Pinsk uyezd, Minsk gubernia
Pinsk-Karlin, Russian; pensk
1989 population: 118,636 1995 population: 130,000
Early Jewish Settlers.
Russian city in the government of Minsk, Russia. There were Jews in
Pinsk prior to the sixteenth century, and there may have been an
organized community there at the time of the expulsion of the Jews
from Lithuania in 1495; but the first mention of the Jewish community
there in Russian-Lithuanian documents dates back to 1506. On Aug. 9 of
that year the owner of Pinsk, Prince Feodor Ivanovich Yaroslavich, in
his own name and in that of his wife, Princess Yelena, granted to the
Jewish community of Pinsk, at the request of Yesko Meycrovich, Pesakh
Yesofovich, and Abram Ryzhkevich, and of other Jews of Pinsk, two
parcels of land for a house of prayer and a cemetery, and confirmed
all the rights and privileges given to the Jews of Lithuania by King
Alexander Jagellon. This grant to the Jews of Pinsk was confirmed by
Queen Bona on Aug. 18, 1533. From 1506 until the end of the sixteenth
century the Jews are frequently mentioned in various documents. In
1514 they were included in the confirmation of privileges granted to
the Jews of Lithuania by King Sigismund, whereby they were freed from
special military duties and taxes and placed on an equality, in these
respects, with the other inhabitants of the land, while they were also
exempted from direct military service. They were included among the
Jewish communities of Lithuania upon which a tax of 1,000 kop groschen
was imposed by the king in 1529, the entire sum to be subject to a pro
rata contribution determined upon by the communities. From other
documents it is evident that members of the local Jewish community
were prominent as traders in the market-place, also as landowners,
leaseholders, and farmers of taxes. In a document of March 27, 1522,
reference is made to the fact that Lezer Markovich and Avram
Volchkovich owned stores in the market-place near the castle. In
another document, dated 1533, Avram Markovich was awarded by the city
court the possession of the estate of Boyar Fedka Volodkevich, who had
mortgaged it to Avram's father, Mark Yeskovich. Still other documents
show that in 1540 Aaron Ilich Khoroshenki of Grodno inherited some
property in Pinsk, and that in 1542 Queen Bona confirmed the Jews
Kherson and Nahum Abramovich in the possession of the estate, in the
village of Krainovichi, waywodeship of Pinsk, which they had inherited
from their father, Abram Ryzhkevich.
Abram Ryzhkevich was a prominent member of the Jewish community at the
beginning of the sixteenth century, and was active in communal work.
He was a favorite of Prince Feodor Yaroslavich, who presented him with
the estate in question with all its dependencies and serfs. The
last-named wererelieved from the payment of any crown taxes, and were
to serve Abram Ryzhkevich exclusively. He and his children were
regarded as boyars, and shared the privileges and duties of that
class.
Pesak? Yesofovich.
Pesak? Yesofovich, mentioned with Yesko Meyerovich and Abram
Ryzhkevich in the grant to the Jewish community of 1506, took an
important part in local affairs. Like Abram Ryzhkevich, he was
intimate with Prince Feodor Yaroslavich, was presented by the prince
with a mansion in the town of Pinsk, and was exempted at the same time
from the payment of any taxes or the rendering of local services, with
the exception of participation in the repairing of the city walls. The
possession of this mansion was confirmed by Queen Bona to Pesak?'s son
Nahum in 1550, he having purchased it from Bentz Misevich, to whom the
property was sold by Nahum's father. Inheriting their father's
influence, Nahum and his brother Israel played important rôles as
merchants and leaseholders. Thus on June 23, 1550, they, together with
Goshka Moshkevich, were awarded by Queen Bona the lease of the customs
and inns of Pinsk, Kletzk, and Gorodetzk for a term of three years,
and had the lease renewed in 1553 for a further term of three years,
on payment of 875 kop groschen and of 25 stones of wax. In the same
year these leaseholders are mentioned in a characteristic lawsuit.
