[Rerelease] In the City of Death: The 1903 Kishinev Pogrom (replay)

July 18, 2026

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5 min read

In April 1903, a mob descended on the Jewish quarter of Kishinev, the capital of Bessarabia in the Russian Empire, and for three days committed murder, rape, and destruction. Forty-nine Jews were killed, hundreds were injured, and 1,500 homes and businesses were looted or destroyed. The violence was carried out with a sadism that shocked the world: babies were thrown from windows, bodies were mutilated, Torah scrolls were burned. But the number of dead was relatively small compared to later massacres. What made Kishinev different was not the body count. It was the moment in history in which it occurred, and the chain of reactions it set off across the Jewish world—reactions whose effects are still visible today.

A Pogrom at the Dawn of a Bloody Century

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What you'll learn

1 (00:12) **Episode Introduction and Context Setting** - Host Yehuda introduces the episode as a replay for Tisha B'Av and sets the historical stage for the 1903 Kishinev Pogrom.
2 (13:08) **Why Kishinev Matters: The Pogrom's Unique Significance** - The host explains that while numerically small (49 killed), the Kishinev Pogrom's impact on the Jewish world was immense and unmatched.
3 (20:51) **The Pogrom's Specifics: Blood Libel, Violence, and Complicity** - The host details the events of April 19-21, 1903, including the inciting blood libel, the role of the mob, and the scale of the violence.
4 (26:52) **Media, International Reaction, and Russian Intelligentsia** - The host explains how modern media and the reaction of Russian intellectuals amplified the Kishinev Pogrom's fame and impact.
5 (28:53) **The After-Effect: Mass Emigration and the Transformation of American Jewry** - The host argues that the greatest effect of the pogrom was spurring mass Jewish emigration and transforming the American Jewish community.
6 (32:27) **The After-Effect: Radicalization and the Rise of Jewish Politics** - The host explains how the pogrom radicalized Jewish youth and fueled the rise of revolutionary movements and Jewish political parties.
7 (34:39) **The After-Effect: The Zionist Movement is Transformed** - The host details the three primary ways the Kishinev Pogrom transformed the nascent Zionist movement, with effects still felt today.

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Guests on this episode

Vladimir Jabotinsky Theodore Herzl

Show Notes

Special Tisha Ba'av Episode with an all new introduction.

The 1903 Kishinev Pogrom was a tragic massacre, with reverberations within the wider Jewish world remaining until this very day. Goaded on by antisemitic newspapers with cries of 'Death to the Jews', a blood libel was fabricated and a mob was unleashed on Easter Sunday, April 19, 1903. Leaving 49 killed, hundreds maimed and injured in its wake, Jewish property was destroyed and looted as well. Claims of complicity of the police and government were voiced in many quarters.

But it was primarily the after effects of this pogrom which had a long term transformative effect on Jewish society in Russia and worldwide. The great immigration to the United States was already long underway, but it significantly intensified in the years following Kishinev and the subsequent 1905 revolution. American Jewry was galvanized to assist the victims, and this cemented the relationship US Jewry was to have with their brethren back in Eastern Europe.

Within Russia, many of the Jewish youth became radicalized as a result of the massacre, joining clandestine revolutionary organizations with the goal of overthrowing the Czar.

The most profound impact was felt within the nascent Zionist movement. Chaim Nachman Bialik was dispatched by the historian Shimon Dubnow to gather testimonies from survivors. Following his five week stay in Kishinev, Bialik penned 'Be'ir Hahareiga' - In the City of Death, a poem about the pogrom. Powerfully written, it also included strongly worded accusations in regards to the perceived passivity of the victims. The poem and its message was to have an immense impact, as it was published and translated and became immensely popular. Vladimir Jabotinsky's conclusion was to organize Jewish self defense, and Theodore Herzl's conclusion was the Uganda proposal at the Sixth Zionist Congress. The shadow of the Kishinev tragedy was to hover over the many subsequent, and ever greater tragedies of the bloody 20th century.

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