The Kishinev Pogrom of 1903
Map of Where Pogroms Occurred
Kishinev is the governmental seat of Moldova, which was formerly part of the Soviet Union. In the 18th century, Kishinev was the capital of Bessarabia. Under Russian rule, it became a commercial and industrial center with many Jews moving there from other parts of Russia. By 1903, about 60,000 Jews lived in Kishinev.
An event occurred at Easter, 1903, that changed all this. Agents of the Ministry of the Interior and high Russian officials were involved in preparation for a pogrom. An anti-Jewish campaign, led by the director of the newspaper Bessarabets, incited the population with continuous malicious articles. The local police chief authored one of the most vicious stories. When the body of a Christian child was discovered and a young Christian woman patient at the Jewish Hospital committed suicide, the newspaper spread a blood libel, blaming the Jews for the deaths.
Later, it was proven that the child was murdered by relatives and that the woman’s death was in no way connected with the Jews. But this was after the rioting had already begun.
As a result of the violence, 49 Jews died and more than 500 were injured. Seven hundred homes were looted and destroyed, 600 businesses and shops were looted, and 2,000 families were left homeless. Five thousand soldiers were stationed in the town, but the Army did nothing.
Between 1902 and 1905, the Jewish population of Kishinev shrank to 53,243. Many of those who left emigrated to the United States. Our great-grandmother Frieda Auerbach, grandfather Isadore Friedman, his younger brother Barney, their older sister Ethel, and her husband Henry Krakow, however, left Kishinev in 1900, before the 1903 pogrom. Frieda died in Montreal.
For more information about Kishinev:
The Jewish Community of Kishinev
