Book Launch

In the Midst of Civilized Europe. The Pogroms of
1918/1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust

 

Speaker: Jeff Veidlinger (University of Michigan)

Chair: François Guesnet

 

Tuesday 29th March 2022, 6.00pm GMT, Zoom

 

Between 1918 and 1921, over a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine and Poland by
peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. In
hundreds of separate incidents, ordinary people robbed their Jewish neighbors with impunity, burned
down their houses, ripped apart their Torah scrolls, sexually assaulted them, and killed them. Largely
forgotten today, these pogroms – ethnic riots – dominated headlines and international affairs in their
time. Aid workers warned that six million Jews were in danger of complete extermisnation. Twenty
years later, these dire predictions would come true. Drawing upon long-neglected archival materials,
including thousands of newly discovered witness testimonies, trial records, and official orders, acclaimed
historian Jeffrey Veidlinger shows for the first time how this wave of genocidal violence created the
conditions for the Holocaust. Through stories of survivors, perpetrators, aid workers, and governmental
officials, he explains how so many different groups of people came to the same conclusion: that killing
Jews was an acceptable response to their various problems.

Jeff Veidlinger is Professor of History and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. His books
The Moscow State Yiddish Theater and In the Shadow of the Shtetl have been awarded numerous book
awards.

29 March 2022, 6.00pm-7.00pm GMT on Zoom.

Email: ijs@ucl.ac.uk

Registration (free): www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/227784608897