There was an old custom, known as "kanuny," on the strength of which
the archbishop was entitled to brew mead and beer six times annually
without payment of taxes. The Pesakhovich family evidently refused to
recognize the validity of this privilege and endeavored to collect the
taxes. The case was carried to the courts, but the bishop being unable
to show any documents in support of his claim, and admitting that it
was merely based on custom, the queen decided that the legal validity
of the custom should not be recognized; but since the income of the
"kanuny" was collected for the benefit of the Church the tax-farmers
were required to give annually to the archbishop 9 stones of wax for
candles," not as a tax, but merely as a mark of our kindly intention
toward God's churches."
The Pesakhovich Family.
The Pesakhovich family continues to be mentioned prominently in a
large number of documents, some of them dated in the late sixties of
the sixteenth century. Thus in a document of May 19, 1555, Nahum
Pesakhovich, as representative of all the Jews in the grand duchy of
Lithuania, lodged a complaint with the king against the magistrate and
burghers of Kiev because, contrary to the old-established custom, they
had prohibited the Jews from coming to Kiev for trading in the city
stores, and compelled them to stop at, and to sell their wares in, the
city market recently erected by the burghers. Postponing his final
decision until his return to Poland, the king granted the Jews the
right to carry on trade as theretofore.
In a document of Oct. 31, 1558, it is stated that the customs, inns,
breweries, and ferries of Pinsk, which had been leased to Nahum and
Israel Pesakhovich for 450 kop groschen, were now awarded to Khaim
Rubinovich for the annual sum of 550 groschen. This indicates that the
Pesakhovich family was yielding to the competition of younger men.
An interesting light is shed on contemporary conditions by a document
dated Dec. 12, 1561. This contains the complaint of Nahum Pesakhovich
against Grigori Grichin, the estate-owner in the district of Pinsk,
who had mortgaged to him, to secure a debt of 33 kop groschen and of 5
pails of unfermented mead, six of his men in the village of Poryechye,
but had given him only five men. The men thus mortgaged to Nahum
Pesakhovich were each compelled to pay annually to the latter 20
groschen, one barrel of oats, and a load of hay; they served him one
day in every seven, and assisted him at harvest-time. This would
indicate that the Jews, like the boyars, commanded the services of the
serfs, and could hold them under mortgage. In another document, dated
1565, Nahum Pesakhovich informed the authorities that he had lost in
the house of the burgher Kimich 10 kop groschen and a case containing
his seal with his coat of arms.
The Pinsk Jewry in 1555.
In 1551 Pinsk is mentioned among the communities whose Jews were freed
from the payment of the special tax called "serebschizna." In 1552-55
the starost of Pinsk took a census of the district in order to
ascertain the value of property which was held in the district of
Queen Bona. In the data thus secured the Jewish house-owners in Pinsk
and the Jewish landowners in its vicinity are mentioned. It appears
from this census that Jews owned property and lived on the following
streets: Dymiskovskaya (along the river), Stephanovskaya ulitza
(beyond the Troitzki bridge), Velikaya ulitza from the Spasskiya
gates, Kovalskaya, Grodetz, and Zhidovskaya ulitzi, and the street
near the Spass Church. The largest and most prominent Jewish
property-owners in Pinsk and vicinity were the members of the
Pesakhovich family—Nahum, Mariana, Israel, Kusko, Rakhval (probably
Jerahmeel), Mosko, and Lezer Nahumovich; other prominent
property-owners were Ilia Moiseyevich, Nosko Moiseyevich, Abram
Markovich, and Lezer Markovich. The synagogue and the house of the
cantor were situated in the Zhidovskaya ulitza. Jewish settlements
near the village of Kustzich are mentioned.
