Pogroms and the Holocaust

A pogrom is a Russian word that is defined as “to wreak havoc, to demolish violently,”but through the actions of the Russians in the 1800's it became a term to describe the eradication of Jewish populations. The first pogrom is believed to have occurred in Odessa in 1821 during anti-Jewish riots, but these events did not become common until the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. In the years 1881-1884 Jews were scapegoated as the Tsar's killer's and thousands of Jews were killed as a result. However, these events did not stop with the fall of the tsarist regime. In the years 1918-1920, immediately after the Bolshevik revolution, Ukrainian nationalists, Polish officials, and Red army soldiers waged a pogrom in western Belorussia and Poland's Galicia province, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Jews.The Soviet Union did engage in behavior similar to the Nazis during the Holocaust, but this would not be the end of pogroms.

Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass)

In 1938 the Nazis infamously engaged in what can be considered their first "pogrom"" on November 9-10 in Berlin, during what is now known as Kristallnacht. During these two days Hitler encouraged the population to take up violent actions against Jews leaving through such actions as destroying their homes and businesses and also physical assault against individuals. Following these events and after the invasion of the Soviet Union the Nazis created mobile killing units to carry out the Holocaust. However, these groups did not work alone. In many instances the Nazis were ordered to encourage the people in the areas they had taken from the Soviets to launch pogroms in "towns such as Bialystok, Kovno, Lvov, and Riga." It may never be known how many times this occurred after the Nazi invasion, but through these actions the Nazis would achieve success in their goal to eliminate the Jewish population of the Soviet union.

So, what is the difference between the Soviets and Nazis in regards to their treatment of the Jewish population? They both used them as a scapegoat for problems their countries were facing and destroyed them to appease their people. The soviet union had engaged in pogroms after its founding and before being occupied by Germany, so it is obvious that this mentality was never truly absent from the early Soviet Union. There is no difference between the Nazis and Soviets in this regard, both the Holocaust and pogroms were cold blooded murder for no other reason than placing a face on the problems their countries faced. 

Pogroms of WWII

Bibliography

"Pogroms." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . January 6, 2011. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005183 (accessed April 22, 2012).