defeats and the farther Petlura's army was compelled to retreat, the more
cruel was their vengeance upon the innocent Jewish population whom they
identified with Communists. The slogan: "down with Jews and Communists,"
or "all Jews are Communists" were raised throughout the Ukraine and
provoked pogroms everywhere.
This explanation of the origin of pogroms is quite identical with the
statement made in Temnytsky's and Vasylko's telegram of August 1, 1919.
In the course of centuries the entire population of Russia had been
listening to accusations by the government of Jews being responsible for
all the evils in the world. The ignorant masses believed even the
legends about the ritual murder of Christian children by Jews, while even
the "specialists" in this subject were declaring that Jews kill only
boys. Karab-Tchevsky tells us in the first part of his memoirs ("What My
Eyes Saw") that his mother had already in his childhood read to him the
New Testament, and when it came to the torturing of Jesus Christ, his
nurse or housemaid would exclaim: "the hideous Jews, they surely killed
Christ by torture!" (p. 23).
The pogroms of the years 1880 in Kishinev and Homel, came as the result
of false rumors and of promises of exemption from punishment for
plundering during three days. This time, however, the participation of
Jews in the Bolshevist movement was no more a rumor, but a fact which it
was very easy to exaggerate. On the other side, the impunity for
plundering lasted this time not only three days, but indefinitely on
account of the absence of any authority that could stop the plundering.
For, what authority could exist during the panic of retreat before
Trotsky's army? ... Under such conditions a favorable atmosphere was
created for the rapacious instincts of the demoralized segments of the
army, as well as for the development of the ideological barbarity of
Semesenko and for the provocateurs from the Russian Black-Hundred camp,
who were pogrommongers by conviction and wished at the same time to
discredit the Ukrainian movement by branding it as being guilty of
pogroms.
All this, of course, is not justification, but only one of many
explanations of the origin of pogroms during the period of the
Directorate.
Quite a different picture is displayed by the comparison of this period
of pogroms with the pogroms by Denikin's army. Here is no question of
retreat and of chaos that is connected with retreat. On the contrary,
the more successful the advance, the more organized and stronger is the
propaganda from above and the more according to plan the pogroms are
developed. If the beginning of the demoralization of the Ukrainian army
was at its tail, by Denikin's army the poison of demoralization came from
the head. As we have seen already, the Denikin officers openly declared
that they were fighting not against the Bolsheviks, but against the Jews.
To be sure, there were also in Denikin's army many persons of a purely
rapacious type. But the most horrible thing was the deeply rooted
anti-Semitism of the chiefs that surrounded Denikin, and their sadistic
hate of Jews. I, personally, am not inclined to assume that Denikin
himself wanted pogroms. Even to Denikin, in spite of his anti-Semitism,
it was impossible not to see the fatal results of pogroms for his army.
But he, too, was powerless on the question of pogroms, nor had he any
inclination to come forward in defense of the Jews.
The second characteristic feature which distinguishes the very course of
the pogroms in one area from the other consists in the fact that in
Petlura's army, we surely find cases when some individual persons or
groups succeeded in preventing or stopping pogroms. Two such cases are
cited by Temkin in his report, the other two cases are given in the
report of the Relief Committee for the Victims of Pogroms. Red Army
soldiers arranged an anti-Jewish pogrom in the city of Korosten in March
13, 1919. When the soldiers of Petlura's army which was at that time
advancing, reached the city, they stopped the pogroms. In Bila Tserkva
the Ukrainian army - having expelled in August the Denikin troops of Gen.
Shkuro and then the Red troops, who one after another plundered and
massacred the population - behaved in full dignity until in turn they
were substituted by Zeleny's bands that immediately arranged a pogrom.
Later the unfortunate town was attacked by Sokolov's bands, after which
the Ukrainian troops again succeeded in restoring order for a short time.
Lubny escaped a pogrom thanks to the fact that a hundred men were found
in the Ukrainian ranks, who with their arms stood in the way of the
pogrommakers. Fourteen of the defenders fell in the fight but the town
was saved. While reading the story about Lubny in this part of the
report, I recalled the year 1905 when a City Committee of Defense was
organized in Lubny, which also saved the city from a pogrom.
Such facts were unknown in Denikin's army. Here the "guilty" of such
patronage and defense of Jews were punished with dismissal from their
posts.