A number of documents dated 1561 refer in various connections to the
Jews of Pinsk. Thus one of March 10, 1561, contains a complaint of Pan
Andrei Okhrenski, representative of Prince Nikolai Radziwill, and of
the Jew Mikhel against Matvei Voitekhovich, estate-owner in the
district of Pinsk; the last-named had sent a number of his men to the
potash-works belonging to Prince Radziwill and managed by the Jew
above-mentioned. These men attacked the works, damaging the premises,
driving off the laborers, and committing many thefts.
By a decree promulgated May 2, 1561, King Sigismund August appointed
Stanislav Dovorino as superior judge of Pinsk and Kobrin, and placed
all the Jews of Pinsk and of the neighboring villages under his
jurisdiction, and their associates were ordered to turn over the
magazines and stores to the magistrate and burghers of Pinsk. In
August of the same year the salt monopoly of Pinsk was awarded to the
Jews Khemiya and Abram Rubinovich.But on Dec. 25, 1564, the leases
were awarded to the Jews Vaska Medenchich and Gershon Avramovich, who
offered the king 20 kop groschen more than was paid by the Christian
merchants. In the following year the income of Pinsk was leased to the
Jew David Shmerlevich.
In the census of Pinsk taken again in 1566, Jewish house-owners are
found on streets not mentioned in the previous census; among these
were the Stara, Lyshkovska, and Sochivchinskaya ulitzy. Among the
house-owners not previously mentioned were Zelman, doctor ("doctor,"
meaning "rabbi" or "dayyan"), Meïr Moiseyevia, doctor, Novach, doctor,
and others. The Pesakhovich family was still prominent among the
landowners.
Under Stephen Bathori.
In a circular letter of 1578 King Stephen Bathori informed the Jews of
the town and district of Pinsk that because of their failure to pay
their taxes in gold, and because of their indebtedness, he would send
to them the nobleman Mikolai Kindei with instructions to collect the
sum due. By an order of Jan. 20, 1581, King Stephen Bathori granted
the Magdeburg Rights to the city of Pinsk. This provided that Jews who
had recently acquired houses in the town were to pay the same taxes as
the Christian householders. Thenceforward, however, the Jews were
forbidden, under penalty of confiscation, to buy houses or to acquire
them in any other way. Elsewhere in the same document the citizens of
Pinsk are given permission to build a town hall in the market-place,
and for this purpose the Jewish shops were to be torn down. The grant
of the Magdeburg Rights was subsequently confirmed by Sigismund III.
(1589-1623), Ladislaus IV. (1633), and John Casimir (1650).
In spite of the growing competition of the Christian merchants, the
Jews must have carried on a considerable import and export trade, as
is shown by the custom-house records of Brest-Litovsk. Among those who
exported goods from Pinsk to Lublin in 1583 Levko Bendetovich is
mentioned (wax and skins), and among the importers was one ?ayyim
Itzkhakovich (steel, cloth, iron, scythes, prunes, onion-seed, and
girdles). Abraham Zroilevich imported caps, Hungarian knives, velvet
girdles, linen from Glogau, nuts, prunes, lead, nails, needles, pins,
and ribbons. Abraham Meyerovich imported wine. Other importers were
Abram Yaknovich, Yatzko Nosanovich, Yakub Aronovich, and Hilel and
Rubin Lazarevich.
About 1620 the Lithuanian Council was organized, of which Pinsk, with
Brest-Litovsk and Grodno, became a part. In 1640 the Jews Jacob
Rabinovich and Mordecai-Shmoilo Izavelevich applied in their own name,
and in the names of all the Jews then living on church lands, to
Pakhomi Oranski, the Bishop of Pinsk and Turov, for permission to
remit all taxes directly to him instead of to the parish priests.
Complying with this request, the bishop reaffirmed the rights
previously granted to the Jews; they were at liberty to build houses
on their lots, to rent them to newly arrived people, to build inns,
breweries, etc.
Increasing Anti-Jewish Feeling.
