Language:
English
Year of publication:
2010
Titel der Quelle:
European History Quarterly
Angaben zur Quelle:
40,3 (2010) 412-435
Keywords:
Jews History 19th century
;
Antisemitism History 19th century
;
Antisemitism History 19th century
;
Christianity and antisemitism History 19th century
;
Jews Periodicals
Abstract:
In May-June 1898 a wave of anti-Jewish riots broke out in western Galicia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), which was populated mainly by Poles. Following the riots, more than 5,000 peasants and townspeople were arrested; many of them were put on trial. In some places, the Habsburg authorities had to resort to arms to stop the riots. Characteristically, the riots were accompanied by rumors that the Emperor himself had put out an order to beat up Jews and destroy their property, but he had forbidden their murder. The pogroms were preceded by anti-Jewish agitations in the form of pamphlets, articles in newspapers, etc. Dismisses explanations according to which the pogroms were motivated either by economic grievances of the peasants or by religious hatred. Argues that the events should be understood in the context of the advent of politics of the masses in the Austrian countryside. The mid-1890s were a period of extension of the electoral franchise and other reforms. Parties were formed in Galicia, many of which, like Stojałowski's Christian People's Party, resorted to antisemitism as a political tool. Following the pogroms, Galicia's Jews found themselves more alienated from their Polish neighbors and more dependent on the Habsburg state as the only force able to counter anti-Jewish violence.
DOI:
10.1177/0265691410370098
URL:
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