Odessa pogroms

The city of Odessa, founded in the late 18th century, encouraged foreign immigration, especially for the purpose of promoting economic growth. For this reason, Jews were far more welcome in Odessa than in many other parts of the Pale of Settlement. But the Jews of Odessa were not viewed as equal to Gentile residents and suffered from anti-Semitism. A number of serious anti-Jewish pogroms occurred during the 19th century in Odessa, and rumors of a pogrom arose each year around Eastertime. Jewish and Russian youths also often got into violent fights with each other.[12]

The combination of economic downturn, Jewish backing of Japan in the war against Russia, Jewish support for the October Manifesto, and the June 1905 massacre, all contributed to great tension between Gentiles and the Jewish community in Odessa in 1905.

Anti-Semitism among Greeks:

Growing anti-Semitism as a result of the changing place of Jews in Odessa's economy created an environment conducive to a pogrom. When the Crimean War disrupted trade routes, many Greek commercial firms shifted their business out of Odessa due to bankruptcy or a willingness to seek more profitable trading locations. To fill the resulting vacuum in grain trade, Jewish merchants expanded business and began to acquire greater profits. Many factors contributed to the spread of anti-Semitism among Greeks in Odessa including: the success of many Jewish traders, their preferential hiring of Jewish workers, and rumors of hostile actions by Jews toward Greeks.[13]

Anti-Semitism among Russians:

Many Russians blamed the Jews for their troubles, such as limited employment opportunities and lower wages. They cited dramatic Jewish population growth in Odessa, from 14% (14,000 of 100,000) in 1858 to 35% (140,000 of 400,000) in 1897. These numbers contributed to suspicion that Jews possessed great wealth, power, and influence in Odessa. Although by the end of the 19th century, Jews held high positions in manufacturing, the majority of wealth in Odessa belonged to non-Jews. Jews certainly did not dominate the economy of Odessa, nor did they control Odessa politically.[14] Unlike other ethnic and religious groups, wealthy Jews could not transform wealth into political power. Out of the 3449 total staff of the imperial government, only 71 were Jews. After an 1892 civic reform, Jews could no longer elect representatives to city councils; instead, a special office for municipal affairs appointed six Jews to the sixty-person Odessa city council.[15] Given that 35% of Odessa's population in 1897 were Jewish, restricting representation on the city council to 10% of the positions was discriminatory.

A significant economic downturn in Odessa at the turn of the 20th century played a major part in the October Pogrom of 1905. Restricted trading, reduced industrial production, and the Russo-Japanese War resulted in high unemployment in Odessa. Many workers despised Jews for lay-offs during the economic recession. Hatred for Jews heightened when a number of Jews did not support the war with Japan. Patriotic Russians called Jews unpatriotic and disloyal.[16]

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. Non-Jews were threatened with armed retaliation if a pogrom occurred. 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 Odesans 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, in order to prevent further unrest, the military blocked off the harbor and fired into the crowd. Strikes, disorder, and the arrival of Potemkin resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people at the Port of Odessa. A few days after the atrocious incident at the harbor, an anti-Semitic pamphlet called Odesskie dni ("Odesan Days") appeared, blaming the Jews for the tragedy. Odesskie dni demanded compensation by Jews to the non-Jews, disarmament of Jews in Odessa, and a search of all Jewish apartments in the city.[17] Although the events of June did not immediately cause a pogrom, an anti-Semitic environment had been formed, sufficient for the October Pogrom.

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 anti-Semitism in the Russian Empire.[18] 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.

On 14 October, a number of high school students skipped classes and attempted, but failed due to police intervention, to join rallies taking place at the university. In the process of intercepting them, armed policeman injured several youths.[19] The next day, radical students and revolutionaries armed themselves and encouraged other workers to lend them support.[20] On 16 October, students and workers took to the streets and erected barricades. To try to preserve order, the police fought them, killing several students. Although a public funeral had been planned for the students, the Odessa city governor, D. M. Neidhart, had the bodies buried secretly to limit rallying around the deaths.[21] On 17 October, the police and military continued to monitor the streets, though no major confrontations occurred. About 4000 workers, including many Jews, went on strike.[22]

On 18 October, Jews and liberals cheered at the news of the October Manifesto. Although demonstrations began peacefully, they quickly turned violent. Those chanting anti-regime propaganda caused trouble when they took out red flags and anti-imperial propaganda. As violence increased between supporters and opponents of the October Manifesto, members of the latter group began to take out their anger on Odessa's Jews, identifying them as the root of Russia's troubles. When a group of Jews asked a few Russian workers to show respect to a red flag, a fight broke out on the streets and soon turned into an anti-Jewish riot.[23]

The bulk of the October Pogrom took place on p 19-21 October and was worst on 20 October. Violence spread all over Odessa, from the city center, to the suburbs, and to nearby villages. The rioters demonstrated excellent organization throughout sections of Odessa, coordinating their numbers based on the size of the neighborhood under attack. Rather than working to protect Jews and end the pogrom, many policemen and soldiers wearing civilian clothes watched or participated in the massacre. Though they suffered many casualties and were eventually vanquished, Jewish self-defense forces successfully defended some houses as well as streets and even neighborhoods.[24]

On 21 October, after much of the pogrom was over, the city governor Neidhart, and the commander of the Odessa military garrison, A. V. Kaul'bars, appeared in the streets. They told the rioters to get off the streets and go home. Neidhart and Kaul'bars' inaction up to this point became the subject of debate and led to Neidhart's subsequent resignation from office.[25]

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.’[26]

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.[27]

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.' [28]

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.