Description of Borshchagovka Pogroms
By Survivor Shmuel Kahana (Kagan)
Materials on the Pogroms in the Skvyra Region,
including in Borshchahivka
Center for Jewish History - YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
(Yiddish translation courtesy of Nathen Gabriel)
Pogrom in Borshchagovka
There were 1800 Jews in the shtetl and 1000 Christians. The Christian relationship with the Jews was bad because the peasants blamed the Jews for the high cost of living.
On June 3, 1919 [it was a Tuesday and Sukkot Eve] the bandit Ataman [Cossack leader] Sokolov entered the town with a band of some 300 men. He gathered the Jews in the Bes HaMedresh [combined house of study and synagogue] and demanded from them a "contribution" of 300,000 roubles. In the meantime Sokolov's bandits spread out around town and robbed and killed 7 Jews.
One bandit entered the synagogue and taunted the Jews with: "Where is your God? Why doesn't he help you?” The bandits left the shtetl the same day.
On the 5th of June, 1919 the bandits returned to the shtetl and burned 40 shops with their merchandise. The local farmers helped the bandits.
On the 25th of August, 1919 it was learned that a delegation of Ukrainians was to come into the shtetl. The Jews decided to go out of the town to meet the delegation with bread and salt.
But the delegation [the local peasants with one Antoshka at their head] attacked the Jews suddenly and killed with terrible deaths 40 Jews.
A wealthy Jew offered the bandits all of his capital provided that they would let him live. But the bandits answered him concerning his proposal that as far as Jewish money was concerned they would have it sooner or later anyway and that they therefore did not need to spare him. They then killed the Jews.
On the 5th of September, 1919 a band entered the shtetl. The Jews hid in the synagogue. The bandits started to fire at the synagogue with a cannon and killed 200 Jews but just then the Bolsheviks passed by the shtetl as they were retreating from Simferopol. The Bolsheviks saved the others from a sure death. They gave them to eat and to drink and they convinced them to go with them and leave the shtetl. Most of the Jews went with the Bolsheviks. Only some 100 Jews stayed.
On the 10th of September, 1919 Sokolov and his band entered the shtetl. They set the Jewish houses on fire and threw the Jews into the fire. They burnt 50 Jews in total and the rest fled to different towns. 20 Jewish houses were burned. The rest of the Jewish houses were destroyed by the local peasants.
The Jewish Kehila (Holy Community) of Borshchagovka was destroyed.
The survivors of the Jews of Borshchagovka settled in Skvira, but there 300 Jews died from various diseases because many Jews had come together in Skvira from the various towns that the bandits had destroyed, and the Skvira Jewish community was too small and too poor to provide the necessary medical and nutritional help.
The relatives of Borshchagovka Jews in America sent them money by way of Roumania. They chose emissaries who would go to Roumania to take the money.
Shmuel Kahana (Kagan)
Edited material
(Provided by the Rabbi of Uman H. Kontorshchik)
Received in August of 1923
Berlin
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Source:
Printed from https://archives.cjh.org/repositories/7/archival_objects/1287191
Center for Jewish History (CJH)
Skvyra region, 1920
File — Box: 1, Folder: 701
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Records of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania (RG 8004) (/repositories/7/resources/20150)
Series XIV: Pogrom Materials and Reports, 1919-1923 (/repositories/7/archival_objects/1288493)
Skvyra region, 1920
Scope and Contents
Materials on the pogroms in the Skvyra region, including in Kornin and Borshchahivka
https://archives.cjh.org/repositories/7/archival_objects/1287191
https://digipres.cjh.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE11238856
Dates
Creation: 1920
Extent
From the Collection: 800 Folders
Language of Materials
Yiddish
Additional Description
Related Materials
RG 80
Digital Material
Skvyra region, 1920 (/repositories/7/digital_objects/448978)
Physical Storage Information
Box: 1, Folder: 701 (Mixed Materials) (/repositories/7/top_containers/122427)
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