Pinsk massacre

The Pinsk massacre was the murder of thirty-five Jewish residents of Pinsk taken as hostages by the Polish Army after it captured the city in April 1919, during the opening phases of the Polish-Soviet War. The local Jews were arrested while holding a meeting. The Polish officer in charge, suspecting that the meeting was a Bolshevik gathering, ordered the execution of the suspects without trial. His decision was defended by his Polish military superiors, but widely criticized by international public opinion.

Massacre

On April 5th, after the Polish army had occupied Pinsk, some seventy-five to one hundred Jewish residents of this majority Jewish town were assembled at a local Zionist club house to discuss distribution of American relief aid. [Yisrael Gutman. Poles and Jews between the Wars: Historic Overview. In: Herbert Arthur Strauss, ed. [http://books.google.com/books?id=SOFkWX8EC4cC&pg=PA1048&dq=pinsk+jews++April+5+1919&lr=&ei=PrLESN2pMImUzASBjoCFCw&sig=ACfU3U3_we9A4fDthOTMaEkX3amxAmMMGw Hostages of Modernization: Studies on Modern Antisemitism, 1870-1933/39.] Walter de Gruyter, 1993.] [Mieczysław B. Biskupski, Piotr Stefan Wandycz. [http://books.google.com/books?id=fhK5QebocBkC&pg=RA1-PA65&dq=%C5%81uczy%C5%84ski+pinsk&ei=tLjESLLBIInaygSc-Z2KDg&sig=ACfU3U3Tx6hHSfHPJ-0JQAj3WvRrsZM_pQ Ideology, Politics, and Diplomacy in East Central Europe.] Boydell & Brewer, 2003.] [Azriel Shohat. [http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Pinsk1/Pine11_050.html History of the Jews of Pinsk 1881–1941.] Chapter 1. The Character of PinskFrom the 1880's to the First World War. Yizkor Book Project, Tel Aviv, 1966-1977] The meeting had been officially approved by the city commander [Henry Morgenthau, French Strother. [http://books.google.com/books?id=P-UEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA411&dq=pinsk+jews+1919+35&ei=UrXBSKuPFJzayATrmPiJDg All in a Life-time.] Doubleday, Page and Company, 1922, p. 360.Original from the New York Public Library, digitized Jul 17, 2007>]

Major Aleksander Norbut-Luczynski, [http://www.dws.xip.pl/WojnaObronna/lista.html Lista starszeństwa generałów polskich w 1939 roku] ] The events were criticized in the Sejm (Polish parliament), but representatives of the Polish army denied any wrongdoing.

International

In the Western press of the time, the massacre was referred to as the "Polish Pogrom at Pinsk", [See e.g. David Engel, "Poles, Jews, and Historical Objectivity", "Slavic Review", Vol. 46, No. 3/4 (Autumn - Winter, 1987), pp. 568-580] and was noticed by wider public opinion. Upon a request of Polish authorities to president Wilson, an American mission was sent to Poland to investigate nature of the alleged atrocities.Czerniakiewicz, p. 587] The mission, led by American diplomat Henry Morgenthau, Sr., published the Morgenthau Report on October 3, 1919. cite book | author = Henry Morgenthau | title = All in a Life-time | year =1922 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=z4chAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 | chapter = Appendix. Report of the Mission of the United States to Poland| publisher =Doubleday, Page and Company ] According to the findings of this commission, a total of about 300 Jews lost their lives in this and related incidents. The commission also severely criticized the actions of Major Łuczyński and his superiors with regards to handling of the events in Pinsk.

Morgenthau later recounted the massacre in autobiography, where he wrote:

Who were these thirty-five victims? They were the leaders of the local Jewish community, the spiritual and moral leader of the 5,000 Jews in a city, eighty-five percent of the population of which was Jewish, the organizers of the charities, the directors of the hospitals, the friends of the poor. And yet, to that incredibly brutal, and even more incredibly stupid, officer who ordered their execution, they were only so many Jews. [Henry Morgenthau. [http://books.google.com/books?id=P-UEAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Henry+Morgenthau,+All+in+a+Life-Time&ei=eX7BSMOWJ5W0yQSO9_SPDg#PPA370,M1 All in a Life-Time.] Doubleday, Page and Company, 1922 Original from the New York Public Library. Digitized Jul 17, 2007]

Commemoration

In 1926, kibbutz Gevat (Gvat) was established by emigrants from Pinsk to the British Mandate of Palestine in commemoration of the Pinsk massacre victims. [ [http://www.emekyizrael.org.il/site/he/eCity.asp?pi=3731 עמק יזרעאל : Communities ] ]

Notes

Bilbiography

* [http://jozeflewandowski.se/texter/History_and_myth_Pinsk_April_1919.htm]
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