Toward the middle of the seventeenth century the Jews of Pinsk began
to feel more and more the animosity of their Christian neighbors; and
this was true also of other Jewish communities. In 1647 "Lady" Deborah
Lezerova and her son "Sir" Yakub Lezerovich complained to the
magistrates that their grain and hay had been set on fire by peasants.
In the following year numerous complaints of attack, robbery, plunder,
and arson were reported by the local Jews. Rebellion was in the air,
and with the other Jewish communities in Lithuania that of Pinsk felt
the cruelties of the advancing Cossacks, who killed in great numbers
the poorer Jews who were not able to escape. Prince Radziwill, who
hastened to the relief of the city, finding the rioters there, set it
on fire and destroyed it.
Hannover, in "Yewen Me?ulah," relates that the Jews who remained in
Pinsk and those who were found on the roads or in the suburbs of that
city were all killed by the Cossacks. He remarks also that when
Radziwill set fire to the town, many of the Cossacks endeavored to
escape by boats and were drowned in the river, while others were
killed or burned by the Lithuanian soldiers. Meïr ben Samuel, in "Zuk
ha-'Ittim," says that the Jews of Pinsk were delivered by the
townspeople (i.e., the Greek Orthodox) to the Cossacks, who massacred
them.
Evidently Jews had again appeared in Pinsk by 1651, for the rural
judge Dadzibog Markeisch, in his will, reminds his wife of his debt of
300 gulden to the Pinsk Jew Gosher Abramovich, of which he had already
repaid 100 gulden and 110 thalers, and asks her to pay the remainder.
In 1662 the Jews of Pinsk were relieved by John Casimir of the
headtax, which they were unable to pay on account of their
impoverished condition. On April 11, 1665, the heirs of the Jew Nathan
Lezerovich were awarded by the court their claim against Pana
Terletzkaya for 69,209 zlot. For her refusal to allow the collection
of the sum as ordered by the court she was expelled from the country.
In 1665, after the country had been ruined by the enemy, the Jewish
community of Pinsk paid its proportion of special taxation for the
benefit of the nobility.
In the Nineteenth Century.
Beyond the fact that ?asidism developed in the suburb of Karlin (see
Aaron ben Jacob of Karlin), little is known about the history of the
Pinsk community in the eighteenth century; but since the first quarter
of the nineteenth century the Jews there have taken an active part in
the development of the export and import trade, especially with Kiev,
Krementchug, and Yekaterinoslav, with which it is connected by a
steamship line on the Dnieper. Many of the members of the Jewish
community of Pinsk removed to the newly opened South-Russian province
and became active members of the various communities there. In the
last quarter of the nineteenth century prominent Jewish citizens of
Pinsk developed to a considerable extent its industries, in which
thousands of Jewish workers now find steady occupation. They have
established chemical-factories, sawmills, a match-factory (400 Jewish
workers, producing 10,000,000 boxes of matches perannum; established
by L. Hirschmanin 1900), shoe-nail factory (200 Jewish workers),
candle-factory, cork-factory, parquet-factory, brewery, and
tobacco-factories (with a total of 800 Jewish workers). The Luries and
Levines have been especially active in that direction. Another
cork-factory, owned by a Christian, employs 150 Jewish workers; and
the shipyards (owned by a Frenchman), in which large steamers and
sailing vessels are built, also employs a few hundred Jews. Besides
these, there are many Jewish artisans in Pinsk who are occupied as
nailsmiths, founders, workers in brass, and tanners; in
soap-manufactories, small breweries, violin-string factories, the
molasses-factory, the flaxseed-oil factory, and the ?allit-factory. In
all these the Jewish Sabbath and holy days are strictly observed. Many
Jewish laborers are employed on the docks of Pinsk and as skilled
boatmen.
Pinsk has become one of the chief centers of Jewish industry in
northwest Russia. The total output of its Jewish factories is valued
at two and a half million rubles. The pay of working men per week in
the factories is:
see table
Since 1890 there have been technical classes connected with the Pinsk
Talmud Torah, where the boys learn the trades of locksmiths,
carpenters, etc., and technology, natural history, and drawing.
