Jewish pogroms of the Armed forces of the South of Russia

The pogroms of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia became one of the most shameful pages in the history of the White movement . With respect to the total number of pogroms in Ukraine in those years, the SSJR pogroms (which are often identified with the Volunteer Army) make up only about 1/5, but the researcher I. B. Shekhtman drew attention to the fact that “... the total number was calculated for all years 1918-1921, and the pogroms of the Volunteer Army lasted only a few months. During these months, volunteers broke all records. "Their pogroms were more intense than others, the blow was sharper, and the number of pogroms was greater." The total number of deaths at the hands of volunteers Shekhtman determined at 5325 people ^[1] .

It should be borne in mind that in the territories nominally controlled by the All-Union Socialist League, there were various guerrilla "chieftains" who also carried out pogroms, sometimes under the guise of whites, and who, either due to a bona fide mistake of the researchers, or because of a deliberate one, could be also credited to the VSYUR account. Researcher on this topic A. A. Nemirovsky determined the number of victims of pogroms at the hands of the armed forces of the All-Union Federal Socialist Republic of Ukraine as "... about 1600 - 1800 people. Counting with those killed on the roads, it is clearly illegal in counterintelligence, etc. and rounding - 2000 killed - a reasonable maximum; 2,500 dead are an overstated estimate. ” At the same time, the researcher specified that since a maximum of 20-30 thousand military personnel served in the Allied forces in the territories where the pogroms took place, the ratio of the number of military personnel and the number of victims of the pogroms indicates an extremely high crime rate among the military personnel of the All-Union Military Police Union ^[2] .

At the same time, it should be noted that the pogroms of volunteers merely continued the pogrom wave started by Petlyura , Grigoryev and others, and rolling around Ukraine for the past two years. Moreover, the pogrom sentiments of the local population were often much stronger than the army and army authorities had to protect the Army from the influence of such sentiments ^[1] .

Despite the fact that after the October Revolution of 1917 in the ranks of the Volunteer Army , which fought against the Bolsheviks , there were a sufficient number of Jews both among the officers and among the rank and file, from the end of 1918, among the people in the south of Russia, as well as among the troops, anti-Semitic sentiments are openly manifested, associated with a significant proportion of Jews among the Bolsheviks . The unification of “anti-Bolshevism” and “anti-Semitism” in the minds of volunteers arose almost immediately. In conditions of a weak supply system for the Army, its “self-sufficiency” and a catastrophic decline in discipline, Jews and their property were considered by many as “legitimate military booty” . Pogrom agitation was carried out everywhere, whether the leadership of the Volunteer Army wanted it or not. Osvag's reports noted cases of anti-Jewish agitation, which were conducted among the population "by various suspicious, often dressed as officers, persons calling on the Russian population to smash the Jews" ^[1] .

General Denikin later recalled in his memoirs:

A wave of anti-Semitic sentiment swept the South long before the [White] armies entered the “ Pale of Settlement ”. It manifested itself vividly, passionately, with conviction - in the upper and lower classes, in the intelligentsia , in the people and in the army; among Petliurites, rebels, Makhnovists, Red Army soldiers, greens and whites ... The troops of the Armed Forces of the South did not escape a common malady and stained themselves with Jewish pogroms on their routes from Kharkov and Yekaterinoslav to Kiev and Kamenetz-Podolsk . ^[3]

- Denikin A. I. Essays on Russian Troubles

He testified to the sharply hostile attitude towards the White Jewish troops throughout the territory controlled by the All-Union Socialist League, but he believed that "to what extent this attitude was created a priori and to what extent it became a consequence of violence perpetrated against Jews by the troops, this is an intractable question" ^{[4 ]} :

There were constant complaints from the army about the hostility of the Jewish population to it; the fact that in cases of forced withdrawal of our troops from settlements, the appearance of Jewish youth is constantly observed, attacks on individual ranks and convoys; that often detachments consisting entirely of Jews act against us ... ^[4]

Nevertheless, in the first period of the Volunteer Army's existence (1918 - early 1919), pogroms were avoided. Relations between the Army and Jewry were wary, but not beyond tolerance. This situation was also influenced by the fact that during this period the Army did not enter the territory of the former Pale of Settlement ( Odessa was an exception in the winter of 1918-19, but in it, through the efforts of the French command and Odessa dictator Grishin-Almazov , the pogroms were stopped in beginning) ^[1] .

