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STUDY QUESTIONS

Robert Weinberg, "The Pogrom of 1905 in Odessa: A Case Study" in Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History, John D. Klier and Shlomo Lambroza, eds. (Cambridge, 1992): 248-289

 

1) Of the two outbreaks of violence in Odessa in June and October of 1905, why did the second, in your opinion, evolve into a pogrom?

2) Did the Tsar's "October Manifesto," which ushered in various political reforms and liberties, play any role in unleashing the pogrom?

3) Is it true or false that the Jews, representing just over one third of the total city population, "dominated" the Odessan economy?

4) Why did the Jews take over the Odessan grain trade from the Greeks following the Crimean War?

5) To what extent were the Jews politically active in the city?

6) What role, if any, did the Jews play in the political unrest and violence which broke out in Odessa in 1905?

7) What steps did the city governor Neidhardt and the military commander Kaulbar take to prevent and/or suppress the October pogrom? Were they themselves in any way guilty of unleashing the violence?

8) What was the apparent socioeconomic composition of the majority of pogromists? Why did one non-Jewish segment of the population appear to be immune?

9) What were the historical sources which the author used to explore the possible culpability of the governor and the military commander for the violence?

10) Why does the author assert that the pogrom served the cause of "political reaction and counter-revolution"?