Pogroms and Russian Jewish Immigrants
Pogroms and Russian Jewish Immigrants
By Zhaoyang Liu

Caricature Depicting the Białystok Pogrom by Henryk Nowodworski, 1906 – Note that the assailant is wearing a Tsarist army hat.
Why were Jews leaving Eastern Europe?
Between 1880 and 1920, more than two million Russian Jewish left Eastern Europe for the United States. The U.S. Government wanted to know why they were coming. In order to uncover the reasons behind this mass exodus of Eastern European Jews, the U.S. Government sent Philip Cowen, an immigration inspector, to Russia in 1906. What he found was a land in which Jews were relentlessly persecuted.
In Russia, the May Laws of 1882 forced Jews from their homes and ordered them to live in the Pale of Settlement. Along with this displacement, which put Russian Jews into a confined place where they struggled to survive, were the pogroms. While by broad definition pogroms are organized massacres of a certain ethnic group, the term is most particularly applied to Jews in Russia or Eastern Europe. In a comprehensive report, which he compiled from 1906 to 1907, Cowen detailed 637 pogroms.
A U.S. Government Report
In his description of the Kalarash pogrom of 1905, Cowen writes:
He additionally states:
If you wish to read Cowen’s report on the Kalarash pogrom in its entirety, it can be found at the following link: https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/kalarash-pogrom
Optimism and Caution
Many Eastern European Jews viewed America in an optimistic light. They believed that emigration, particularly to the U.S., was their best hope for finding safety for their families. In another one of his reports, Cowen describes how some Russian Jews, who journeyed to the U.S. and wrote back to their families, were enthusiastic about the new country.
Another part Cowen’s Kalarash report reveals that stories of antisemitism in the U.S. had made their way to Russia as well:
The entirety of this report can be found here: https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/bound-for-america
Reflection Questions:
1. Based on what you have read, what insight did Cowen’s report offer into the reasons why Jews were fleeing Russia for the United States?
2. How can understanding the “push” factors of why a particular immigrant group fled their country help us in the process of better accepting and integrating them?
3. In 1903, Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus” was added to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. In the poem, Lazarus has the statue speak. Her words have come to represent a vision of the United States as a beacon for those seeking a better life. She exclaims:
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
After reading about pogroms in Eastern Europe, to what extent do those lines describe the Jews who fled Russia for the U.S.? Can you think of others who might meet that description?
4. When Eastern European Jews arrived at Ellis Island, or Castle Garden in the years before Ellis Island opened, there were very few restrictions on immigration to the U.S. Based on what you have read, what dangers would they have faced if they had not been able to find a home in the U.S.? Does the U.S. have an ethical responsibility to provide a home for those seeking refuge from violence?
5. To what extent should an understanding of history shape our immigration laws today? In particular, should the history of Eastern European Jews immigrate to the U.S. influence the way we respond to asylum seekers in the present day?
6. How might the current day descendants of the Russian Jewish immigrants who fled the pogroms incorporate that part of their history into their identity? How important is the concept of lineage in forming an identity? How might all Americans incorporate the story Russian Jewish immigration to the U.S. into American identity? What aspects of the story seem most important for all Americans?
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