The pogroms began with the entry of volunteers into the former Pale of Settlement as a result of the onset of summer - autumn 1919. When studying the pogroms produced by the Volunteer Army, historian A. S. Puchenkov pointed out the need to take into account that the Volunteer Army of that period was already radically different from the Army born in the winter of 1917 —1918, - from “white” it turned into “gray” and “dirty”. Volunteers who came to it in the first period of existence according to ideological convictions were already knocked out. Those called into it by mobilization were distinguished by low moral qualities. The army units that entered the Right-Bank Ukraine were extremely small, torn away from the supply bases and high command (the first stipulated the need to engage in "self-supply", the second - the difficulty of maintaining solid discipline in the troops and, as a result, its downfall) and very little resembled a regular army . In the pogroms, the Cossack (for example, 1st Terek Division of Lieutenant General A. G. Shkuro ) and the "native" (from the mountain peoples of the Caucasus - for example, the 3rd Chechen Cavalry Division) were especially "distinguished", which, strictly speaking, were not moved anti-Semitic, and looting aspirations. The same opinion was shared by researcher N.I. Shtif . The decomposition of the Army can be evidenced by the fact that often the State Guard , sent to pacify the pogroms, had to engage in skirmishes with military units engaged in pogroms ^[1] .

Not only Cossacks and “natives” were engaged in pogroms, but also elite “colored” units of the Volunteer Army. Thus, P. P. Kuksin, an officer of the 2nd cavalry officer Drozdov’s regiment , recalled: “In general, robbing a Jew was then considered the most normal occurrence in the 2nd cavalry officer Drozdov’s regiment. Everyone was so used to it that no one was completely surprised to hear the cries of the unfortunate victims. ” Another Drozdovets G. D. Venus recalled how two squadrons of the regiment entered into a skirmish among themselves for the right to rob a wealthy Jewish watchmaker: “... the first squadron hits the second. Everyone, damn it, wants a watch! ” ^[1] . There are many testimonies of robberies and pogroms in memoirs and diaries of the Civil War written in exile by participants of the White movement and simply eyewitnesses of the events. Anti-Semitism is often present as a matter of course behavior and train of thought, as conspiracy theology, as a motive for violence, as an excuse for crimes. At the same time, there are a lot of personal documents talking about the shamefulness of this phenomenon, about the inhumanization of people in the Civil War in Russia (see, for example, “The Archive of the Russian Revolution” by I. V. Hessen in 22 volumes). All these events were undoubtedly known in Europe, for example. in Weimar Germany and seriously affected, including the political practice of German Nazism.

At the same time, a number of researchers (for example, S.P. Melgunov , R. B. Gul ) pointed out that the entire local population suffered from looting of volunteer units, regardless of nationality and religion, that "the pogroms were phenomena of an exclusively elemental nature ”And denied the presence of any special pogrom tactics among the command of the Volunteer Army; that when the army authorities issued orders protecting Jews from pogroms in the army and the local Christian population, a murmur began, that the authorities supposedly “sold out to the Jews,” and the Chiefs of the Kiev and Kharkov Regions called A. M. Dragomirov and V. Z. May-Mayevsky “ Jew Old Man "and" Jew Protector ". Discussing the deed of A. M. Dragomirov, who donated 1.5 million rubles for the needs of the committee helping the victims of the Jewish pogroms, the public asked: “Who helps Russian orphans and widows?” ^[1]

However, be that as it may, but the mockery of the Jews, the robbery of their property, reckless reprisals became phenomena of the usual order.

Features of pogroms carried out by volunteers

According to researchers N. I. Shtif and I. B. Shekhtman, pogroms organized by volunteers differed from previous pogroms of the Jewish population as follows ^[1] :

• more organized character - whole military units, led by officers, were engaged in pogroms;
• rape was widespread;
• pogroms were accompanied by special cruelty and torture;
• extreme destructiveness, often whole Jewish communities were uprooted.

