Between 1918 and 1921, over 100,000 Jews were murdered in Ukraine 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 6 million Jews were in danger of complete extermination. 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,s 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.

Jeffrey Veidlinger is the Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute at the University of Michigan and the Joseph Brodsky Collegiate Professor of History and Judaic Studies.

This is a free program, but advanced registration is strongly recommended. Please register for the Livestream option if you can not attend in person.

Monday, February 24 | 6:30 - 8:15 pm | FREE

Register Here

This program is supported by the Ilona Irene Rosenschein Holocaust Education Endowment Fund (IIRHEF) at the Boulder JCC. This fund was launched in 2019 with a generous donation from Larry Cohn to honor Irene and her contribution to Holocaust education in the Boulder Community. If you would like to support the IIRHEF, you can make a donation on the JCC’s main donation page.