The Proskurov pogrom took place on 15 February 1919 in the town of

Proskurov Khmelnytskyi ( uk, Хмельни́цький, Khmelnytskyi, ), until 1954 Proskuriv ( uk, Проску́рів, links=no ), is a city in western Ukraine, the administrative center for Khmelnytskyi Oblast (region) and Khmelnytskyi Raion (dist ...

(now Khmelnytskyi) during the

Ukrainian War of Independence The Ukrainian War of Independence was a series of conflicts involving many adversaries that lasted from 1917 to 1921 and resulted in the establishment and development of a Ukrainian republic, most of which was later absorbed into the Soviet U ...

, which was taken over from under the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

control by militants who claimed themselves to be

Haidamacks The haidamakas, also haidamaky or haidamaks (singular ''haidamaka'', ua, Гайдамаки, ''Haidamaky'') were Ukrainian paramilitary outfits composed of commoners (peasants, craftsmen), and impoverished noblemen in the eastern part of the ...

. In mere three and a half hours at least 1,500 Jews were murdered, up to 1,700 by other estimates, and more than 1,000 wounded including women, children and the old. The massacre was carried out by

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...

soldiers of Ivan Samosenko. They were ordered to save the ammunition in the process and use only lances and bayonets. One witness writing of the violence said "It is impossible to image what happened here on Saturday, February 15, 1919. This was not a pogrom. It was like the Armenian slaughter."

History

According to historians Yonah Alexander and Kenneth Myers the soldiers marched into the centre of town accompanied by a military band and engaged in atrocities under the slogan: "Kill the Jews, and save the Ukraine." The pogrom was initiated by Ivan Samosenko following a failed

uprising against the Ukrainian People's Republic in the city. The mention of pogrom was brought up during the

Schwartzbard's trial The Schwartzbard trial was a sensational 1927 French murder trial in which Sholom Schwartzbard was accused of murdering the Ukrainian immigrant and head of the Ukrainian government-in-exile Symon Petliura. While the defendant fully admitted to ki ...

in Paris, France. Reportedly, the evidential proof of an order by

head

Symon Petliura Symon Vasylyovych Petliura ( uk, Си́мон Васи́льович Петлю́ра; – May 25, 1926) was a Ukrainian politician and journalist. He became the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Army and the President of the Ukrainian Peop ...

himself was discussed during the proceedings. The actual cable was burned by a Jew fearing death. According to Canadian historian

Henry Abramson Henry Abramson (born 1963) is the dean of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences in Flatbush, New York. Before that, he served as the Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Services at Touro College's Miami branch (Touro College South). He is no ...

the cable is probably a forgery "Given the repeated publications condemned by Petliura of pogroms".Proskurivsky pogrom. Petliura's fault?
by

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...

(25 February 2019) 1 A few days later, the Red Cross representative in Proskurow witnessed Semosenko's verbal report to Petliura, admitting to killing 4,000 Jews, which nevertheless remained unconfirmed. The town of Proskurov was renamed Khmelnytskyi in 1954 during the

Stalinist era Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

, in spite of the fact that Bohdan Khmelnytsky himself committed a terrible

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...

there against the Jews already in the 17th century.

Notes

Sources

* {{Massacres of Jews 1919 in Ukraine Antisemitism in Ukraine Anti-Jewish pogroms of the Russian Civil War February 1919 events Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine Mass murder in 1919