Anti-Jewish disturbances in the North-Western provinces in the early 1880s

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Notes

This issue was the subject of a conference at the Lithuanian Institute of History on 23 December 2003 entitled ‘When Xenophobia Becomes Violence: The Dynamics of Lithuanian and Jewish Relations in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries’.

I. M. Aronson, ‘The Anti-Jewish Pogroms in Russia in 1881’, in J. D. Klier and S. Lambroza (eds.), Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History (Cambridge/New York/Port Chester/Melbourne/Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 54–55.

I. M. Aronson, ‘Geographical and Socio-economic Factors in the 1881 Pogroms in Russia’, The Russian Review, Vol. 39, No. 1, January 1980, 18–31; I. M. Aronson, Troubled Waters: The Origin of the 1881 Anti-Jewish Pogroms in Russia (University of Pittsburg Press, 1990); J. D. Klier, ‘The Pogrom Paradigm in Russian History’, in Klier and Lambroza (eds.), Pogroms, 33; Aronson, ‘The Anti-Jewish Pogroms’, 44–61.

‘Zapiska vysshei kommisii dlia peresmotra deistvuiushchikh o evreiakh v Imperii zakonov’ (Note of the Supreme Commission for Reviewing Legislation on the Jews in the Empire), Gosudarstvenyi Arkhiv Rossiisskoi Federatsii (State Archive of the Russian Federation, GARF), f. (fond) 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo (division), op. (opis’) 39, 1882, d. (delo) 512, l. (list) 119.

S. Dubnov, Noveishaia istoriia evreiskogo naroda (Modern History of the Jewish People), Vol. 3, 1881–1914 (Berlin: Izdatel’stvo Grani, 1923), 97–147.

H. Rogger, ‘Conclusion and Overview’, in Klier and Lambroza (eds.), 316.

L. Gatagova, ‘Iudofobiia: summa zol’ (Judeophobia: The Sum of All Evils), www.empires.ru/docs/gatagova2.doc.

The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed., Vol. 11, 1989) records its first use in 1882 and offers ‘an organised massacre in Russia for the destruction or annihilation of any body or class: orig. and esp. applied to those directed against the Jews’.

Y.S., ‘Pogroms’, Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 13 (Jerusalem), 694.

Klier, ‘The Pogrom Paradigm in Russian History’, 13–42.

‘O rasprostranivshimsia v g. Grodne slukhe o namerenii evreev pererezat’ khristian v noch’ na Sviatoe Voskresenie 1881 goda’ (The Rumour Spread in Grodno concerning the Intentions of the Jews to Murder Christians on the Night of Holy Resurrection, 1881) (Lithuanian State Historical Archive, LVIA), f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 43; Vilenskii vestnik, No. 79, 18 April 1881.

Report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 5 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 16–17; Vilenskii vestnik, No. 93, 5 May 1881; No. 112, 29 May 1881; No. 113, 30 May 1881; No. 119, 9 June 1881; A. V., ‘Iz Bobruiska’ (From Bobruisk), Vilenskii vestnik, No. 101, 15 May 1881.

Vilensknii vestnik, No. 110, 27 May 1881.

‘O naidennykh v g. Vil’ne proklamatsiiakh i pis’makh vozmutitel’nogo soderzhaniia’ (Proclamations and Letters of Instigatory Content Found in the City of Vilna), LVIA, f. 421, ap. 1, b. 3017.

Secret report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 29 May 1881; ‘Vysochaishii manifest’ (Supreme Manifesto), LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 58, 78.

Petition from Jewish community of Dysna (Vilna Province) to Vilna governor, 9 May 1882, LVIA, f. 380, ap. 39, b. 58, l. 5–6; secret letter from Vilna vice-governor to police department, 8 May 1882, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 280, chap. 18, l.1v–2v; secret letter from Vilna governor to Vil’na governor-general, 8 May 1882; secret report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 22 May 1882, copy of proclamation ‘Delo ne shutka’ (This is not a joke), LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, ll. 149, 152, 172–73, 174–75; ‘Po raportu Vilenskogo ispravnika o peredannom Liatusevichem Kozlovu pis’me otnositel’no izbieniia evreev’ (According to Report of Vilna Police Officer concerning Letter Given by Liatusevich to Kozlov regarding the Beating of the Jews), LVIA, f. 380, ap. 39, b. 66; copy of proclamation ‘Delo ne shutka’, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 280, chap. 18, l. 3.

