Kishinev pogrom

The Kishinev pogrom was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Kishinev , then the capital of the Bessarabia Governorate in the Russian Empire, on April 19–21 [O.S. April 6–8] 1903. Further rioting erupted in October 1905. In the first wave of violence, beginning on Easter Day, 49 Jews were killed, a number of Jewish women were raped and 1,500 homes were damaged. American Jews began large-scale organized financial help, and assisted in emigration. The incident focused worldwide attention on the persecution of Jews in Russia and led Theodor Herzl to propose the Uganda Scheme for resettlement of the Jews.
The most popular newspaper in Kishinev, the Russian-language anti-Semitic newspaper Бессарабец , published by Pavel Krushevan, regularly published articles with headlines such as "Death to the Jews!" and "Crusade against the Hated Race!" . When a gentile Ukrainian boy, Mikhail Rybachenko, was found murdered in the town of Dubossary, about 40 km miles north of Kishinev, and a girl who committed suicide by poisoning herself was declared dead in a Jewish hospital, the Bessarabetz paper insinuated that both children had been murdered by the Jewish community for the purpose of using their blood in the preparation of matzo for Passover. Another newspaper, Свет made similar insinuations. These allegations sparked the pogrom.

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