Introduction

David Gaunt*, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Natan M. Meir, Israel Bartal

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingForeword/postscript

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the history of Eu rope, the anti-Jewish pogroms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have been overshadowed in importance by the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. This is a reasonable valuation given the relatively limited nature of the pogroms and the universal destructiveness of the Holocaust. However, the pogroms that erupted in late imperial Rus sia were, at the time of the events themselves, unrivaled episodes of ethnic violence and tended toward increasing levels of destruction with each new outburst. The enormous international interest expressed through extensive press coverage and the activities of humanitarian organizations created widespread sympathy for the plight of Jews inside the Rus sian Empire. At the same time, the repeated need for foreign outcries that ultimately did not ignite diplomatic intervention accustomed world opinion to high levels of racial violence and raised suspicions in Rus sia that governments could be benefiting from ethnic conflicts. The first great waves of migration of Jews from Eastern Eu rope, the politicization of the Jewish masses, together with the rise of the Zionist movement took place against the background of the pogroms. And as some of the articles in this volume show, the pogroms also formed the context in which the idea of combating "Judeo-Bolshevism" had its origin.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAnti-Jewish Violence
Subtitle of host publicationRethinking the Pogrom in East European History
PublisherIndiana University Press
Pages1-18
Number of pages18
ISBN (Print)9780253355201
StatePublished - 2011

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