The Pogrom Tradition in Eastern Europe

Abstract

In the last years of perestroika in the USSR, rumours periodically swept large Soviet cities like Moscow and Leningrad that a pogrom against the Jews was imminent. These pogroms, usually announced by threatening notes in letter boxes, were often predicted for dates in early May, and were linked to the feast of St George (one of the patron saints of Russia) on the Russian Orthodox Church calendar. Many Jews were terrorised — which seems to have been the ultimate objective of the rumour-mongers. In fact, no pogroms ever erupted, nor were they likely to. From the perspective of a century removed, we are far better equipped to understand the nature and the origins of the three great waves of anti-Jewish pogroms which swept the Russian Empire in 1881–2, 1903–6, and 1919–21. This understanding can help us to appreciate why anti-Jewish pogroms were extremely unlikely events before the actual break-up of the USSR.