Odessa pogroms

The Odessa pogroms were a series of violent anti-Jewish riots and attacks in the multi-ethnic port city of Odessa in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Odessa was known as a thriving, cosmopolitan, liberal city, and a hotbed of revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire, with a vibrant Jewish community. The pogroms became an international cause célèbre for the Jewish diaspora. Notable pogroms occurred in 1821, 1849, 1859, 1871, 1881, 1900, and 1905, resulting in hundreds of Jewish deaths, thousands of injuries, and destruction of property particularly in Jewish neighborhoods, leaving a mark on the fabric of the community.

Members of a Bundist self-defense group with bodies of their comrades killed in Odessa during the pogrom in 1905.

The causes of the pogroms included religious and ethnic discrimination, economic competition, and political changes. Odessa's population included Greek, Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian, and other communities, with the Jewish population growing to become the second-largest group behind Russians. The earlier pogroms, such as those in 1859 and 1871, were initiated by Greeks with Russians joining in. After 1871, the pogromists were mainly Russians. Pogromists came from all different classes and occupations. According to Jarrod Tanny, most historians in the early 21st century now argue that the pre-20th century incidents (before 1881) were "largely the product of frictions unleashed by modernization," rather than by a resurgence of medieval antisemitism. The 1905 pogrom was markedly larger in scale, with over 500 casualties (80% Jewish), 300 injuries, and 1600 homes and businesses damaged,^[1] and antisemitism playing a central role, spurred by economic and political turmoil. Historians such as Robert Weinberg and Shlomo Lambroza believe the police and hospital figures were likely an underestimate, with a range of estimates from 300, likely over 800, to over 1000 killed, and approximately over 2000 or even up to 5000 wounded.^[2][3][4]

While the tsarist state did not actively sponsor or plan the pogroms, it contributed to an atmosphere of sanctioned antisemitism, toleration or leniency toward pogromists, and blamed Jews themselves for the events. Victoria Khiterer notes that while historians debate whether the pogroms were spontaneous or organized by authorities (per Weinberg, somewhere between both), there is evidence that the pogroms were part of a Russian government policy aimed at suppressing the revolutionary movement, for which Jews were a scapegoat.^[5] Local authorities often failed to intervene, or in some cases actively abetted or perpetrated further violence. Right-wing organizations knew they had support from sympathetic authorities to incite the violence. The pogroms became an international symbol and led to significant emigration, and the growth of Jewish intellectual and national movements as enlightened Jewish thinkers were forced to contend with pervasive antisemitism that threatened their prosperity.

1821

The 1821 pogrom was a fairly serious riot, but was minimized and even dismissed by Jewish communal leaders and intellectuals, despite it killing, wounding, and damaging the homes and businesses of Jews. During the Greek War of Independence Jews tended to support the Ottomans, and after Turks killed Gregory V of Constantinople, Odessa, which had been a major anti-Ottoman revolutionary hotbed, received Gregory's remains for burial. A large number of Greek immigrants recently arrived from Constantinople joined the funeral and spread rumors that the Jews participated in Gregory's death. After the ceremony, Greeks attacked Jewish homes and businesses, shattering windows, smashing doors, and beating Jews with sticks in three Jewish neighborhoods. Russian authorities warned Jews to stay at home, but not everyone listened. Heinrich Zschokke witnessed the pogrom and reported several casualties.^{[6]: 119–120} Russian antisemites joined forces with the Greeks, and casualties numbered 17 and over 60 wounded.^[7]

1849

Riots reoccurred August 1849 due to supposed Jewish disrespect during a procession from St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.^[7]

1859

Greek religious fanaticism again reared its head in 1859. This was the first pogrom to receive major journalistic attention.^[7] This was the next major pogrom after 1821, with pogroms becoming endemic in Odessa.^[8] The pogrom occurred on Easter. This was not a Russian-led but a Greek-led pogrom. The leaders and almost all of the participants were Greek sailors or locals. The local press described it as an accidental fight. At the time, Greeks dominated the administration and commerce of Odessa.^[9] Rumors that Jews had desecrated the Greek Orthodox Church and cemetery led to the participation of many Greek sailors and dockworkers in the 1859 pogrom, and fueled antisemitism.^{[10][2][11]: 16}

1871

Jewish men and damaged Torah scrolls, 1871

The 1871 pogrom started as a street fight during Greek Orthodox Holy Week, turning into a serious riot and leading to destruction of Jewish property and 600 arrests. Censorship limited the ability of Odessa newspapers to report on the events, but the press in Saint Petersburg published sympathetic accounts. ^[12] Rumors were spread that Jews had damaged or stolen a holy cross. There were also "rumor-memories" regarding Gregory V, accompanied by lithographs distributed of him, that "people of a different faith" were going to steal his remains and stop them from being repatriated to Athens. ^[13] Jews would display Christian icons as a bid to avoid damage to their property, a gambit that was sometimes successful.^[14] Russian and Jews alike would display icons in windows and doors of shops and stalls to deter pogromists, and would sometimes be granted mercy if they agreed to wear a cross. Pogromists broke windows to test the boundaries, and as a first stage of the pogrom, before intensifying the rampage. They attacked and looted Jewish as well as Christian businesses, beat policemen, and even threatened priests. They then smashed furniture and belongings inside homes and businesses. Cossacks, called in to restore order, delayed and took several days to take action, and their first action was to disperse the Jews who were protecting their property. They then reportedly let the pogromists proceed, short of murder, despite orders to disperse them and send them home.^[13]

