This book represents a new reading of a key moment in the history of East European Jewry, namely the period preceding the collapse of the Russian Empire. Offering a novel analysis of relations between the Russian army and Jews during the First World War, it points to the army and military authorities as the 'gravediggers' of the Jews’ fragile co-existence with the tsarist regime. It focuses on various aspects of the Russian army’s brutal treatment of Jews living in or near the Eastern Front, where three quarters of European Jewry were living when the war began. At the same time, it shows the enormous harm this anti-Jewish campaign wreaked on the Russian empire’s economy, finances, public security, and international status.
Author(s): Semion Goldin
Series: Palgrave Critical Studies of Antisemitism and Racism
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 325
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Note on Basic Sources
Calendar, Transliteration of Names, and Geographical Terms
Contents
Abbreviations
List of Figures
1 Introduction
2 The Russian Army and the Jews at the Start of the Twentieth Century
The Army’s Role in Political and Social Life
The Russian Army and the Jews Before World War I
Draft Plans to Abolish Army Conscription of Jews
The Course of Operations and Structural Changes in the Army
3 Army Authority and Activity in the Sphere of Civilian Administration
Structure and Powers of the Military Administration
The Military Leadership and the Council of Ministers
Functioning of the Military Administration
Forced Evacuation (1915)
4 The Russian Army Command and the Negative Stereotype of the Jew
The Russian Command’s Perception of Jews in the Army and of the Jewish Population
Charges Against the Jews
Antisemitism of Russian Commanders
The Military and Right-Wing Press About the Jews
Reasons for Formation of a Negative Image of the Jews
5 Deportations of the Jewish Population and Hostage Taking (1914–1915)
Total Expulsions: Rules and Reality (August 1914–February 1915)
Deportations as an Officially Approved Measure in the “Struggle” Against the Jews
Expulsions from Kovno and Kurland Gubernias (April–May 1915)
Expulsions from Occupied Galicia
After Massive Deportations (Summer–Fall 1915)
Hostage Taking: From Single Cases to Policy
6 The Military Authorities and the Jews
Army Counterintelligence
Military Courts and the Jews
Administrative Expulsions
Military Censorship
A Ban on Movement
Jewish Suppliers and Contractors, Jews in Public Organizations
Summing Up the Jewish Policy of Military Authorities
7 Soldiers, Officers, and the Jewish Population of the Frontal Zone
Soldiers, Officers, and Jews
Pillaging. The Behavior of Cossack Units
Pogroms in the Battle Zone
Executions in the Frontal Zone
Servicemen and Women
Jews and the Non-Jewish Population in the Frontal Zone
8 “The Jewish Question” and the Political Situation in Russia
Hopes of the First Months of the War
Russian-Jewish Appeals to the Authorities
Political Parties and the Jewish Question (1915)
“The Jewish Question” in the Russian Government (1915)
“The Jewish Question” in the Duma (1916)
9 Conclusion
Appendix
Military and Civil Rule in Russia (July 1914–August 1915)
Bibliography
Index
