April 26, 1881
The wave of Russian pogroms against Jews after the assassination of Czar Alexander II sweeps into the city of Kyiv in the heart of Pale of Settlement, the limited area where Jews are allowed to live within the Russia Empire.
The first pogrom (violent attack) hit Elisavetgrad (today Kirovohrad, Ukraine) on April 15, and Kyiv officials were told to prepare for disorder in the days before April 26. The Ukrainian chief of police warned Jews to protect themselves, and the day before the disturbances, Jews were told not to venture out.
The violence starts at noon Sunday, April 26, when a fight breaks out and spreads into the marketplace. Rioters soon begin destroying and looting Jewish shops and homes. Unlike later waves of pogroms, the 1881-1882 rioters target homes, businesses and synagogues rather than people.
On the second day of the Kyiv pogrom, police seize 124 copies of a leaflet printed by the Southern Russian Workers’ Union. The leaflet proclaims: “Brother workers. You are beating the Jews, but indiscriminately. One should not beat the Jew because he is a Jew and prays to God in his own way — indeed, God is one and the same to all — rather, one should beat him because he is robbing the people, he is sucking the blood of the working man.” [M. Kishkinky, “The Attitude of the Southern-Russian Workers’ Union Toward the Jews (1880-1881),” Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2 (June 1982), p. 206.]
The pogroms lead to a change in Russian policy toward Jews, with restrictive new laws. Jews respond with mass emigration to the West and new political movements, including Hovevei Zion and other Zionist organizations.