Bibliography: Regesty i Nadpisi;
Russko-Yevreiski Arkhiv. vols. i. and ii.;
Voskhod, Oct., 1901, p. 23;
Welt, 1898, No. 11.J. G. L.
Rabbis.
The first rabbi mentioned in connection with Pinsk is R. Simson. With
R. Solomon Luria (MaHRaSh) and R. Mordecai of Tiktin, he was chosen,
in 1568, to adjudicate the controversy relating to the association of
Podlasye. His successors were: R. Naphtali, son of R. Isaac Katz
(removed to Lublin; d. 1650); R. Moses, son of R. Israel Jacob (c.
1673; his name occurs in the "Sha'are Shamayim"); R. Naphtali, son of
R. Isaac Ginsburg (d. 1687); R. Samuel Halpern, son of R. Isaac
Halpern (d. 1703; mentioned in "Dibre ?akamim," 1691); R. Isaac Meïr,
son of R. Jonah ?e'omim; R. Samuel, son of R. Naphtali Herz Ginzburg
(mentioned in "'Ammude 'Olam," Amsterdam, 1713); R. Asher Ginzburg
(mentioned in the preface to "Ga'on Lewi"); R. Israel Isher, son of R.
Abraham Mamri (mentioned in Tanna debe Eliyahu, 1747); R. Raphael, son
of R. Jekuthiel Süssel (1763 to 1773; d. 1804); R. Abraham, son of R.
Solomon (mentioned in the "Netib ha-Yashar"); R. Levy Isaac; R.
Abigdor (had a controversy with the ?asidim on the question of giving
precedence in prayers to "Hodu" over "Baruk she-Amar"; the question
was submitted for settlement to Emperor Paul I.: "Voskhod," 1893, i.);
R. Joshua, son of Shalom (Phinehas Michael, "Masseket Nazir,"
Preface); R. ?ayyim ha-Kohen Rapoport (resigned in 1825 to go to
Jerusalem; d. 1840); Aaron of Pinsk (author of "Tosefot Aharon,"
Königsberg, 1858; d. 1842); R. Mordecai Sackheim (1843 to his death in
1853); R. Eleazar Moses Hurwitz (1860 to his death in 1895).
Among those members of the community of Pinsk who achieved distinction
were the following: R. Elijah, son of R. Moses ("?iryah Ne'emanah," p.
125); R. Moses Goldes, grandson of the author of "Tola'at Ya'a?ob"; R.
Kalonymus Kalman Ginzburg (president of the community); R. Jonathan
("Dibre Rab Meshallem"); R. Solomon Bachrach, son of R. Samuel
Bachrach ("Pin?as Tiktin"); R. ?ayyim of Karlin ("'Ir Wilna," p. 31);
R. Solomon, son of R. Asher ("Geburath He-Or"); R. Joseph Janower
("Zeker Yehosef," Warsaw, 1860); R. Samuel, son of Moses Levin ("Ba'al
?edoshim," p. 210); R. Asher, son of R. Kalonymus Kalman Ginzburg
("?iryah Ne'emanah," p. 185); R. Gad Asher, son of R. Joshua Rokea?
("Anshe Shem," p. 63); R. Joshua Ezekiel (ib.); R. ?ayyim Schönfinkel
(ib. p. 70); R. Abraham Isaac ("Birkat Rosh"); R. Notel Michael
Schönfinkel ("Da'at ?edoshim," p. 181); Zeeb, Moses, Issac, and
Solomon Wolf, sons of R. Samuel Levin; R. Jacob Sim?ah Wolfsohn
("Anshe Shem," p. 40); R. Aaron Luria; R. Samuel Radinkovitz.