The 1871 pogrom is seen as a turning point in Russian Jewish history: "The Odessa pogrom led some Jewish publicists, exemplified by the writer Peretz Smolenskin, to question belief in the possibility of Jewish integration into Christian society, and to call for a greater awareness of Jewish national identity."^[15]

1871 drawing by Vakhrenov depicts Kotsebue on balcony addressing the pogromists^[14]

In the four days following May 27, 1871, 6 were killed, 21 wounded, over 800 houses and 500 businesses damaged, and every street or square in the Jewish neighborhood felt some impact from the pogrom, leaving thousands homeless, and doing over 1.5 million rubles worth of damage. After 1871, Odessa's intelligentsia, particularly the maskilim, took a less optimistic view of Russian society's progress toward toleration and enlightened liberalism, acknowledging that pervasive antisemitism was not an anachronism but a reality. ^[6][16] Governor-General Pavel Kotsebue waited several days before ordering the military to intervene, allowing pogromists to run wild in the meantime. Pogromists spread a rumor that an imperial edict would tolerate vandalism of Jewish homes so long as fatalities were limited. Kotsebue did not crack down or take on a harsher tone toward the pogromists until they had reached his personal home where he addressed them from a balcony.^[14] Stones were said to have been thrown at him in his balcony from the crowd, and he decided the next day to intervene decisively.^[13]

Vakhrenkov drawing shows women and children, top right, holding icons and religious artifacts in hopes of deterring pogromists^[14]

Russian newspapers and government officials blamed Jews themselves for the pogrom. The intelligentsia became skeptical of Russification, and led to the collapse of the Russian-Jewish newspaper Razvet and the Society for the Dissemination of Education among the Jews of Russia (ORPME) shut down its branch in Odessa. ^[17][18] The pogrom altered the intellectual landscape, and spurred Jewish national consciousness in Odessa thinkers.^[19][20]

Rumors that Jews had desecrated the Greek Orthodox Church and cemetery led to the participation of many Greek sailors and dockworkers in the 1871 pogrom. Perception of Jews as an economic threat fueled Russian participation. ^[10][2] Greek merchants were the masterminds of the pogrom.^[21] Economic competition between the Jews and Greeks can be seen as one of the causes of the violence. The poor, underemployed, and unskilled were the main participants of the mob.^[22]

Some Russian people, such as the landlords Avchinnikov brothers working with an Orthodox priest who stopped mobs brandishing a cross, acted to protect the Jews. Some ordinary Russians helped by hiding them in their homes or cellars. A few "cosmopolitan" citizens organized protection for businesses of their Jewish acquaintances.^[13]

To protect the city's reputation, authorities and the press downplayed the 1871 pogrom's severity, portraying the events as minor disturbances caused by the festivities, and long-standing traditional animosity between Greeks and Jews. They also blamed stolen liquor from taverns and warehouses as contributing to the unrest.^[23] The local administration concluded that, "antipathy of Christians, primarily from the lower classes, is reinforced by bitterness arising from the exploitation of their labor by the Jews, and the latter’s ability to get rich and to dominate all [commerce]. From the crowds of Christians [one] often heard, ‘The Jews mock Christ, they get rich, and they suck our blood.’"^[24] Because some Jews became visibly successful, they were accused of oppressing the rural population and blamed for the lack of improvement to most peasants' economic condition after the abolition of serfdom in Russia. Ilya Orshansky [ru; uk; he] wrote in 1871, "Until such time as the divergence between the Jews’ actual and juridical position in Russia is permanently removed by eliminating all existing limitations on their rights, hostility to the Jews will not only persist, but in all likelihood will increase."^[25] One Russian eyewitness reported that when asking one poor woman why she was lighting a stall of a likely poor Jewish proprietor on fire, she was confused and replied, "Do you think we could destroy and beat Jews for three whole days if that had not been the will of the authorities?"^[13]

Governor-General Prince A.M. Dondukov-Korsakov [ru; uk; es; fr; de] proposed further restricting Jews from leasing rural estates, blaming them for the unrest, although his proposal was rejected. ^[26]

The 1871 pogrom increased emigration to the United States.^[27]

• Drawings by Vakhrenkov of the pogrom in Odessa, 1871
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1881

Jewish poor family dealing with aftermath of pogrom, 1881

The 1881 pogroms were an urban phenomenon occurring in several waves, and traditionally thought to have arisen from a secret society known as the Holy Brotherhood, encouraged by the government, to blame the Jews for popular dissatisfaction with the government. Modern historians have pointed out that the degree to which the 1881 pogroms were spontaneous or organized and if planned, by whom, are still a mystery. The growing Jewish role as employers, in lending money, and supplying goods, particularly liquor, drove resentment, and this only increased as Jews established new businesses and built new homes. Competition may have led artisans and merchants to spread rumors or promote antisemitic material, or to approve or passively look on as others engaged in antisemitic activities.^[28] The pogroms spread along highways, rivers, and rail lines in a continuous fashion, with Odessa as a source of concentration.^[13] The state institutions only intervened when it was more than Jewish lives or homes being threatened.^[29]

An antisemitic blood libel was spread that Jews had murdered Tsar Alexander II.^[30][31] Rumors were spread of a tsar's order to attack Jews. ^[13] Antisemitic newspaper articles spread rumors and innuendos but intentionally stopped short of recommending actual violence explicitly.^[32] Some pogromists claimed they were celebrating the anniversary of the 1871 pogrom.^[33]