Secret report from policeman of Telšiai District (Kovno Province) to Kovno governor, 14 May 1882, Kauno apskrities archyvas (Kaunas Regional Archives, KAA), f. I-50, ap. 1, b. 21747, l. 26.

Report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 20 May 1882, LVIA, f. 378, BS, 1882, b. 77, l. 1–2; secret report from Minsk governor to interior minister, 24 May 1882, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 280, chap. 13, l. 6; secret report from Grodno governor to Vil’na governor-general, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 167.

M. Aronson, ‘Geographical and Socio-economic Factors’, 23–24.

‘Po predstavleniiu I-shchiago dolzh. Kovenskogo Gubernatora, o podstrekatel’stve nastoiatelem Iuzhintskogo kostela, ksendzom Rugelevichem prikhozhan-krestian togo prihkoda protiv evreev’ (Report from Acting Kovna Governor concerning Iuzhinty Parish Priest Rugelevich Instigating Parishioners against the Jews), f. 378, BS, 1881, b. 310.

Reports from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 26 June, 11 July 1882, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, ll. 188–89, 190–91.

Report from Minsk governor to interior minister, 23 April 1882, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 280, chap. 13, l. 1b.

Report from chief of Grodno gendarmerie to police department, 19 May 1882, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 280, chap. 18, ll. 1–2.

Report of head of Fourth Cavalry Division to acting chief of Army Corps, 8 December 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 85.

Report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 26 June 1882, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 188.

Note from district marshal of nobility of Minsk District Chometovski, ‘Military Service of Jews According to Observations in Minsk District, Minsk Province’, 20 December 1881, Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi voenno-istoricheskii arkhiv (Russian State Military History Archive), f. 400, op. 14, d. 15703, ll. 4–16; report from Vilna governor-general to interior minister, 27 October 1884, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 280, chap. 18, ll. 16–18; Vilenskii vestnik, No. 238, 1881; ‘Iz m. Zhizhmory, Trokskago uezda’ (From Zhizmory Township, Troki District), Vilenskii vestnik, No. 247, 18 November 1881.

Petition from head of town Rezhice to Vilna governor-general, 5 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 18.

‘Iz m. Zhizhmory, Trokskago uezda’.

Vilenskii vestnik, No. 262, 3 December 1883.

Report from chief of Kovno gendarmerie, 2 October 1882, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodztvo, 1882, d. 280, chap. 25, l. 1; report from Vilna governor to Vilna governor-general, 8 July 1883, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 214; ‘Iz Bobruiska’, Vilenskii vestnik.

Report from Kovno governor to Vilna governor-general, 27 July 1882, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, ll. 195–96.

Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiiskoi imperii, sobranie tret’e (Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, Third Collection), Vol. 2, 1882 (St Petersburg, 1886), 181.

‘O sostavlenii krest’ianami Oshmianskogo uezda prigovorov o neproizvodstve torgovli v voskresnye i prazdnichnye dni (The Peasants’ Resolution in Oshmiany District on the Trade Ban on Sundays and Holy Days), LVIA, f. 380, ap. 39, b. 83; report from Vilna governor to Vilna governor-general, 15 July 1882, LVIA, f. 378, BS, 1882, b. 734, ll. 1–3.

‘O proizshedshikh v m. Voronovo, Lidskogo uezda, bezporiadkakh mezhdu khristianskim i evreiskim naseleniem (1883)’ (Disturbances between the Christian and Jewish Populations in Voronov, Lida District in 1883), LVIA, f. 380, ap. 40, b. 60.

‘O bezporiadkakh na st. Kashedary, Libavo-Romenskoi zheleznoi dorogi’ (The Disturbances at Kashedary Station, Libavo-Romenskaia Railway), LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 75.

Report from Kovno governor to Vilna governor-general, 30 April 1882, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1882, b. 61, ll. 1–2.

‘Po raportu Dysnenskogo ispravnika o delaemykh, v nekotorykh mestnostiakh Disnenskogo uezda, napadeniiakh na evreev’ (Report from Police Officer in Dyasna District concerning Attacks on Jews in Some Localities of Dyasna District), LVIA, f. 380, ap. 39, b. 58.

While the pogroms in southern Russia possibly increased the authorities’ vigilance throughout the empire and the higher authorities received reports on each anti-Jewish incident, which was perhaps not the case previously, it is clear that in the early 1880s Judeophobic sentiment and violence against Jews were on a greater scale than previously.