Explanations of the causes of the white pogroms

The very command of the All-Union Socialist League, in search of the causes of the pogroms by the troops, called two circumstances ^[1] :

1. anti-Jewish sentiments of the local peasant population, which were inevitably transferred to the army that entered these areas;
   
2. anti-Jewish sentiments of the troops themselves, who considered Bolshevism and Jewry to be equivalent concepts.

Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the All-Union Socialist Liberation Union, General A. S. Lukomsky , in a letter to the Russian ambassador to France V. A. Maklakov, as a reason for the pogrom mood of the army, he pointed out the work of the extraordinary men who “ carried out the most incredible atrocities against officers, soldiers and the intelligentsia of cities and villages”, in which served a large number of Jews ^[1] .

The largest pogrom organized by the Volunteer Army. The "quiet" pogrom (the looting of Jewish property with a few cases of physical violence) began on August 24 ( September 6 ), 1919 and continued until the beginning of September, despite the fact that the Jewish population enthusiastically welcomed volunteers. As a result of the Red Army sally, Fastov again came under its control for one day. On September 9 (22), 1919 , after the return of the Volunteer Army forces, represented by Terek Cossack units (2nd Plastun brigade under the command of the General Staff of Colonel V.F. Belgorodtsev ^[5] ), the Jews were accused of aiding the Bolsheviks and the pogrom began who assumed an unusually cruel character. The massacre of the Jewish population continued until September 15 (28) . Information about the dead varied among different researchers: from 500 people to 2,000 people were killed (while taking into account the fact of a three-day battle between the red and white troops in the city, the victims of which were also automatically added to the victims of the pogromists) ^[6] ; about 2000 wounded and crippled; hundreds of Jewish teenage girls, women and old women were raped. All the buildings of the city belonging to the Jews were almost completely destroyed by fire. The religious feelings of the Jews were offended. The local peasant population took an active part in the pogrom; for the export of looted property, hundreds of carts poured into the surrounding villages from Fastov. The theme of the fast pogrom was actively used as a means of agitation in both the Soviet and Petliur press ^[1] .

The troops of the Volunteer Army entered Kiev on August 18 (31), 1919 , having met the enthusiastic reception of a significant part of the local population, which was all riddled with anti-Semitic sentiments. Through the efforts of the army authorities and public figures, pogroms were avoided during this period, the population was convinced that "the trial of the villains should be severe and will be such, but lynching is unacceptable." Between August and September, the authorities managed to maintain a minimum order in the city, but even during this period about a hundred Jews died.

The situation changed radically after as a result of the impudent raid of the Red Army they managed to briefly drive the whites out of Kiev on October 1 (14), 1919 . Together with volunteers, fleeing the Bolsheviks, about 60 thousand local residents left the city, but there were practically no Jews among them, which was immediately paid general attention. It was concluded that the arrival of the Bolsheviks in the city did not threaten the Jews. In addition, as it constantly happened during the Civil War, rumors began to spread that Jews shot at the retreating volunteers, poured boiling water and acid from the windows through the city, and the like (which later, of course, as a result of the investigations turned out to be fiction) . By October 3 (16), 1919, the Bolsheviks were driven out of the city and volunteer units and refugees returned to Kiev. The pogrom began, which it was possible to establish only by October 6 (19), 1919 , when the army command headed by A. M. Dragomirov returned to Kiev. In the early days, or rather nights, since ordinary volunteers who went out of control of their officers were mainly engaged in the pogrom only at night, the opposition of the authorities and command was insufficient. .

It is noteworthy that in the days of this pogrom, the Jewish population managed to develop tactics of protection against pogroms. Since it was obvious that the pogrom was contrary to the will of the authorities and the command, the residents of entire houses and neighborhoods who thought they were going to “smash” started standing at the open windows of the house, shouting everything together, beating into metal dishes and making other loud sounds to attract attention. The rioters, fearing that state guard would arrive at the cries of the victims, or officer patrols specially created by the army command to patrol the city, usually retreated. It was about this phenomenon that the Kiev publicist and public figure V.V. Shulgin wrote his notorious article “Torture by Fear” ^[1] .