In the 1881 and 1905 pogroms, many Greek houses were destroyed by Russian antisemites as well.^[7]

Like the 1871 pogrom, the 1881 pogrom disillusioned Jewish intellectuals of the haskalah who had to reconcile the reality of antisemitism.^[14] The pogrom rattled the comfortable complacency of Odessa's upper class Jews, suggesting that assimilation did not improve their conditions. ^[34]

Governor-General Prince A.M. Dondukov-Korsakov [ru; uk; es; fr; de] expressed anti-Jewish prejudices when he criticized them in his reports on the causes of the pogroms.^[32] He wrote to St. Petersburg, “Jewish exploitation and predatory methods provoked the antagonism of the lower strata."^[24] Minister of the interior Nikolai Ignatev said, "The main cause of this movement lies in the economic situation. During the previous twenty years, the Jews have taken over trade and industry, purchased areas of land by sale or lease, and by means of their unity have succeeded in exploiting the main body of the poor, hence arousing them to a protest, which has found distressing expression in acts of violence." This led to the discriminatory May Laws.^[35][36] These laws created a foundation for a police state.^[37] The belief that Jews themselves were responsible for the pogrom was a result of widespread anti-Jewish sentiment among the bureaucracy, which then prompted the government to respond slowly, which prompted a conspiracy theory that the government was behind the pogroms, even though the government did feel threatened by and feared for its stability from the pogroms and eventually tried to quell the unrest to restore order.^[38]

1905

Postcard with photograph of victims of the 1905 Odessa Pogrom. Museum of the History of Odessa Jews.^[24]

The 1905 pogrom of Odessa was the worst anti-Jewish pogrom in Odessa's history. Between 18 and 22 October 1905, ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, and Greeks killed over 400 Jews and damaged or destroyed over 1600 Jewish properties.^[39] Historians such as Weinberg and Lambroza believe the police and hospital figures were likely an underestimate, with a range of estimates from 300, likely over 800, to over 1000 killed, and approximately over 2000 or even up to 5000 wounded.^[2][3][4] Pogroms swept through the shtetls in 1905-1907.^[40][41]

Background and causes

Main article: history of the Jews in Odessa

See also: Port Jews

Odessa had become the country's most important port city, home to banks, brokerage houses, sugar refineries, and other factories, and also had a vibrant intellectual culture that reflected cosmopolitan Europe.^[10] Despite being widely known as a city of liberal, enlightened attitudes toward the Jewish population, which suggests a relatively more favorable environment for Jews than in many other parts of the Pale of Settlement, Odessa was also home to antisemitic views. Rumors of a pogrom arose each year around Eastertime. Jewish and Russian youths also often got into violent fights with each other.^[2]

Postcard, ca. 1904-1910, "Triumph of the winners. 'Feast after a pogrom,'" depicting pogromists taking shots of vodka, one possibly wearing a police hat, while mutilated dead bodies and injured people with simian features litter the background.^[42][10]

A satirical postcard from 1905 "honoring" the Black Hundreds depicts the two-headed eagle of the Romanov dynasty and a banner reading "Down with Freedom," while commemorating attacks on "high school students, Kikes, and intellectuals".^[10][43]

In the 1897 census, Jews made up 34.41%, surpassed only by the ethnic Russian plurality at 45.58%, followed by Ukrainians (9.38%), Poles (4.29%), Germans (2.48%), and Greeks (1.26%).^[44]

1905 red postcard depicts a monument to the Black Hundred with the date October 19, 1905, dedicated by the "grateful Russia," surrounded by skulls and whips used by Cossacks (nagaika)^[45][10]

Anti-"Black Hundred" satire. A certificate: "The bearer of this document is neither a student nor a member of the intelligentsia, and is thus not fit for beating" issued by the "Chief Directorate of the Black Hundreds"

"After a Pogrom", 1907, Petr Isaakovich Geller (born Peisach Itskovich Geller), shows a ransacked room, three dead women and a dead child, and an old man in shock.^[46][10]

The October environment was one of popular mobilization and political polarization in Odessa, characterized by railroad worker strikes, mutinies, student organization, and strikes spreading to factories, retail, and other industries. High school and university students returning from their summer breaks brought in their parents and teachers to the revolutionary activities, who let them use lecture halls for organizing. Aimed at the autocracy in general and not a specific employer, the strikes enjoyed popular support, but in public spaces often clashed with Cossacks and the police, leading to barricades, shootings, injuries, and casualties. Police morale was at a low and they were operating at reduced effectiveness.^[47] The military was called in to help when the police couldn't handle the popular unrest, but in many cases they were poorly trained and essentially uniformed peasants. They were often disloyal, and conscription for the Russo-Japanese War and the events of the October Revolution contributed to a growth of mutinies in the army and navy. This had the effect that the military, when called to suppress unrest, instead frequently contributed to it, joining in the looting and killing despite official policy forbidding troop participation in pogroms.^[48]

