pogrom

pogrom (pō`grəm, pōgrŏm`), Russian term, originally meaning "riot," that came to be applied to a series of violent attacks on Jews in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th cent. Pogroms were few before the assassination of Alexander II in 1881; after that, with the connivance of, or at least without hindrance from, the government, there were many pogroms throughout Russia. Soldiers and police often looked on without interfering. These pogroms encouraged the first emigration of Russian Jews to the United States. After 1882 there were few pogroms until 1903, when there was an extremely violent three-day pogrom at Chisinau resulting in the death of 45 Jews. Although it has not been conclusively proved that the czarist government organized pogroms, the government's anti-Semitic policies certainly encouraged them. After the abortive revolution of 1905, pogroms increased in number and violence. With the success of the Bolshevik Revolution, pogroms ceased in the Soviet Union; they were revived in Germany and Poland after Adolf Hitler attained power.

Bibliography

See E. H. Judge, Easter in Kishinev: Anatomy of a Pogrom (1992).

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pogrom

(Russian; “devastation” or “riot”)

Mob attack, condoned by authorities, against persons and property of a religious, racial, or national minority. The term is usually applied to attacks on Jews in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II (1881), false rumours associating Jews with the murder aroused Russian mobs in more than 200 cities and towns to attack Jews and destroy their property. Mob attacks diminished in the 1890s, but they again became common in 1903–06. Although the government did not organize pogroms, its anti-Semitic policy (1881–1917) and reluctance to stop the attacks led many anti-Semites to believe that their violence was legitimate. Pogroms also occurred in Poland and in Germany during Adolf Hitler's regime.