David Vital, A People Apart: A Political History of the Jews in Europe 1789–1939 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 285.

Therefore educated Lithuanians, first of all the clergy, sought to protect the peasants from what they saw as the harmful activities of the Jews. The image of the Jew as a rival appears in literature only at a later stage.

L. Anglickiene, ‘Žydas pasakomojoje tautosakoje’ (The Jews in Narrative Folklore), Liaudies kultūra, No. 5, 1996, 51–52.

V. Sirutavičius, ‘Katalikų bažnyčia ir modernaus lietuvių antisemitizmo genezė’ (The Catholic Church and the Genesis of Modern Lithuanian Anti-Semitism), Lietuvių Katalikų akademijos metraštis, Vol. 14 (Vilnius) 1999, 69–77; V. Sirutavičius, ‘Notes on the Origin and Development of Modern Lithuanian Anti-Semitism in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century and at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century’, in S. Schreiner, A. Nikžentaitis and D. Staliūnas (eds.), The Vanished World of Lithuanian Jews (Amsterdam/New York, NY: Rodopi, 2004), 61–72.

Local authority officials occasionally gave unambiguous explanations that tension had arisen as the result of newspaper reports of pogroms in southern Russia – see report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 25 May 1882, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 176–77.

Confidential report from Mogilev governor to interior minister, 8 April 1882 and secret report from Mogilev governor to interior minister, 14 April 1882, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, op. 39, 1882, d. 512, l. 23–24, 29–30; secret report from Mogilev governor to interior minister, 7 May 1882, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 513, ll. 44–46.

Secret report from chief of Minsk gendarmerie to police department, 25 April 1884, report from Minsk governor to interior minister, 29 April 1884, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 280, ch. 13, l. 10, 11–12.

‘Vilna, 2-go ianvaria’ (Vilna, 2 January), Vilenskii vestnik, No. 1, 3 January 1881.

Vilenskii vestnik, No. 7, 12 January 1881; No. 25, 2 February 1881; No. 31, 10 February 1881.

‘Iz m-ka Ol’kenik, Troksogo uezda’ (From Ol’keniki Township, Troki District), Vilenskii vestnik, No. 34, 13 February 1881.

Vilenskii vestnik, No. 4, 8 January 1881 and No. 107, 23 May 1881.

Copy of annual report for Vilna province for 1881, LVIA, f. 378, BS, 1882, b. 100, ll. 51–52.

Report from Kovno governor to Vilna governor-general, 17 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 50.

S. M. Dubnov, The History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Vol. 2 (Philadelphia, 1918), 267.

LVIA, f. 421, ap. 1, b. 3017, l. 17.

A letter dated 26 July 1880, signed by ‘a Belorussian peasant’ and sent to the Moskovskie vedomosti newspaper, depicts Jews not only as enemies of Christendom but also primarily as the exploiters of the peasantry; the letter-writer suggests moving the Jews to Siberia and the Caucasus. While such a source must be regarded with caution we cannot rule out the possibility that the letter was inspired, or even written, by someone who was not a peasant. See Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi Gosudarstvennoi biblioteki (Manuscript Division of the Russian State Library), f. 120, karton 23, l. 172–73.

‘O evreiskikh bezporiadkakh po Suvalkskoi gub.’ (Jewish Disturbances in Suvałki Province), GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 280, chap. 11. Preliminary research indicated that it was impossible to prevent this incident in Prienai because it was remote from the greater centres, it had no telegraph office, and it had only three policemen and up to several thousand people. Following the incident, according to various data, between 60 and 80 offenders were arrested, of whom 22 were convicted and later amnestied. The controller of the Mariampole District, Shablovskii, was dismissed for having been unable to prevent the anti-Jewish attack.

Petition from Icik Berkovich to Vilna governor-general, 6 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, ll. 30–31.

Report from chief of Trakai gendarmerie, 12 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 48.

Report from chief of Grodno gendarmerie to police department,19 December 1881, GARF, f. 102, 3 deloproizvodstvo, 1881, d. 1239, l. 4; M. Klińska, Aus dem Schtetl in die Welt. 1772 bis 1938 (Ostjüdische Autobiographien in der deutscher Sprache) (Vienna/Cologne/Weimar: Böhlau Verlag, 1994), 217.

Copy of secret report from Grodno governor to interior minister, 20 June 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 31, l. 29.

Vilenskii vestnik, No. 116, 5 June 1881.