Jewish radicalized students and Jewish revolutionaries who had left the city returned to defend their community during the pogroms. ^[40] Socialist groups such as the Jewish Labor Bund urged the community to emulate Jewish biblical heroes such as David and Joshua and to abandon their passivity and resist the violence and oppression.^[49] Jews became associated with revolutionaries in the popular imagination, even though the extent of Jewish revolutionary activity was exaggerated or even fabricated. Some Jewish revolutionaries were arrested for stockpiling homemade bombs, urging Jews to arm themselves for self-defense and join the revolution. Some Jewish youths joined the student strikes and public demonstrations or joined revolutionary parties to organize Jewish self-defense, procuring weapons and forming armed brigades. While this had the effect of saving some Jewish lives, it also fed the perception that Jews were instigators of trouble. ^[10]: 87

On 17 October, Tsar Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto, which established civil liberties for the people and promised to create an elected assembly. It was reported in Odessa on 18 October, causing celebration in the streets. Jews hoped that the Manifesto would lead to greater freedom and less antisemitism in the Russian Empire.^[11] While many Jews and liberals in Odessa celebrated the October Manifesto, conservatives considered the document as a threat to the autocracy and the might of the Russian Empire.

Contributing to the climate of political polarization in Odessa, pro-tsarist, right-wing organizations, such as the Black Hundreds, consolidated their ranks to counter revolutionary and liberal movements. These groups viewed the anti-government opposition as a threat to the autocracy and Russian national identity. Their newspapers and leaflets blamed minorities such as Poles, Armenians, Georgians, but especially Jews for the social and political unrest, calling on Russians to "beat the Jews, students and wicked people who seek to harm our Fatherland".^{[2][23]: 61}

The Black Hundreds explicitly linked their support for the tsar with antisemitism. Their nationalist rallies and marches, like the one that preceded the main pogrom on October 19, enjoyed the tacit blessing of the local authorities, and were used by advocates of the autocracy to support the government and undermine the concessions made as a result of the October revolution.^[2][23] This ideology framed anti-Jewish violence as a way to "strengthen the foundation of tsarist rule" and punish what they perceived as "treasonable behavior" such as desecrating portraits of the tsar or forcing bystanders to pay tribute to revolutionary flags.^[10] Despite official denials, the presence of these groups raised the level of violence considerably.^[50] Inadequate policing contributed to the rise of the far-right.^[51] "Riot specialists," some of whom enjoyed official support, opportunistically exploited tensions to channel violence toward Jews.^[52]

Antisemitism was common in the nobility and socially acceptable, and the tsar was said to make antisemitic statements, such as "Nine-tenths of the troublemakers are Jews, the people’s whole anger turned against them. That is how the pogroms happened." though there was a distinction between official and unofficial participation in right-wing movements. The tsar exhibited leniency toward organizations like the Black Hundreds and encouraged "patriots," often granting clemency to pogromists; he supported 1,713 petitions while only refusing 78, and 147 unknown. A.V. Kaulbars, commander of Odessa's military garrison, became a leader in the Union of the Russian People, a far-right antisemitic monarchist group. ^[24] "Patriotic" demonstrations, organized by local authorities, police, and the Black Hundreds, were a precursor to pogroms. Police provided the images of the tsar and flags for the demonstrations, and acted as support along with the military for the pogromists. Troops, police, and Orthodox priests accompanied the processions. The antisemitic Black Hundreds had close connections to the authorities. These ultra-nationalist, monarchist, chauvinist organizations had support of local authorities to suppress revolutionary activity. Their goal was shared with the tsar to crush the revolutionary movement. S. An-sky wrote that the pogroms "were all organized by the government with the single goal of putting out the revolutionary fire with Jewish blood." The purpose of the pogroms was to use Jews as a scapegoat and deter them from revolutionary activity.^[5]

The tsar and his ministers contributed to an attitude of antisemitism and of tolerance of, or the perception that they unofficially condoned, actions against Jews. Some ministers advocated restraint, but many supported a trend of repression over emancipation. Discriminatory legislation, e.g. the May Laws, that restricted Jews also contributed to their image as not to be trusted. While the tsar's government did not actually sponsor pogroms, they encouraged and subsidized antisemitism, increased conflict between Jews and gentiles, and worsened the conditions of Jews while blaming them for their misfortunes. Lower level officials explicitly encouraged and participated in antisemitic activities, believing they were accomplishing the tsar's wishes.^[48]

Vyacheslav von Plehve, Minister of the Interior, may have harbored antisemitic attitudes, which is the subject of debate, but certainly expressed some negative sentiments toward the Russian Jews. A diary entry from Aleksey Kuropatkin in 1903 states, "I heard from Plehve as well as from the tsar that the Jews needed to be given a lesson, that they had become arrogant, and that they were leading the revolutionary movement." Prince Urusov was told by Plehve to be "less Judeophilic." In 1903, Plehve received a delegation from Odessa concerned about the news of the pogrom in Kishinev.^[24]

Tell the Jewish youth, your sons and your daughters, tell your entire intelligentsia, they should not think that Russia is an old, decaying and disintegrating body; young and developing Russia will overcome the revolutionary movement. The fear of the Jews is much talked about, but this is not true. The Jews are the most courageous of people. In Western Russia some 90 percent of the revolutionaries are Jews, and in Russia generally – some 40 percent. I shall not conceal from you that the revolutionary movement in Russia worries us ... but you should know that if you do not deter your youth from the revolutionary movement, we shall make your position untenable to such an extent that you will have to leave Russia, to the very last man!^[24]