The writers of Pinsk include: R. Moses Aaron Schatzkes (author of
"Maftea?"), R. ?ebi Hirsch, Shereshevski, A. B. Dobsevage, N. M.
Schaikewitz, Baruch Epstein, E. D. Lifshitz. Abraham Kunki passed
through Pinsk while traveling to collect money for the support of the
Jerusalem Talmud Torah (preface to "Aba? Soferim," Amsterdam, 1704).
In 1781 the heads of the Jewish congregations of Pinsk followed the
example of some Russian Jewish communities by excommunicating the
?asidim. In 1799 the town was destroyed by fire, and its records were
lost. Pinsk has two cemeteries: in the older, interments ceased in
1810. The total population of the town (1905) is about 28,000, of whom
18,000 are Jews.
Karlin:
Until about one hundred years ago Karlin was a suburb of Pinsk, and
its Jewish residents constituted a part of the Pinsk community. Then
R. Samuel Levin obtained the separation of Karlin from Pinsk
(Steinschneider, "'Ir Wilna," p. 188). In 1870 the ?asidim of Karlin
removed to the neighboring town of Stolin. The rabbis of the
Mitnaggedim of Karlin include: R. Samuel Antipoler; R. Abraham
Rosenkranz; the "Rabbi of Wolpe" (his proper name is unknown); R.
Jacob (author of "Miskenot Ya'a?ob") and his brother R. Isaac (author
of "?eren Orah"); R. Samuel Abigdor Tosefa'ah (author of "She'elot
u-Teshubot"); David Friedmann (the present [1905] incumbent; author of
"Yad Dawid").H. R. B. Ei.
--------------------------------------
Pinsk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pinsk is first mentioned in the chronicles of 1097 as Pinesk, a town
belonging to Sviatopolk of Turov. The name is derived from the river
Pina. Pinsk's early history is closely linked with the history of
Turov. Until the mid-12th century Pinsk was the seat of Sviatopolk's
descendants, but a cadet line of the same family established their own
seat at Pinsk after the Mongol invasion of Rus in 1239.
The Pinsk principality had an important strategic location, between
the principalities of Navahrudak and Halych-Volynia, which fought each
other for other Ruthenian territories. Pinsk did not take part in this
struggle, although it was inclined towards the princes of Novaharodak,
which is shown by the fact that the future prince of Novaharodak and
Vaisvilkas of Lithuania spent some time in Pinsk.
In 1320 Pinsk was won by the rulers of Navahrudak, who incorporated it
into their state, known as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From this
time on Pinsk was ruled by Gedimin's eldest son, Narymunt. Afterwards,
for the next two centuries the city had different rulers.
In 1581 Pinsk was granted the Magdeburg rights and in 1569, after the
union of Lithuania with the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, it became the
seat of the province of Brest.
From 1633 on Pinsk had a secondary school, a so-called brotherhood
school (the brotherhoods were religious citizens' organisations with
the aim of providing education for their members and their children).
During the Cossack rebellion of Bohdan Chmielnicki (1640), it was
captured by Cossacks who carried out a pogrom against the city's
Jewish population; the Poles retook it by assault, killing 24,000
persons and burning 5,000 houses. Eight years later the town was
burned by the Russians.
In 1648, on the eve of the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667), Pinsk was
occupied by Ukrainian Cossack army under commander Niababy and could
only be reconquered with great difficulty by prince Janusz Radziwill,
a high-ranking commander in the Polish-Lithuanian army. During the war
between Moscow and Poland-Lithuania (1654-1667) the city suffered
heavily from the attacks of the Muscovite army under Prince Volkolnsky
and its allied army of Ukrainian Cossacks.
Charles XII took it in 1706, and burned the town with its suburbs. In
spite of all the wars the city recovered and the town developed with
the existence of a printing workshop in Pinsk from 1729-44.