Circular letter from interior minister to governors, 6 April 1880, KAA, f. I–50 ap. 1, b. 21395, l. 1.

Dubnov, History, 276.

Confidential letter from Vilna governor-general to interior minister, 8 July 1882, LVIA, f. 378, ap. 219, b. 706, l. 7–8.

‘Sankt Peterburg, 2-go marta’ (St Petersburg, 2 March), Vilenskii vestnik, No. 45, 3 March 1881.

Vilenskii vestnik, No. 46, 4 March 1881.

J. D. Klier, ‘The Russian Press and the Anti-Jewish Pogroms of 1881’, Canadian–American Slavic Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Summer 1983), 199–221, at 203.

It is interesting that in 1882 the Vilenskii vestnik did not contain any items on Jewish fear of pogroms in the provinces, while in 1881 there were many such articles. Perhaps the editors themselves understood, or the authorities had given them to understand, that articles of this type might also encourage attacks on Jews.

Telegram from interior minister, 18 April 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, ll. 1–2, 3.

Command for troops of Vilna military district, 2 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 140.

Report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 5 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 16–17.

‘Pravitel’stvennyia soobshcheniia’ (Government Announcements), Vilenskii vestnik, No. 95, 8 May 1881; Yulii Gessen, Istoriia evreev v Rossii (History of the Jews in Russia) (St Petersburg, 1914), 330.

Copy of circular letter from Vilna governor-general to governors, 6 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, ap. 219, b. 702, l. 3–7.

Letter from Vilna governor-general to governors of Vitebsk, Mogilev, Minsk, Courland and Livonia, 6 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 9.

LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 8.

Circular letter from interior minister to governors, 23 May 1881, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 53.

‘Obrashchenie general-ad’iutanta grafa Totlebena k zhiteliam Severo-Zapadnogo kraia’ (Appeal by General-Adiutant of Count Totleben to Inhabitants of the North-Western Territory), Vilenskii vestnik, No. 102, 16 May 1881.

This information is contained in the file ‘Po telegramme Ministra Vnutrennikh Del o nabliudenii za Khristianskim i Evreiskim naseleniem s tsel’iu predupredit’ bezporiadki’ (Telegram from Interior Minister concerning Observation of the Christian and Jewish Populations in Order to Prevent Disturbances), LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52.

Report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 20 May 1882, LVIA, f. 378, BS, 1882, b. 77, l. 1–2.

Vilenskii vestnik, No. 123, 15 June 1881.

Secret report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 11 June 1882, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, ll. 165–67.

Report from Grodno governor to Vilna governor-general, 11 July 1882, LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1881, b. 52, l. 190–91.

For correspondence on this case, see ‘Po otzyvu Varshavskogo General-Gubernatora, otnositel’no komandirovaniia voisk v Suvalkskuiu guberniiu dlia preduprezhdeniia antievreiskikh bezporiadkov’ (The Warsaw Governor-General’s Opinion on Sending Troops to Suwałki Province in Order to Prevent Anti-Jewish Disturbances), LVIA, f. 378, PS, 1882, b. 124.

Secret report from Mogilev governor to interior minister, 5 May 1882, GARF, f. 102, 2 deloproizvodstvo, 1882, d. 513, ll. 44–46.

Lietuvos TSR istorija (The History of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic), Vol. 1: nuo seniausių laikų iki 1917 metų (From Ancient Times to 1917) (Vilnius: Mokslas, 1985), 287–90.

V. Merkis, Razvitie promyshlennosti i formirovanie proletariata Litvy v XIXg. (The Development of Industry and the Formation of the Proletariat of Lithuania in the Nineteenth Century) (Vilnius: Mintis, 1969), 425.

This circumstance, as well as less harsh Russian nationality policy, also led to the fact that the Lithuanian national movement transferred to Suvałki Province in the second half of the nineteenth century from Žemaitija (Kovno Province).

According to the Raseiniai District (Kovna Province) police chief’s secret communication, dated 4 October to Raseiniai District police officers, KAA, f. I-50, ap. 1, b. 21747, l. 38.

This term is borrowed from Ulrich Baumann, ‘The Development and Destruction of a Social Institution: How Jews, Catholics and Protestants Lived Together in Rural Baden, 1862–1940’, in Helmut Walser Smith (ed.), Protestants, Catholics and Jews in Germany, 1800–1914 (Oxford, New York, 2001), 298.