The pogroms also coincided with economic and political factors. The 1905 event was similar to previous pogroms, but worsened by these catalysts. Economic grievances took place between lower class workers rather than wealthy merchants. A significant downturn as a result of the Russo-Japanese War coincided with restricted trading, reduced industrial production, and high unemployment. Jewish industrialists were blamed for layoffs during the recession and were accused of disloyalty and lack of patriotism for not supporting the war or participating in the labor movement. This was worsened by Ignat'ev's passing of discriminatory May Laws, which made Jews appear as second-class citizens. Local officials' delayed responses reflect their opinion of Jews as subversive radicals, and their belief that the imperial government would look kindly on their actions to "punish" the "disloyal" Jewih inhabitants. Right-wing extremists painted Jews as socialist leaders. Jews had friends among the liberal bourgeoisie and in academia, but not enough to help them.^[35]

Growing antisemitism triggered by the changing place of Jews in Odessa's economy helped fuel an environment conducive to a pogrom.^[2][10] Odessan Jews had a prominent place in trade and finance, forming a majority of the banking, moneylending, and moneychanging industries and a significant involvement in commerce. They were also represented in fields such as the intelligentsia and as artists, though not a majority. They were underrepresented as city workers, which were majority Christian.^[44] After the Crimean War disrupted trade routes, many Greek companies relocated due to bankruptcy or a search for more profitable bases of operation. Jewish merchants successfully expanded their businesses to fill the void in the grain trade previously monopolized by Greeks. By 1886 firms owned by Jews controlled 70 percent, and by 1910, Jewish firms controlled nearly 90 percent of the grain export trade. Many factors contributed to the spread of antisemitism in Odessa including the success of Jewish traders. Like other groups, Jews often gave preference to other Jews in employment. There were also rumors that Jews had desecrated the Greek Orthodox Church and cemetery, leading to the participation of many Greek sailors and dockworkers in the earlier pogroms, and fueling antisemitism.^[2][10]

Perception of Jews as an economic threat fueled Russian participation in the pogroms, and encouraged Russians to scapegoat Jews for their problems. Many Russians, facing limited employment opportunities and lower wages, became frustrated and believed they were being exploited by the growing Jewish population. They pointed to the steady Jewish population growth in Odessa, from 14% (14,000 of 100,000) in 1858 to 35% (140,000 of 400,000) in 1897. They developed a largely incorrect perception that Jews possessed great wealth and power due to their growing influence on certain industries, particularly in commercial trades. Jewish-owned brokerage houses managed the majority of the city's export trade. 13 of the 18 banks that operated in Odessa had Jewish board members and directors. Approximately half the members of the city's three merchant guilds were Jewish. ^[10][2] Jews were 83% of bankers and 87% of the credit industry, were successful in distilling, tobacco, timber, made up 66.2% of merchants, and 90% of intermediary brokers and agents,^[24] though in the 1890s the liquor trade became a state monopoly leading to Russians outnumbering Jews. After the 1880s, government restrictions on Jewish occupations, settlement and trade increased competition in urban trade and employment.^[22]

Postcard, shop of Rabinovich after pogrom of Odessa in 1905

"Return to the Homeland," 1906, M. Maimon, shows a Jewish soldier returning home to find his wife and child murdered in a pogrom, and his home plundered.^[53][54][10]

Although by the end of the 19th century, Jews had made significant inroads in manufacturing and trade, the majority of wealth and power in Odessa still belonged to non-Jews. Jews certainly did not dominate the economy of Odessa, nor did they control Odessa politically.^[23] The perception that the growing Jewish capitalist population was "exploiting" Russians was exaggerated in the popular belief. While some Jewish-owned firms were successful, the majority of Jews in Odessa were impoverished. The population growth levelled off in 1897, and the majority of enterprises under factory inspection in Odessa were owned by foreigners and Russians, who employed primarily Russian workers. In 1911, Jews owned 17 percent of real estate parcels, while non-Jews controlled about half of large enterprises. Most Jews barely made ends meet as shopkeepers, second-hand dealers, salesclerks, petty traders, domestic servants, day laborers, workshop employees, and factory hands. A 1902 study estimated that almost 50,000 Jews were destitute, 30,000 under the poverty line, and in 1905, nearly 80,000 Jews needed financial aid to purchase matzah for Passover, indicating that considerably more than half of Odessa's Jews were living in poverty.^[55][2] Some estimates suggest between 30-35% of Jews depended on welfare relief, and the community in Odessa had to pay for the burials of 63% of its dead. Benjamin Nathans calls this inequality in the Pale of Settlement, with a small but increasing number of Jews integrating into the white-collar world, "two Russian Jewries."^[24]

Wealthy Jews were also not able to transform wealth into political power. Out of the 3449 total staff of the imperial government, 71 were Jews. After an 1892 civic reform, Jews lost the right to elect representatives to city councils. Instead, a special municipal affairs office took over, appointing Jews to six allotted seats, which capped their representation as a fixed percentage of the sixty-person Odessa City Council, disenfranchising them and depriving them of their right to elect representatives proportionally.^[2][56][10]

Practically every segment of the Christian population participated in anti-Jewish agitation and the pogroms, including Greek grain monopolists, wealthy Russian merchants, nationalist Ukrainian intellectuals, liberal professions, government employees, and vagrants.^[44] Many of the unskilled day laborers, temporary migrants in gangs or artels, were sufferers of deadly hunger, alcoholism, and lived in poor conditions in flophouses. There was an underlying tension beneath their peaceful appearance which became fury in bad economic times. They engaged in labor activism, strikes, and became restive facing high unemployment, though economic factors alone do not explain why they targeted Jews in 1905. This was presaged by attacks during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Popular and official antisemitism was a pervasive part of the social fabric.^[57]

