Year: 1992
Author: Edward H. Judge
Genre: Monograph
Publisher: New York University Press
ISBN: 978-0814741931
English language
Format: DjVu
Number of Pages: 180

In February 1903, in a city on the southwestern outskirts of the Russian Empire, the peasant stumbled upon the corpse of 14-year-old Mikhail Rybachenko. The murder immediately gave rise to groundless rumors that he was killed by local Jews who needed his Christian blood to prepare matzo. Panic rumors, based on sinister superstitions about Jewish witchcraft and ritual murders, quickly spread to nearby cities. By April they reached Chisinau, the growing capital of the province with a population of one hundred thousand. The result of the massacre was dozens of dead, and hundreds of wounded, maimed, orphaned or homeless. In his study, Edward Judge examines these anti-Jewish riots, describing in detail their background, causes and consequences. He traces the evolution of the riots, analyzing the influence of imperial policy, urbanization, nationalism, population growth and revolutionary activity on the position of Jews in Russia. Talking about the activities of anti-Semitic agitators and Chisinau officials, the author examines the spiral of violence, the inaction of the authorities in the course of the pogrom, a storm of indignation that followed the pogrom. In "Easter in Chisinau", the question of the responsibility of the government for launching the pogrom is also being considered.

Preface — ix
1. The Jewish Question in Russia — 1
2. Kishinev — 16
3. Agitation and Provocation — 30
4. Pogrom! — 49
5. Repercussions and Reverberations — 76
6. The Question of Guilt — 107
7. The Causes and Legacy of the Easter Riots — 134
Notes — 147
Bibliographical Note — 167
Bibliography — 173
Index — 181

Missing pages: 81, 90, 92, 96, 104, 115, 119-120, 133, 141, 144, 150, 153, 157.

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