Pinsk fell to the Russian Empire in 1793 in the Third Partition of
Poland, became part of Poland in 1920 after the Polish-Soviet War and
was incorporated into Soviet Union in 1939. At this time, the city's
population was over 90% Jewish. From 1941 to 1944 it was occupied by
Nazi Germany, and its Jewish population interned in concentration
camps. Between 18,000 and 30,000 Jewish residents of Pinsk were killed
by the Nazis in the Holocaust. Ten thousand were murdered in one day.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Pinsk has belonged to
the Republic of Belarus.
--------------------------------------------
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pinsk massacre was the murder of thirty-five Jewish residents of
Pinsk taken as hostages by the Polish Army after it captured the city
in April 1919, during the opening phases of the Polish-Soviet War. The
local Jews were arrested while holding a meeting. The Polish officer
in charge, stating that the meeting was a Bolshevik gathering, ordered
the execution of the suspects without trial. His decision was defended
by his Polish military superiors, but widely criticized by
international public opinion.
On April 5th, after the Polish army had occupied Pinsk, some
seventy-five Jewish civilians were participating in a meeting; sources
vary on whether they had obtained permission to do so from the Polish
garrison commander (Major Luczynski)[1] or whether the meeting was not
explicitly authorized.[2] Norman Davies notes that "the nature of the
illegal meeting, variously described as a Bolshevik cell, an assembly
of the local co-operative society, and a meeting of the Committee for
American Relief, was never clarified".[2] The meeting was terminated
and its participants were taken hostage by Polish soldiers, who
believed that the Jews were having a meeting in support of the
Bolsheviks (at that time the entire region was witnessing the
beginning of the Polish-Soviet War and Bolshevik forces were near the
city).[1] [2]
A Polish lieutenant,[3] after hearing rumours that the Jewish
inhabitants of the town, who comprised the majority of the residents
of Pinsk, were preparing to riot, panicked and, instead of carrying
out a further investigation, ordered the execution of the hostages in
order to make an example of them.[2] Within an hour of the arrest,
thirty-five [1][3][4] of the detainees were shot by Polish
soldiers.[4] Norman Davies notes that "most of the victims were
Jewish".[2] The next morning three wounded victims found to be still
alive and were killed by the Poles.[5]
A few days later Jewish population of the city was fined by Polish
military authorities at Pinsk. Fine was 100,000 marks, the same amount
that had been received by Jewish Relief Committee at Pinsk shortly
before[6]
Reactions
Polish army
The Polish Group Commander General Antoni Listowski claimed that the
gathering was a Bolshevik meeting and that the Jewish population
attacked the Polish troops.[5] The overall tension of the military
campaign was brought up as a justification for the crime.[7] The
Polish military refused to give investigators access to documents, and
the officers and soldiers were never punished. Major Luczynski was not
charged for any wrongdoing and was eventually transferred and promoted
reaching the rank of colonel (1919) and general (1924) in the Polish
army.[8] The events were criticized in the Sejm (Polish parliament),
but representatives of the Polish army denied any wrongdoing.[4]
International
In the Western press of the time, the massacre was referred to as the
Polish Pogrom at Pinsk,[9] and was noticed by wider public opinion.
Upon a request of Polish authorities to president Wilson, an American
mission was sent to Poland to investigate nature of the alleged
atrocities. [10] The mission, led by Henry Morgenthau, Sr., published
the Morgenthau Report on October 3, 1919. [5] [11] According to the
findings of this commission, a total of about 300 Jews lost their
lives in this and related incidents. The commission also severely
criticized the actions of Major Luczynski and his superiors with
regards to handling of the events in Pinsk.[5] [11] However the
Morgenthau commission also found out that the Polish military and
civil authorities did do their best to prevent the incidents and their
recurrence in the future; according to Morgenthau the excesses were
"political as well as anti-Semitic in character". [11] [12]
Commemoration
In 1926, kibbutz Gevat (Gvat) was established by emigrants from Pinsk
to the British Mandate of Palestine in commemoration of the Pinsk
massacre victims.
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