Fear of a pogrom in April 1905 prompted the National Committee of Jewish Self-Defense to urge Jews to arm themselves and protect their property to try to deter potential pogromists by threatening to fight back. Although a pogrom did not take place until October, fear of one re-emerged in June when Jews were declared culpable for instigating shootings as well as fires at the port. On 13 June 1905, Cossacks shot several striking workers. The next day, large groups of workers stopped working and attacked police with rocks and guns. The battleship Potemkin, whose crew had mutinied on 14 June, arrived in Odessa that evening. Thousands of Odessans went to the port to see the battleship and support the mutinous sailors. During the afternoon of 15 June, the unruly crowd began to raid warehouses and set fire to wooden buildings in the harbor. Chaos ensued when, the military tried to suppress the unrest by cordoning off the harbor and shooting at the trapped crowd. Strikes, disorder, and the arrival of Potemkin resulted in the deaths of nearly 2,000 people at the Port of Odessa. An antisemitic pamphlet called Odesskie dni ("Odessan Days") was distributed soon after the violence at the harbor, accusing Jews of responsibility for the tragedy. Odesskie dni demanded restitution from Jews, disarmament, and a general search of Jewish residences. Although the events of June did not immediately cause a pogrom, the antisemitic environment had been intensified, setting the stage.^[10][2] During the Potemkin incident, Odessa was placed under martial law by Alexander von Kaulbars, and lifted in August despite Neidhart's opposition. The government gave universities autonomy, which intensified their political activism, and Neidhart's petition for further powers was turned down by the government, which he later cited as an excuse for his slow action.^[35]

Evidence exists that during the 1905 pogrom, the army supported the mob:

The Bolshevik Piatnitsky who was in Odessa at the time recalls what happened: "There I saw the following scene: a gang of young men, between 25 and 20 years old, among whom there were plain-clothes policemen and members of the Okhrana, were rounding up anyone who looked like a Jew—men, women and children—stripping them naked and beating them mercilessly... We immediately organised a group of revolutionaries armed with revolvers... we ran up to them and fired at them. They ran away. But suddenly between us and the pogromists there appeared a solid wall of soldiers, armed to the teeth and facing us. We retreated. The soldiers went away, and the pogromists came out again. This happened a few times. It became clear to us that the pogromists were acting together with the military."^[58]

Sergei Witte wrote that he tried to get the tsar to stop the pogroms, but the tsar was silent, or blamed the Jews, and that the pogroms enjoyed support from the top. Witte said that Dmitri Feodorovich Trepov was a dictator who encouraged pogroms.^[5] Witte publicly condemned the violence.^[59]

Outbreak of violence

On October 14, high school students skipped classes to join rallies taking place at the university, but were stopped by saber-wielding police, who wounded several.^[35] This led to anger and indignation toward the authorities from the liberal community, and calls for a citizen's militia to replace the police. The authorities closed the university to student organizing meetings.^[47]

The next day, radical students and revolutionaries armed themselves and encouraged other workers to lend them support. About 4000 workers, including many Jews, went on strike.^[10] On October 16, students took to the streets and attempted to erect barricades. Several were killed by the police, others taken to Jewish hospital wounded, and one policeman was also killed. Although a public funeral had been planned for the students, the Odessa city governor, D. M. Neidhart, seized the bodies and had them buried secretly to limit rallying around the deaths. On October 17 the Manifesto was promulgated, prompting celebration from the community for their new freedoms. Neidhart posted placards against the radical organizing at the university. The university rector asked for protection from the military but did not receive it. Neidhart denied the request for the citizen's militia, and ordered the police off the streets, supposedly for their own protection, and didn't ask Kaul'bars for any help either, leaving Odessa's Jews vulnerable. ^[35]

The news of the October Manifesto inspired celebratory marching in the streets in Odessa's Jewish and liberal communities. Red flags plus a desecrated image of the tsar outraged the monarchists, who began to take out their anger on Odessa's Jewish community, whom they viewed as the source of Russia's problems. When a group of Jews demanded Russian workers doff their caps to red flags celebrating the October Manifesto, a fight broke out on the streets and soon turned into a full-fledged pogrom, with Russians indiscriminately attacking Jews and looting Jewish homes and businesses.^[10]: 89

1905 New York Times headline

On October 19, hundreds of Russians marched in patriotic and religious marches displaying their loyalty to the tsar. Organizers handed out flags, icons, and images of the tsar as participants sang the national anthem and religious hymns, and according to some reports, "Down with the Jews; they need a beating". The patriotic marchers, many of whom were unskilled day laborers, particularly dockworkers, but also including factory and construction workers, shopowners, clerks, workshop employees, and vagrants, were not all politically motivated. Some were reportedly enticed by the vodka, guns, and money handed out by plainclothes policemen. Violence re-erupted with the shooting and bombing of a demonstration, possibly by revolutionaries or Jewish and student self-defense brigades.^[10][2][23]

