were slaughtered like sheep. The dead number 120 and the injured about 500. The scenes of horror attending this massacre are beyond description. Babes were literally torn to pieces by the frenzied and bloodthirsty mob. The local police made no attempt to check the reign of terror. At sunset the streets were piled with corpses and wounded. Those who could make their escape fled in terror, and the city is now practically deserted of Jews.[13]
The Kishinev pogrom of 1903 captured the attention of the international public and was mentioned in theRoosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine as an example of the type of human rights abuse which would justify United States involvement in Latin America. The 1904 bookThe Voice of America on Kishinev provides more detail[14] as does the bookRussia at the Bar of the American People: A Memorial of Kishinef.[15]
TheRussian ambassador to the United States, CountArthur Cassini, characterised the 1903 pogrom as a reaction of financially hard-pressed peasants to Jewish creditors in an interview on 18 May 1903:
The situation in Russia, so far as the Jews are concerned is just this: It is the peasant against the money lender, and not the Russians against the Jews. There is no feeling against the Jew in Russia because of religion. It is as I have said—the Jew ruins the peasants, with the result that conflicts occur when the latter have lost all their worldly possessions and have nothing to live upon. There are many good Jews in Russia, and they are respected. Jewish genius is appreciated in Russia, and the Jewish artist honoured. Jews also appear in the financial world in Russia. The Russian Government affords the same protection to the Jews that it does to any other of its citizens, and when a riot occurs and Jews are attacked the officials immediately take steps to apprehend those who began the riot, and visit severe punishment upon them."[16]
There is a memorial to the 1903 pogrom in modern Kishinev.[17]
American media mogulWilliam Randolph Hearst "adopt[ed] Kishinev as little less than a crusade", according to Stanford historianSteven Zipperstein.[18] As part of this publicity, Hearst sent the Irish nationalist journalistMichael Davitt to Kishinev as "special commissioner to investigate the massacres of the Jews", becoming one of the first foreign journalists to report on the pogrom.[19][18]
Due to their involvement in the pogrom, two men were sentenced to seven and five years' imprisonment respectively, and a further 22 were sentenced to one or two years.
Thispogrom was instrumental in convincing tens of thousands of Russian Jews to leave for theWest orPalestine.[7] As such, it became a rallying point for earlyZionists, especially what would becomeRevisionist Zionism, inspiring early self-defense leagues under leaders likeZe'ev Jabotinsky.[7]
A second pogrom took place in Kishinev on 19–20 October 1905. This time, the riots began as political protests against theTsar, but turned into an attack on Jews wherever they could be found. By the time the riots were over, 19 Jews had been killed and 56 were injured. Jewish self-defense leagues, organized after the first pogrom, stopped some of the violence, but were not wholly successful. This pogrom was part of aseries of pogroms that swept the Russian Empire at the time.
Russian authors such asVladimir Korolenko wrote about the pogrom inHouse 13, whileTolstoy andGorky wrote condemnations blaming the Russian government—a change from the earlier pogroms of the 1880s, when most members of the Russian intelligentsia were silent. Tolstoy worked withSholem Aleichem to produce an anthology dedicated to the victims, with all publisher and author proceeds going to relief efforts, which became the work "Esarhaddon, King of Assyria".[20][21] Sholem Aleichem went on to write the material for the famousFiddler on the Roof.
It also had a major impact on Jewish art and literature. After interviewing survivors of the Kishinev pogrom, the Hebrew poetHayim Nahman Bialik (1873–1934) wrote "In the City of Slaughter," about the perceived passivity of the Jews in the face of the mobs.[5]Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who was also in the city after the massacre, translated Bialik's poem into Russian, thereby contributing to both the publication of the poem and Bialik's fame in Russian-speaking countries.[22][23] In the 1908 play byIsrael Zangwill titledThe Melting Pot, the Jewish hero emigrates to America in the wake of the Kishinev pogrom, eventually confronting the Russian officer who led the rioters.[24]
More recently,Joann Sfar's series of graphic novels titledKlezmer depicts life in Odessa, Ukraine, at this time; in the final volume (number 5),Kishinev-des-fous, the first pogrom affects the characters.[25] Playwright Max Sparber took the Kishinev pogrom as the subject for one of his earliest plays in 1994.[26] The novelThe Lazarus Project byAleksander Hemon (2008) provides a vivid description of the pogrom and details its long-reaching consequences.[27]
InBrazil, the Jewish writerMoacyr Scliar wrote the fiction and social satire book "O Exército De Um Homem Só" (1986), about Mayer Guinzburg, aBrazilian-Jew andCommunist activist whose family are refugees from the Kishinev pogrom.
The Victims of the Chișinău Pogrom Monument (Romanian:Monumentul Victimelor Pogromului de la Chișinău) is amemorial stone to the victims of the Kishinev pogrom, unveiled in 1993 in Alunelul park, Chișinău, Moldova.[28]
Many sources report that 49 people were killed in the Kishinev pogrom, but their specific identity remains elusive.[2] Soon after the pogrom, one of the first foreign journalists to arrive in the city was the Irish reporterMichael Davitt.[29] He covered the events and later published a book detailing his findings, which included a list of the victims' names, ages, and, in some instances, their occupations. However, this list contains only 40 of the 49 victims.[30] In theNational Library of Israel, there is a photo album from the pogrom titledKishinev Pogrom [Photo Album], published in 1929, which includes a list of the victims. The list claims there were 49 fatalities but records the names of only 41 individuals.[31] The organizationJewishGen cross-referenced a wide range of sources and compiled a list of 47 names, though they caution that errors may still exist, suggesting that further research is required to complete the record.[32]
Rosenthal, Herman; Rosenthal, Max (1901–1906)."Kishinef (Kishinev)". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Rosenthal, Herman; Rosenthal, Max (1901–1906)."Kishinef (Kishinev)". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
