History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume 3 of 3. From the Accession of Nicholas II until the Present Day

28

The first three volumes appeared in 1895-1904. [The fourth volume appeared in 1913. A German rendering of Ahad Ha'am's selected essays by the translator of the present volume was published in Berlin in 1904; a second enlarged edition appeared in 1913. An English translation by Leon Simon was issued by the Jewish Publication Society of America in 1912.]

29

[He died, after the completion of the present volume by the author, on December 15, 1917.]

30

[The Yiddish equivalent for "Grandfather."]

31

A collection of his sketches, translated into English by Helena Frank, was issued by the Jewish Publication Society of America in 1906.

32

Died in New York on May 13, 1916.

33

See vol II, p. 228 et seq.

34

See vol. II, p. 330, n. 1.

35

"If thou wish to know the fountain – whence thy martyred brethren drew their inspiration."

36

See vol. II, p. 381.

37

The following extract may show that the great writer had a profound insight into the causes of the Kishinev barbarities:

"My opinion concerning the Kishinev crime is the result also of my religious convictions. Upon the receipt of the first news which was published in the papers, not yet knowing all the appalling details which were communicated subsequently, I fully realized the horror of what had taken place, and experienced simultaneously a burning feeling of pity for the innocent victims of the cruelty of the populace, amazement at the bestiality of all these so-called Christians, revulsion at all these so-called cultured people who instigated the mob and sympathized with its actions. But I felt a particular horror for the principal culprit, our Government with its clergy which fosters in the people bestial sentiments and fanaticism, with its horde of murderous officials. The crime committed at Kishinev is nothing but a direct consequence of that propaganda of falsehood and violence which is conducted by the Russian Government with such energy. The attitude adopted by the Russian Government in relation to this question may only serve as a new proof of the class egotism of this Government, which stops at no cruelty whenever it finds it necessary to check movements that are deemed dangerous by it. Like the Turkish Government at the time of the Armenian massacres, it remains entirely indifferent to the most horrible acts of cruelty, as long as these acts do not affect its interests."

38

39

Massa Nemirov. This heading was chosen to appease the censor. As the name Kishinev could not be mentioned, Nemirov was chosen, being the name of the town which yielded the largest number of victims during the Cossack massacres of 1648. [See vol. I, p. 146, et seq.– In a later edition the poem was renamed Be-'Ir ha-Haregah, "In the city of Slaughter."]

40

One of the instigators, Pisarevski, a notary public, had blown out his brains before the beginning of the trial. Other instigators from among the Kishinev intelligenzia appeared merely as witnesses.

41

The speech of Karabchevski justifying his withdrawal was particularly powerful. He openly declared that the pogrom was only "the fulfilment of a criminal order given from above." "The whole of Kishinev," he said, "was converted during the excesses into an immense circus of antiquity, where, before the eyes of curious spectators from among the administration and the army, before a festively attired crowd, a terrible drama was enacted in the depth of the arena. From the one side defenceless victims were driven upon the arena, and from the other maddened beasts were set at them, until the signal to stop was given, and the frightful spectacle was ended at once."

42

About two months before the war, the Russian viceroy of the Far East had prohibited the Jews from residing in Port Arthur and upon the Kuantung Peninsula, whence the Russians were expelled by the Japanese a year later.

43

Out of the thirty physicians who were mobilized in Kiev twenty-six were Jews. In Odessa, the Jews furnished twenty-one physicians out of thirty.

44

The author of the present volume, who resided in Vilna at that time.

45

See vol. II, p. 246.

46

"I shall set the nether-world in motion."

47

A mutilated form of "Socialists" which is in vogue among the ignorant Russian masses.

48

In Russian, Mitropolit, the highest ecclesiastical dignitary in the Greek-Orthodox Church. There are three Mitropolits in Russia, residing in Petrograd, Moscow, and Kiev.

49

See above, p. 81.

50

See above, p. 51 et seq.

51

Called by their Russian initials S. S.

52

See above, p. 111 et seq.

53

See above, p. 51.

54

Beginning with the year 1905, the emigration to America once more assumed enormous proportions. During 1905-1906, the years of revolution and pogroms, nearly 230,000 Jews left Russia for the United States. During the following years the figure was somewhat lower, but still continued on a fairly high level, amounting to 50,000-75,000 annually. In Palestine, the colonization went apace, and with it the cultural activities. Several schools, with a purely national program, such as the gymnazia in Jaffa and Jerusalem, and other institutions, came into being.

55

When the same official waited upon the Tzar with his report concerning the events at Odessa, he was amazed to see the Tzar come out to him with the badge of the League of the Russian People upon his chest – the same badge which was worn by the rioters in Odessa. He was subsequently given to understand that the Tzar had done so demonstratively to show his solidarity with the hordes of the Black Hundred.

56

So called because it based its program on the imperial manifesto of October 17, 1905. See above, p. 127.

57

See p. 98 et seq.

58

See vol. II, p. 351.

59

The name given to the graduation certificate of a gymnazium. In German it is similarly called Reifezeugnis.

60

It was edited by the writer of the present work, S. M. Dubnow.

61

Ezekiel XI, 13.