After shots from surrounding buildings killed a young boy carrying an icon, the pogrom erupted. Although the perpetrators remain uncertain, revolutionaries or members of Jewish and student self-defense brigades are thought to have fired shots and reportedly threw homemade bombs, triggering a panic. The patriotic crowd, convinced that Jews were responsible, began shouting "Beat the Kikes" and "Death to the Kikes," kicking off a violent rampage. The pogrom escalated as people fired more shots from rooftops and balconies, and after Jewish self-defense brigades fired on Russians holding smaller processions encountered similar pogromist reactions. The violence raged until October 22. This pogrom became the most destructive anti-Jewish incident in Russian history at the time, exceeding the 1881-1882 pogrom wave. The attackers committed atrocities including brutally beating, mutilating, and murdering defenseless Jewish people, threw Jews out of windows, raping women and slaughtering infants in front of their families.^[10] The rioters killed pregnant women giving birth along with their midwives in a maternity hospital and attempted to rape others. A little under 10% of the deaths were women, four of whom were among the self-defense brigades.^[60]

The American consul to Russia sent a telegraph back home: "the Russians attacked the Jews in every part of town and a massacre ensued. From Tuesday till Saturday was terrible and horrible. The Russians lost heavily also, but the number of killed and wounded is not known. The police without uniform were very prominent." The worst rioting took place October 19-21. The violence spread from the city center to the suburbs and nearby villages. The rioters were well-organized and targeted neighborhoods with contingents of pogromists proportional to their size. Rather than working to protect Jews and restore order, plainclothes policemen and soldiers looked on or joined in the massacre. Though they suffered many casualties and ultimately were vanquished, Jewish self-defense forces successfully defended some neighborhoods.^[35]

Russian Senate presiding officers, 1912, Kuzminsky 2nd from the left

On 21 October, after much of the pogrom was over, the city governor Dmitri Neidhardt [ru], and the commander of the Odessa military garrison, A. V. Kaul'bars, appeared in the streets. They instructed the rioters to disperse and go home. Neidhart's and Kaul'bars' prior inaction became a controversy, and led to Neidhart's resignation, though he was not otherwise reprimanded.^[35] Neither took any decisive action to suppress the pogrom quickly. Senator A.M. Kuzminskii [ru], who was appointed to investigate the causes of the Odessa pogrom, conducted an official inquiry that faulted Neidgart for 'malfeasance in office' and for creating a situation where the city was left defenseless, by ordering the police to withdraw from their posts. Kaul'bars did not order his troops to shoot at pogromists until October 20, after the pogrom had been raging for two days. Kaulbars claimed he needed written orders and that Neidgart didn't provide them swiftly. Both Kaul'bars and Neidgart defended the provocative behavior of the police and military, accusing Jewish and student militias of hampering their efforts to contain the pogrom. Some police and soldiers were actively participating in the violence, condoning the destruction of Jewish property, and even directing mobs and providing protection for pogromists or for non-Jewish properties. Neidhart only rode through the city once, with an escort, on the fourth day of rioting, when things were calming down. The police on duty were afraid for their lives and sat in the station, and Neidhart refused to return them to their posts, writing in an announcement that they could return only if ten citizens would stand next to each policeman. He told individuals who requested protection to hide inside the university.^[2][10]

Kuzminsky collected testimony that indicated that both opponents and defenders of the autocracy were to blame for the escalation of violence. The report also presented evidence that policemen and soldiers participated in the violence against Jews. From his point of view, this was an understandable response, as he believed that Jewish revolutionaries were responsible for the civil and political unrest, and that Jewish armed self-defense units that confronted pogromists and even fired on policemen and soldiers who were encouraging the mobs.^[10] Kuzminsky, like Neidgart and Kaul'bars, and other authorities, blamed the pogrom on political events and considered them spontaneous, but this is questionable. Authorities were accused of encouraging the pogromists. Kuzminskii's own investigation uncovered evidence of police complicity in planning the counter-demonstration and ensuing violence. A soldier named L. D. Teplitskii testified that as early as October 15-16, policemen were discussing using force against Jews. One told him, "Jews want freedom-well, we'll kill two or three thousand. Then they'll know what freedom is." Teplitskii also testified that on the morning of October 18, he met day laborers who said they had been instructed to attack Jews that evening at a police station. Furthermore, policemen were reported to have compiled lists of Jewish-owned businesses and apartments, and agitators reportedly went from house to house, in an effort to incite residents, spreading rumors that Jews were murdering Russian families. There is also evidence suggesting that police were instructed not to interfere with pogromists. An army captain informed Kuzminskii that a policeman told him that their superiors had granted permission to beat Jews for three days because they had destroyed the tsar's portrait in the municipal duma.^{[2]: 66–68}

Photo of Kaulbars, 1912

However, no evidence ties Neidgart to the planning of the pogrom, and was likely trying to avert a major violent event. Neidgart even requested that Kaul'bars cancel a funeral procession to honor students killed on October 16, fearing an eruption of violence. Still, though, Neidgart delayed intervening even when community leaders such as a rabbi and a banker begged for his help. Neidgart may have simply realized his police force was disgruntled, underpaid, understaffed and out of his control. He may have realized he could not rely on his police force, and only sought help from Kaul'bars after the pogrom had grown too large for student self-defense units to manage. He sympathized with the mob and blamed the Jews, reportedly telling Jewish leaders, "You wanted freedom. Well, now you're getting 'Jewish freedom'." From his perspective, Jews were responsible for the city's problems, and the pogrom a form of retribution. While there is no evidence that Neidgart planned the pogrom or had prior knowledge of it, he did sympathize with the mob's actions and may have seen the attacks on Jews as a way to "squelch the revolution." Kaul'bars also did not act decisively to restore order, and ignored reports that his forces were participating in the pogrom, and on the 21 stated, "all of us sympathize in our souls with the pogrom." Still, he acknowledged later that despite their personal sympathies, he, the police and the military had a responsibility to restore order and protect the Jews.^{[2]: 66–68}

