With clubs in their hands and full of hatred for the Jews, on an Easter day, gangs of people filled the streets, beat them, killed them, destroyed their houses. Anti-Semitism was in full swing. No, I’m not talking about the Germans, as you might have thought, but about Bessarabia during the times of the Russian Empire. The spring of 1903 brought the word “pogrom” into international use. It was the first massacre of Jews on ethnic grounds, which made the headlines in the world’s press, and it took place in Chisinau. But let’s see how we got here and what was the role of the Russian Empire in this situation.
In 1903, Bessarabia had been part of the Russian Empire for almost 100 years. Chisinau was mostly inhabited by Jews and Russians. It was part of the empire’s policy to allow Jews to live only in peripheral areas. Thus, half of the inhabitants of Chisinau were Jews. During the tsarist period, no emphasis was placed on educating the local population, that is, the Moldovans, or rather, the schools were only in Russian, most of them did not know the language and, therefore, did not have access to education. The Jews, on the other hand, had their own schools, and respectively a much better developed entrepreneurial spirit. Yes, at that time the Jews were the ones who owned banks, shops, stores, provided all kinds of repair services, such as shoe repair, owned factories, were lawyers, etc. The discrepancies between the opportunities that the local population had and the Jews fueled the dissatisfaction of the poorest and most illiterate strata. This was on the one hand. On the other hand, the general anti-Semitic spirit that had been created was tolerated and even tacitly supported in the Russian Empire, as well as by the Russian Orthodox Church. Anti-Semitism had penetrated all social strata, including the leadership of the Empire, headed by Emperor Nicholas II.
The general discontent was also amplified by what we would call today fake news. Back then, not the press, but rumors were the main source of information. And the world’s mouth falsely attributed all kinds of atrocities to the Jews. Some of these aberrations have survived to this day, for example, that the blood of Christian children was used for Jewish Passover cakes. I repeat – an aberration, but with a strong impact. It is no wonder that even today, propaganda regimes use such tricks, one of the most resounding examples being launched by the Russians, to justify the war against Ukraine. You know, the invented story about the crucifixion of a little boy? False, yes. Did it have a huge impact? Yes. But 120 years ago, for a population without access to education and school, to truthful information, rumors were the basic source of information. And then, in 1903, the body of a 14-year-old boy was found in a field in Dubăsari. The investigation determined that he had been killed by some family members. And the cause was simple – money, an inheritance that they were going to share. But the rumors surrounding this death did not stop, and a newspaper from Chișinău, on the brink of financial ruin, invented a whole horror story, published in numerous editions, which suggested that an alleged Jewish Passover ritual was at play. The newspaper’s motivation was, of course, money. However, we must note that the patron of the publication, a Moldovan named Păvălache Crușevan, was also a great Russian, that is, a fierce militant for the Russian Empire and the Russian world, where anti-Semitic sentiment was widespread. It was a basic value, as we would say now.
And so, precisely on Easter, on April 6, 1903, according to the old style according to the Julian calendar, the massacres began. Between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., the streets and squares of Chisinau were full of agitated people. Most of them gathered near the Ciuflea monastery. The police dispersed the crowd. But the protagonists of the disorders regrouped on the adjacent streets, forming small groups of 10-20 people led by informal leaders. Some of them were former or current military personnel, which led to a “methodical” organization of the pogrom. In the vanguard of the groups were children, followed by adults. The violence continued over the next two days, and the interventions of the police were ineffective. During the period of April 6-8, 51 people were killed and 456 – injured. A third of all existing houses in Chisinau were destroyed, damaged or set on fire.
The violence was stopped by the army. The crimes, however, were covered up. Neither arrests nor high-profile convictions followed. Accordingly, there was no collective assumption of guilt for these massacres on an ethnic basis, which clearly shows that there was no state policy regarding the protection of Jews or the fight against anti-Semitism in Russia at that time. So two years later the pogrom was repeated on a much larger scale.
The pogroms of 1905 spread throughout Bessarabia. 175 people were killed or injured. We know the spark that triggered the plague. Another rumor. During some political rallies, a little bell-ringer from the Cathedral bell tower began to shout that Jews were robbing shops, where firearms, among other things, were sold. He had no way of knowing the ethnicity of the robbers, nor of seeing very well from his position what was happening in those shops, which were located at a considerable distance. However, the agitated crowd triggered the pogrom, which spread to all the neighborhoods of the city. In October 1905, the pogromists were quickly suppressed by the army in Chisinau. However, the anti-Semitic spirit, which was not suppressed by the authorities of the Russian Empire in general during this entire time, generated new pogroms. Other regions of the Governorate began to boil over: North, South, Cetatea Albă, Izmail, Călărași. Anti-Semitism was widespread throughout the Russian Empire. So pogroms followed throughout the territory. More than 100 localities were flooded by this wave of hatred – Rostov-on-Don, Gomel, Minsk, Odessa, Simferopol. Thousands of people were killed. Even those crimes were not condemned and punished by the tsarist regime. I want to remember that this was less than 40 years before World War II. And the Russians were anti-Semites, even if today they set themselves up as the saviors of the Jews and attribute exclusively to themselves the fight against fascism and the end of the Holocaust.
In the history of Chisinau, the anti-Semitic pogroms remain the darkest page. It is important to talk about this, to know about it and never allow such atrocities to be repeated.
In general, the lack of respect for other cultures, ethnicities or religions is a problem. And it can only be overcome by recognizing the dark moments of the past. And societies that do not recognize historical mistakes are doomed to repeat them, surrounded by the ghosts of the victims of their ancestors. And if before we could find excuses for our ignorance in the lack of information, then today, if we fall into the propaganda nets, the fault is only ours. We will only be to blame if we do not inform ourselves when sources are so many and so easy to access.
Evolution of events:
April 6, 1903 – the outbreak of the pogrom in Chișinău
April 7, 1903 – replacement of the police with soldiers from the Chișinău garrison (without the right to open fire)
April 8, 1903 – the last actions of the pogromists in the suburbs of Chisinau
November 6, 1903 – beginning of the trial of the pogromists
December 7, 1903 – the first sentences were pronounced
October 17, 1905 – news arrives in Chisinau about the issuance by Nicholas II of the Proclamation on the improvement of state order. Political rally.
October 18, 1905 – rally of opponents of the October 17 assembly. The outbreak of the pogrom
October 20, 1905 – suppression of the pogrom in Chișinău, with the help of the army
October 22, 1905 – the outbreak of the pogrom in Straseni
October 22, 1905 – the outbreak of the pogrom at the White Fortress (Akkerman)
October 22, 1905 – the outbreak of the pogrom in Izmail
October 23, 1905 – the outbreak of the pogrom in Călărași
October 23-25, 1905 – a number of pogroms in the localities of northern Bessarabia
October 26, 1905 – suppression of pogromists in the suburbs of the White Fortress