Historians estimate the number of victims of the pogrom in different ways: according to their data, 300 to 600 Jews were killed all the time (taking into account the fact of fighting between the red and white troops in the city, the victims of which were also automatically added to the victims of the pogroms) and crippled, several hundred women were raped. The economic mechanism of the city was almost completely destroyed, since all shops and other commercial institutions were closed. However, informed eyewitnesses of the events VV Shulgin and A. A. Goldenweiser reported "dozens of those killed." Shulgin resolutely refuted the estimates of those killed by the rioters as “hundreds”. In his opinion, such estimates were "not just exaggerated ... but telescopically exaggerated" ^{[1] [6]} .

As a result of the authorities ’active actions, the pogrom was stopped. The courts began to impose death sentences on the captured rioters, which were all carried out. Numerous attempts have been made to ideologically weaken the wave of anti-Semitism. Newspapers appealed to the state feeling of citizens, indicating that pogroms played into the hands of the Bolsheviks and made an adverse impression on the allies. Prominent representatives of the Kiev Jewish community created the "Jewish Committee for the Promotion of the Revival of Russia" - an organization emphasized loyal to the Volunteer Army ^[1] .

Ukrainian historians O. V. Coserod and S. Ya. Briman identified three types of reasons that pushed volunteers to commit pogroms (location by importance) ^[1] :

1. Desire for profit ;
2. Anti-Semitism per se;
3. The desire to avenge the participation of Jews in Bolshevism (personal motives).

According to researcher A. A. Nemirovsky, participation or non-participation in the pogroms primarily depended on the moral character and level of discipline in specific parts (which was different in different parts) of the All-Union Socialist Liberal Union, and not on the program, ideology (which were the same for all parts) or political anti-Semitism of the white command ^[2] .

Researcher A. A. Nemirovsky drew attention to the need to identify as part of the units of the FJUR that fought in the "Pale of Settlement" those units who were actually engaged in pogroms, but did not indiscriminately blame the pogroms of all military personnel of the FJUR. Pogroms were very rarely carried out by non-Cossack officers; rarely - non-Cossack soldiers; more often - Cossacks; in large numbers - Cossack mountaineers, national units from Chechens and Ingushs “distinguished themselves” especially (least of all incited to pogrom actions by the presence of some kind of ideological or nationalist program). Of all the units of the All-Ukrainian Union of Liberal Democratic Forces, two account for up to 50% of all victims of pogroms — the 2nd Terek Plastun Brigade and the Volchansk partisan detachment ^[2] .

According to historian A. S. Puchenkov, Jewish pogroms turned out to be one of the factors that destroyed the White Cause. They harmed the popularity of whites in the eyes of Western allies, became the trump card of red propaganda; were a factor in deepening the decomposition of the Army; finally, these inhuman acts showed the whole world the failure of whites as a state power ^[1] .

• Budnitsky O. V. Russian Jews between the Reds and the Whites (1917-1920). - M .: Russian Political Encyclopedia, 2005. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-8243-0666-4 .
• Shekhtman I. B. History of pogrom movement in Ukraine. Volume 2. Pogroms of the Volunteer Army in Ukraine . - 1932. - 394 p. Archived January 6, 2009. Archived January 6, 2009 on Wayback Machine

• Civil war and Jews: the attitude of belligerents towards Jews, the participation of Jews in the civil war and in political life - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
• Jewish pogroms during the civil war
• Jews and the Russian Revolution: Was there a choice?

Archived documents

• Book of pogroms (fragments) - selected documentation.
• The verbatim record of the meeting of the Jewish delegation with General Denikin (published in April (No. 17) - May (No. 18) 1923 by the Berlin magazine Dawn) (Russian) // Lechaim: Journal. - 2005. - T. 164 , No. 12 .

Other language sections

• Pogroms in Ukraine (Wikipedia article)