Pogrom of Brest (1937)
The Brest Pogrom (1937) describes anti-Jewish riots that caused dozens of injuries on May 13, 1937 in the then Polish city of Brest ( Brześć nad Bugiem , Brest on the Bug in Polish ). At that time, predominantly Jews and Poles lived in the city.
Historical background
There was a marked increase in anti-Semitism in Poland in the 1930s . In the years 1935–1937 alone there were more than 100 major anti-Jewish incidents, in which fourteen people were killed and over 2,000 injured.
The pogrom
The trigger for the Brest pogrom was a confrontation between the policeman Stefan Kędziora and the eighteen-year-old meat seller Wewel Szczerbowski on May 13, 1937 on the Mały Rynek ( Small Market ) in town. This dispute must be seen against the background that the practice of slaughtering was used more often as a pretext for cracking down on Jews. Here Szczerbowski attacked the official who had expressed doubts about the legality of the merchant's goods and injured him critically. Kędziora died a little later from his injuries. Since Szczerbowski was Jewish , the conflict could be perceived by many Catholic Brest as a conflict between Christians and Jews.
On the same morning, a crowd of Polish Jews attacked Jewish traders in the market, but soon no longer limited themselves to these, but moved on and demolished Jewish shops in the vicinity. After the crowd was initially dispersed by the police, they expanded their actions to other parts of the city, with the police intervening only half-heartedly or not at all. While rumors of armed Jewish groups heated up the mood further, many Jews left the city, apparently with the intention not to represent a provocation by their mere presence. Nevertheless, the violence continued to grow. It was only towards evening that the police, which had become active on the voivod's orders, managed to bring the situation under control.
The hospitals counted 54 injured that day, four of them Poles and 50 Jews. Of the 1450 Jewish shops in the city, 1,150 were damaged, mostly smashed windows and showcases, and 216 shops were looted. Some businesses owned by Christian owners were also damaged by mistaken attacks. During the pogrom, printed cards appeared surprisingly quickly, marking shops as non-Jewish, although there was no evidence of organized action. In addition to shops, workshops of Jewish craftsmen and houses were attacked by the groups roaming the streets. Christians marked their homes with religious pictures placed in the windows.
Political and legal aftermath
Because of the obvious inaction of the state authorities in the course of the pogrom, a commission of inquiry was set up by the Ministry of the Interior, which found a large number of errors and omissions at all levels of the local state organs, which particularly affected the police officers deployed.
The trial against Wewel Szczerbowski took place on June 15, 1937 under the strictest security precautions, which were supposed to prevent further riots. Szczerbowski was sentenced to death and some participants in the pogrom were sentenced to several months' imprisonment during the same trial.
literature
- Joanna Michlic-Coren: Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland 1918–1939 and 1945–1947. In: Polin. Studies in Polish Jewry 12 (2000), pp. 34-61.
- Wojciech Śleszyński: Zajścia antyżydowskie w Brześciu nad Bugiem 13 V 1937 r. Białystok 2004 (Dokumenty do dziejów kresów północno-wschodnich II Rzeczypospolitej). ISBN 83-88097-56-3 ( available online )
swell
- ↑ Joanna Michlic-Coren : Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland 1918-1939 and 1945-1947. In: Polin. Studies in Polish Jewry 12 (2000), pp. 34-61.
- ↑ Wojciech Śleszyński: Zajścia antyżydowskie w Brześciu nad Bugiem 13 V 1937 r. Białystok 2004, p. 19.
- ↑ The further presentation follows Śleszyński, p. 10ff.