Pogroms: A Documentary History

Product Description
From the 1880s to the 1940s, an upsurge of explosive pogroms caused much pain and suffering across the eastern borderlands of Europe. Rioters attacked Jewish property and caused physical harm to women and children. During World War I and the Russian Civil War, pogrom violence turned into
full-blown military actions. In some cases, pogroms wiped out of existence entire Jewish communities. More generally, they were part of a larger story of destruction, ethnic purification, and coexistence that played out in the region over a span of some six decades.
Pogroms: A Documentary History surveys the complex history of anti-Jewish violence by bringing together archival and published sources--many appearing for the first time in English translation. The documents assembled here include eyewitness testimony, oral histories, diary excerpts, literary works,
trial records, and press coverage. They also include memos and field reports authored by army officials, investigative commissions, humanitarian organizations, and government officials. This landmark volume and its distinguished roster of scholars provides an unprecedented view of the history of
pogroms.
Review
"A terrifying but necessary account of the innumerable instances of violence against Jews in eastern Europe. Carefully selected by leading experts, a multitude of voices speaks to us: voices of victims who often suffered unspeakable horrors; hateful voices of those who incited the violence; sympathetic and often helpless voices of journalists, writers, physicians, officials trying to find words encompassing the suffering." ―Francois Guesnet, Professor of Modern Jewish History, University College London
"Eugene Avrutin and Elissa Bemporad have done an enormous service by making this varied set of sources on pogroms available to an English-speaking audience. The selection of documents and arrangements of topics opens new vistas on this horrifying issue. The book guides the reader through thorny problems of definition and explanation in clear, interesting, and non-polemical ways, making it a perfect introduction and teaching resource." ―Valerie Kivelson, Thomas N. Tentler Collegiate Professor and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History, University of Michigan
About the Author
Eugene M. Avrutin is the Tobor Family Endowed Professor of Modern European Jewish History at the University of Illinois. He is the author and coeditor of seven books, including
The Velizh Affair: Blood Libel in a Russian Town.
Elissa Bemporad is the Jerry and William Ungar Professor of History at Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. She is the author of
Becoming Soviet Jews: The Bolshevik Experiment in Minsk, and most recently of
Legacy of Blood: Jews, Pogroms, and Ritual Murder in the Lands of the Soviets.