Pyotr Nikolayevich Durnovo defended Neidgart, writing, "people such as... Neidgardt never could nor should have criminal proceedings instituted against them, because they acted according to the interests and directions of the goverment, and were valid proponents of its will."^[5]

Neidhardt in 1911

According to a subsequent account written by the British Consul to Odessa, Charles Stewart Smith, Neidhart had ordered the police to withdraw from the streets, allowing the mobs a free hand to murder, rape and pillage. Stewart Smith addressed to M. Neidhart a forceful protest calling upon him to stop the pogrom and re-call the police to their duties. The French Consul-General wrote to the Prefect in the same sense. Next day the pogrom subsided. ‘It is quite clear,’ Stewart Smith reported to the Foreign Office, ‘that the late disorders were prepared and worked by the police who openly superintended the work of destruction, looting and murder.’ A few weeks later he wrote: ‘There were hopes that there would be a real judicial investigation of the whole affair, with proper apportionment of blame; but the Emperor has thanked the troops, and apparently Neidhart has been given another post (Nijni Novgorod). One newspaper says that M. Witte objected, but he was told that it was too late, the appointment was made. I was hoping that a real victory might be won for the law as against lawlessness of high officials, but my hopes are waning.’^[61]

Aftermath and response

See also: British responses to pogroms in the Russian Empire

Various reports estimate the number of Jews killed in the October Pogrom from 302 to 1,000. Other relevant statistics from the pogrom include approximately 5,000 Jews injured, 3.75 million rubles in property damage, 1,400 ruined businesses, and 3,000 families forced into poverty. The Odessa Jewish Central Committee to Aid the Victims of the Pogroms of 1905 collected 672,833 rubles from Jews in Odessa and abroad to aid those hurt by the pogrom. In total, the committee assisted 2,499 families affected by the October Pogrom.^[35]

Jewish communities in the diaspora, particularly the United States, joined by sympathetic gentiles, responded by raising money for relief funds and by protesting. ^[62] "People ... have heard with great regret the stories of the sufferings of the Jews in Russia," remarked Secretary of State Frederick T. Frelinghuysen. In 1882 a meeting in New York counted Hamilton Fish, Joseph H. Choate, Edwards Pierrepont, William M. Evarts, as attendees, and a letter written by John W. Foster. In Philadelphia George Sharswood, the governor, spoke at a meeting, and in Congress a joint resolution was passed in support. The pogroms also inspired outrage among philosemitic gentiles in Britain. Between 1880 and 1883 The Times published 13 articles, plus additional notes and reports, protesting the pogroms. Lord Mayor of London John Whittaker Ellis held a meeting at Mansion House, London in 1881 with distinguished MPs and intellectuals in attendance, to protest and to raise funds. He was supported by liberals and conservatives alike such as Matthew Arnold, John Lubbock, James Martineau, Benjamin Jowett, James Bryce, Edward Stanley, and John Hubbard, with Frederic Farrar publishing articles. Joseph Savory the subsequent lord mayor in 1890 again held a meeting "to express public opinion upon the renewed persecution to which millions of the Jewish race are subjected in Russia under the yoke of severe and exceptional edicts and disabilities." This meeting was attended by Lord Tennyson, Walter Besant, Thomas Huxley, John Bright, and Lord Curzon. Even in Australia, public meetings in support of the pogroms with fundraising were held in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney, with notable support from George Frederic Verdon and William Bede Dalley. ^[63]

Charles Stewart Smith, the British Consul, later wrote that such was the prevailing lawlessness that for many months the streets continued to be unsafe. Armed robberies were everyday occurrences. Six months after the pogrom he wrote in a private letter: ‘Crime continues in odious intensity. The “Black Crow” robberies have subsided, but bombs are thrown and assassinations occur far too often. A surgeon friend tells me that formerly in the Town hospital they used to receive one or two stabbing cases every week; now there are one or two a day.' ^[61]

It was one of the events that resulted in many Jews emigrating from Odessa and Ukraine to western Europe and to the United States in the following years.

Almost 50,000 Jews left Odessa after 1905's pogroms.^[44] Thousands of Jewish refugees went over the border to Austria-Hungary and Germany, leading to protests targeting Russia, and threats of diplomatic intervention. The value of Russian bonds went down, and Russian lawmakers had to develop new policies to react.^[64]

The Mendele Mocher Sforim Museum opened in downtown Odessa in 1927, containing images of the 1871 and 1905 pogroms. The tsarist authorities never authorized the museum or allowed the monument to be erected, or pogrom art to be shown, but the Bolsheviks used it as an opportunity to highlight their defeat of the brutal autocracy.^[65][66]

See also

• Pogroms in the Russian Empire
• Pogroms during the Russian Civil War
• Kiev pogrom (1881)
• Kishinev pogrom
• Antisemitism in the Russian Empire
• Antisemitism in Russia
• Antisemitism in Ukraine
• History of the Jews in Russia
• History of the Jews in Ukraine
• Racism in Russia
• Racism in the Soviet Union
• Racism in Ukraine
• Relations between Eastern Orthodoxy and Judaism
• 1941 Odessa massacre
• Odessa Museum of the Regional History

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Odessa". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.