The Day after the Pogrom: A Documentary Account
This chapter assesses the wave of pogroms of 1903–06. The pogrom in Siedlce, which took place in September of 1906, was the last outbreak of the wave of violence which began in Kishinev in April of 1903. The main railway line from Warsaw to Terespol and on to Moscow ran through the town and was responsible for its expansion in the last part of the nineteenth century. It also accounted both for its strategic importance and for the presence there of a significant socialist movement. These factors explain the role of the Russian army, and in particular the Libau regiment, as well as the Monarchist League in organizing the pogrom. Estimates of Jewish casualties range from twenty-three dead to 100 dead and 300 wounded. The chapter highlights an account written in Russian by Józef Bekker, who was a well-known Yiddish journalist. Bekker's account illustrates many aspects of the problems raised by the wave of pogroms of 1903–06, in particular the vexed question of the degree to which this was orchestrated centrally and the role of the army and local tsarist officials in initiating anti-Jewish violence.