- Headline
-
Pogrom Sweeps Polish City Leaving 34 Dead
- Sub-Headline
- Armored Cars Used To Break Up Mobs in Kielce
- Publication Date
- Friday, July 5, 1946
- Historical Event
-
Kielce Jews Massacred in "Blood Libel" Pogrom
This database includes 1,201 articles about this event - Article Type
- Newspaper
- Location
- Page Section and Number
- 1
- Author/Byline
- AP
- Article Text
- Warsaw, July 6, (AP).—At least 34 persons were reported today to have been killed and 42 wounded at the city of Kielce in Poland's bloodiest postwar pogrom, which was finally suppressed by government forces in armored cars.
Reinforced military units and security police patrolled Kielce's streets.
Anti-Jewish rumors apparently touched off the outbreak yesterday. One rumor was that a Polish baby had been killed by Jews. Another was that a Polish boy had been kidnaped[sic] and held in a cellar two days by a Jew.
Reports from Kielce, a farm market and industrial center of 60,000, said it was the bloodiest pogrom in Poland in years. About 800 of the city's population are Jews.
A rumor that a Polish baby had been killed by Jews touched off the anti-Semitic activity at noon yesterday. The government announced last night that seven Jews had been slain.
Apartments and homes of Jews were attacked by men the government described as "Fascist elements." Jews were snatched from street cars and railway coaches. Mobs struck at the headquarters of the central Jewish committee of Kielce, but were repulsed after the Jews appealed to security police and militiamen for assistance.
Militia reinforcements sent to Kielce used the armored cars.
The government clamped down a curfew effective at 7 p. m.
The disorder came as the government announced that early returns from the Polish referendum last Sunday gave the government a substantial lead on all three questions it presented.
A foreign ministry spokesman announced that 67 "bandits" had been killed and 30S wounded or arrested in clashes between security police, militia and outlawed bands preceding and during the referendum. - History Unfolded Contributor
- Lexi R.
- Location of Research
- Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com)
Learn More about this Historical Event: Kielce Jews Massacred in "Blood Libel" Pogrom
The Kielce Pogrom: A Blood Libel Massacre of Holocaust Survivors (Encyclopedia Article)
Bibliography
Brass, Paul R., editor. Riots and Pogroms. New York: New York University Press, 1996.
Engel, David, "Patterns of Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland, 1944-1946," Yad Vashem Studies Vol. XXVI, Jerusalem 1998, pp 43-85.
Gross, Jan T. Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz: An Essay in Historical Interpretation. New York: Random House, 2006.
Kielce, July 4, 1946: Background, Context and Events. Chicago: The Polish Educational Foundation in North America, 1996.
Klier, John D., and Shlomo Lambroza, editors. Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Meducki, Stanislaw. "The Pogrom in Kielce on 4 July 1946." Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry 9 (1996): 158-169.
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