Anti-Jewish Riot Begins

The excesses continued all the afternoon, and quiet came only when darkness sheltered the Jews from view.

Continuing A Russian Pogrom Against the Jews,
with a selection from article in Forum by Richard Gottheil published in . This selection is presented in 4.5 easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in A Russian Pogrom Against the Jews.

Time: 1903
Place: Kishineff (modern Chișinău), Moldovia

How the riot commenced will perhaps never be known. The flimsy excuse that it was caused by the Jewish proprietor of a merry-go-round, who had dealt harshly with a Christian woman whom he had tumbled out of one of the cars, will hardly be accepted by the thoughtful, though it has the indorsement of the official report of M. de Plehve, Minister of the Interior. At about twelve, a certain movement was discerned among the populace in the Tcheuflin Square, and the Jews were seen fleeing from among the crowd, pursued by the cry, “Kill the Jews!” Various groups were quickly formed, which passed through the Alexandrowskaia Street to the New Bazaar, breaking window- panes, emptying shops, and raiding the whole part of the city near the railway station. Every Jew who dared show himself was assaulted, some being even dragged from the tram-cars and beaten to death. At the first onslaught the Jews were terror-stricken; but when they recovered sufficiently to endeavor to defend themselves, they were quickly disarmed by the populace. Cases are on record to show that the police directly encouraged the rioters. When the willful inefficiency of those whose duty it was to preserve order was seen, attempts were made to telegraph the state of affairs to St. Petersburg, but permission was obstinately refused. The excesses continued all the afternoon, and quiet came only when darkness sheltered the Jews from view. The night passed quietly, and many fondly believed that the worst was over; the more so as there were strong detachments of cavalry, infantry, and police in the city, amounting to ten or twelve thousand in all — more than sufficient, as future events indeed showed, to quiet any riot in Kishineff. And still M. de Plehve is able to say in his official report that “It was not possible to repress the mob.”

The morning of April 20th dawned, and the Jews were still hopeful that the riots were at an end. But at the very beginning of the day the excesses were continued in the New Bazaar, and in the Nicolaievskaia, Gastinaia, Kharlampiefskaia, and Puchkinskia streets. The mob this time was better prepared with bludgeons, hammers, and axes. The shops of the richer Jews were broken open; and though the police and soldiers patrolled the streets, they seem to have done nothing more than simply admonish the people to desist — as if admonishing could calm a mob drunken with the passion of loot. The synagogues in the Gostenaia Street and the Sinnaia Place had been plundered, and the sacred scrolls of the Law, tattered and torn, thrown into the street. The almost incredible report comes to us that the better class of people not only complacently looked on at these orgies/ but, either on foot or from carriages, observed them with interest, as though they were theatrical performances. One is quite loath to believe such stories as these; we must observe much caution in accepting reports sent in the flurry of great excitement. And yet, only in a few cases, which should be honorably mentioned, did the non- Jewish population use its efforts to calm the mob or to save the victims. A priest, Lashkoff, is said to have received and harbored a number of them in his home, and active sympathy was expressed by Mayor Schmidt and Lieutenant-Governor Krupensky.

It was late on Monday afternoon, about five o’clock, that the people commenced to aid the authorities in their efforts to disarm the mob. The authorities seem by this time to have been awakened to what was their manifest duty. No sooner had a troop of soldiers been seen coming down the Parshkinskia Street than reason appears to have entered the heads of the rioters, and to have controlled their turbulent spirits. As if by magic, quiet descended upon the stricken quarters; and the only further troubles that occurred took place in out-of-the-way parts of the city, where the grim fun was kept up by those who had come from neighboring places with the hope of sharing in the booty. By nightfall complete calm covered the city, and the pall of night in its great charity covered up the sins of the day. The end had come; the third and the following days were passed in peace and quiet. Strong patrols of the military paraded the streets, and it was very quickly known that they had received orders to repress any uprising with all the means in their power. It was hardly necessary to declare the city in a state of siege. The power of the Government is known and recognized in Russia, and the slightest touch of its strong hand compels obedience.

There was, indeed, a calm in the city, the calm of death and exhaustion. The streets must have presented the appearance of a battle-field, for debris and loot covered everything. The feathers from ripped bedding are said to have made the air thick. The Nowosti, a Christian newspaper of St. Petersburg, publishes the following words from an eye-witness:

“What I, saw ten days after the outrages had taken place exceeded what I had expected from the reports which had reached me. Kishineff has the appearance of a town sacked by the enemy — wrecked houses, people with heads swathed in bandages, with arms in splints and slings.”

The same tale is told again by another Christian paper of St. Petersburg, the Viedomosti. The details that these papers give hardly bear repetition before the general public. Every crime from plunder to rape was committed. Bowels were slashed open, and nameless horrors of medieval barbarity were reenacted in this twentieth century. One hesitates to believe these stories; but they are vouched for by the witnesses cited above, as well as by private letters which have been shown to me and by others that have appeared in the public press.

Richard Gottheil begins here. Vladamir Korolenko begins here.

More information here and here, and below.

The Kishineff Pogrom of 1903 [IN HEBREW]

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