Russian Pogroms of 1905 - The Russian pogroms of 1905 were a continuation of similar disturbances that had taken place in 1903. Following the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese war, there was an abortive revolution. Some reforms and freedoms were granted briefly. The Tsarist government feared revolutionary ferment and identified "the Jews" with the social revolutionaries. The unrest was accompanied by pogroms. After a long period of negotiation and pressure, the Tsarist government finally issued a Manifesto of liberal reform on October 17, 1905. But the plan was violently opposed by reactionary forces, apparently encouraged by the Tsarist police apparatus. The opposition was conveniently vented on the Jews. Major pogroms took place, among other places in Odessa and Kiev, as well as a pogrom in Kishinev, site of the major 1903 pogrom. Self defense efforts were only slightly more successful in saving lives in 1905 than they had been previously. In Kishinev, 19 Jews were killed and 64 were injured. In Bialystok, perhaps the most extensive single pogrom took place in June of 1906. Eighty Jews lost their lives. Simon Dubnow explained how the Tsarist manifesto of October 17, which was supposed to have brought emancipation to the Jews, instead ignited pogroms. Almost everywhere the manifesto was read, considered or celebrated, pogroms followed:
Most of the pogroms happened upon publication of the Czarist reform manifesto. Anti-Jewish violence assumed a mass character during the events of the Russian Revolution of 1905 to 1907. Equating Jews with “revolution,” loyalist groups -- later to be formally organized in such bodies as the Union of the Russian People (“The Black Hundreds” ) -- attacked Jews and other groups of suspect loyalty. The riots in Odessa and Kiev claimed hundreds of Jewish victims - about 400 were killed in Odessa alone, and the death toll around the country was well over a thousand. In Odessa, sailors and skilled factory workers were not involved, and often joined defense forces that protected the Jews Both civilian and military authorities were widely condemned for their ineptitude and passivity during these events, Evidence of official connivance is reasonably extensive. General Kaulbars, governor of Odessa refused to stop the Odessa pogrom, which began on October 19. Eyewitnesses also reported seeing policemen directing pogromists to Jewish-owned stores or Jews' apartments, while steering the rioters away from the property of non-Jews. (Robert Weinberg, "The Pogrom of 1905 in Odessa: A Case Study" in Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History, John D. Klier and Shlomo Lambroza, eds. (Cambridge,1992): 248-89 The idea that the regime was behind the pogroms at various times has been challenged (See Unravelling of the conspiracy theory: a new look at the pogroms. Klier, John D.. East European Jewish Affairs, 23(2), 1993, p. 79-89). After the breakup of the USSR it became fashionable and ideologically convenient to "revise" the "narrative" of persecution in Tsarist Russia. From a distance, it is easy to discount old accounts of the evils of the Tsarist regime as biased. There is no doubt as well that the Soviet government was interested in demonizing the Tsarist regime and that Soviet propagandists exaggerated the pogroms of the Tsarist era, which were very mild compared to the slaughter that followed in the Russian Civil War Pogroms. But Dubnow and the eye witnesses who recounted the horrors of the Tsarist pogroms were not Soviet propagandists. They told what they saw and knew. The revisionist account ignores a mountain of contemporary evidence, that shows a consistent pattern of Anti-Semitism and direct or indirect involvement of government officials and agents in stirring up hate against the the Jews, as well as the activities of the ubiquitous Tsarist secret police. Only the credulous could believe that the government, which had put down the 1905 revolution with decisive force, could not control repeated outbreak of violence against Jews. Strange that the masses did not attack students or others identified with the revolution but only the Jews. A New York Times dispatch of February 22 1907, insists that General Kaulbars, encouraged another pogrom in Odessa in 1907 and was behind the excesses of the Black Hundreds, which it describes as bands of 11-17 year old boys. It notes that Jews were hanged for trying to protect themselves, and that police provided no protection. Kaulbars refused to disarm the Black Hundreds.
Sporadic violence continued in the aftermath of the failed revolution, most notoriously on June 3 - June 6 1906 in Białystok, in the Kingdom of Poland (annexed to Russia), where a pogrom claimed eighty dead. Jewish self defense was apparently effective in preventing a far worse massacre. The district attorney was reportedly one of the main organizers of the pogrom ref
The increasing incidence of Jewish self-defense, complicates the attribution of responsibility for these events. The Russian government, for its part, sought to characterize the pogroms in Gomel and Białystok as “Jewish pogroms,” or attacks by Jews against the Christian population. The government issued a report insisting that there had been a series of Jewish "outrages," beginning in February of 1905. The Jews had murdered and terrorized police officials, rendering the police inefficient, the report claimed. The Jews had fired on government forces to prevent them from stopping the plundering of Jewish property, and the Jews had attacked government property. The government promised that those responsible (meaning the Jews) would be punished. (Say Jews Caused Bialystok Massacre, NYT July 5, 1906). Revisionist historians who claim to "debunk" conspiracy theories actually takes this sort of cynical claptrap seriously, and imply that the Jewish defense groups, which had scant arms, were willing to provoke a confrontation with fully armed government troops. Ami Isseroff March 29, 2009
Synonyms and alternate spellings: Further Information: pogrom anti-Semitism Time-Line: Anti-Semitism Hebrew/Arabic pronunciation and transliteration conventions: 'H - ('het) a guttural sound made deep in the throat. To Western ears it may sound like the "ch" in loch. In Arabic there are several letters that have similar sounds. Examples: 'hanukah, 'hamas, 'haredi. Formerly, this sound was often represented by ch, especially in German transliterations of Hebrew. Thus, 'hanukah is often rendered as Chanuka for example. ch - (chaf) a sound like "ch" in loch or the Russian Kh as in Khruschev or German Ach, made by putting the tongue against the roof of the mouth. In Hebrew, a chaf can never occur at the beginning of a word. At the beginning of a word, it has a dot in it and is pronounced "Kaf." u - usually between oo as in spoon and u as in put. a- sounded like a in arm ah- used to represent an a sound made by the letter hey at the end of a word. It is the same sound as a. Haganah and Hagana are alternative acceptable transliterations. 'a-notation used for Hebrew and Arabic ayin, a guttural ah sound. o - close to the French o as in homme. th - (taf without a dot) - Th was formerly used to transliterate the Hebrew taf sound for taf without a dot. However in modern Hebrew there is no detectable difference in standard pronunciation of taf with or without a dot, and therefore Histadruth and Histadrut, Rehovoth and Rehovot are all acceptable. q- (quf) - In transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic, it is best to consistently use the letter q for the quf, to avoid confusion with similar sounding words that might be spelled with a kaf, which should be transliterated as K. Thus, Hatiqva is preferable to Hatikva for example. Definitions of Zionism General History of Zionism and the Creation of Israel History of Israel and Zionism Historical Source Documents of Israel and Zionism Back to main page: http://www.zionism-israel.com Zionism and Israel Information Center This site is a part of the Zionism and Israel on the Web Project Copyright This work and individual entries are copyright © 2005 by Ami Isseroff and Zionism and Israel Information Center and may not reproduced in any form without permission unless explicitly noted otherwise. Individual entries may be cited with credit to The Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Zionism and Israel
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