Pogrom

February 1, 2018
A re-examination of one of the most lavishly remembered events of Russian Jewish history that is also the most edited and misunderstood.As Zipperstein (Jewish Culture and History/Stanford Univ.; Imagining Russian Jewry, 2015, etc.) shows, the April 1903 pogrom at Kishinev was neither the first nor the last atrocity against the Jews, but it stands out for a number of reasons. Due to the explosion of worldwide communications and Kishinev's proximity to Europe, the news spread quickly. It was only 100 miles west of the notoriously porous Romanian border, favorable to unchecked smuggling and the dissemination of Czarist suppressed news. After the tragedy, there was a singular coherence of all Jewish political movements to condemn and provide relief. Michael Davitt and Hayyim Nahman Bialik, two writers, ensured that the news of Kishinev dominated the press. Both writers condemned Jewish male cowardice, but neither mentioned the 250 men who gathered to fight back, perhaps because it was ineffective. Throughout the decades since, debate has been robust, particularly regarding Bialik's pogrom poem, "In the City of Killing," which was intended as commemoration rather than history but was included in many courses of Jewish study. Like many politicized lessons, this ended up a product of half-truths, mythologies, and forgeries, even a century later. Looking for a cause of the massacre, the author points to Pavel Krushevan, an anti-Semitic local publisher whose publications were rife with blood libel. Zipperstein shows with little doubt Krushevan's hand in fomenting the riot and his role as principal "author" of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a ridiculous, fabricated text that nonetheless became the most influential anti-Semitic text ever produced. The author ably illustrates the wide influence of this pogrom, with comparisons to American violence against Southern blacks, the formation of the NAACP, and, especially, Hitler's reliance on the Protocols.A thorough and fair examination of an event whose mystery seems so misplaced.

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March 1, 2018

The 1903 Kishinev pogrom was a flashpoint for rhetoric and action around the treatment of Jews in Russia. It brought the idea of a pogrom into public consciousness, making the term shorthand for the terrorization of Jews. Unsurprisingly, the history around such an event, as well-documented as it was, has become muddled, as Zipperstein (Stanford Univ.; Rosenfeld's Lives) demonstrates in this fascinating cultural history. Interconnected essays touch on the region of Bessarabia, the events of the pogrom and how they were reported, and the impact on U.S. culture (the NAACP was formed in response). A centerpiece is that Zipperstein found a trove of documents by Pavel Krushevan (thought to be the author of Protocols of the Elders of Zion) on an apartment shelf that gives previously unknown insight into his anti-Semitism and the relationship between the Protocols and the Kishniev pogrom. VERDICT Thorough and accessible, this book is recommended for anyone with an interest in Jewish history. It will also be useful for readers who wish to learn more about the cultural impact of political events.--Margaret Heller, Loyola Univ. Chicago Libs.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2018
The most notorious of the pogroms, mob attacks against Jewish communities in the turn-of-the-twentieth-century Russian Empire, occurred over a two-day period in April 1903, in the town of Kishinev, now in the Republic of Moldova. Mobs bearing clubs, knives, and hatchets killed 49 Jews, raped many Jewish women, and destroyed or damaged more than a thousand Jewish homes. Zipperstein, a professor of Jewish history at Stanford, doesn't downplay the viciousness or horror of the attack; he also clearly indicates the prevalence of anti-Semitism in imperial Russia. But Zipperstein convincingly asserts that the event was exploited and mythologized, becoming a legendary and often-distorted symbol of Russian autocracy. Russian officials, including Czar Nicholas, disliked Jews but disliked mob violence and popular action even more. Zipperstein fully rejects the charge of government promotion of the attack. He also indicates how embellished reports were used to both stir up further resentments against Jews and to spur Jews to emigrate. This is a superb account of both a terrible mass attack and the effects it had upon the broader Jewish population.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)