Enemies for a Day: Antisemitism and Anti-Jewish Violence in Lithuania Under the Tsars

297 Pages·2015·2.23 MB·English

by  Darius Staliunas

Between 1881 and 1914 antisemitic violence was relatively rare in the Lithuanian AE E N E M I E S
provinces of the Tsarist Empire compared to the situation in the south (present- ntN
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day Ukraine). Yet after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, e
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Lithuanians participated in signifi cant numbers in the Nazi mass-murder of the
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Jewish population. This important and well-researched book seeks, at least in part, isE for a D AY
to explain this apparent paradox through a detailed examination of the roots and mS
extent of antisemitic prejudice in the Lithuanian lands before 1914. It is essential an fo
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reading for all those interested in inter-ethnic confl ict in Eastern Europe and the Ar
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. na
t
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Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis -J
eA
University wY
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s
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The issue of pogroms in Lithuania has never been systematically studied. Staliunas
V
does this and also puts it in a comparative framework. It is very original, very io ANTISEMITISM AND
stimulating and very convincing. le
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Shaul Stampfer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem c Darius Staliūnas ANTI-JEWISH VIOLENCE IN
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This is an exemplarily comprehensive, thorough and L LITHUANIA UNDER
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perceptive study, based on exhaustive research t
h
u THE TSARS
and keenly mindful of the preceding historiography.
a
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Mikhail Dolbilov, University of Maryland ia

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About the author e
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Darius Staliūnas is Deputy Director of t
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the Lithuanian Institute of History, Vilnius; e

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the author of Making Russians. Meaning s
a
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and Practice of Russifi cation in Lithuania s
and Belarus after 1863 (Amsterdam/New D
York: Rodopi, 2007). a
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i
u
s
On the cover:
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Tel’shi, Market Square, beginning of the 20th c.
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From Fotografas Chaimas Kaplanskis. a
Vakarų Lietuva XIX a. pab. – XX a. vid. li
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Courtesy of Samogitian museum “Alka.” n
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ISBN 978-963-386-097-7
Central European University Press
Budapest – New York
Sales and information:
[email protected]
Website: http://www.ceupress.com
SSttaall__ppaappeerrbbaacckk..iinndddd 11 33//3300//1155 11::1100 PPMM
ENEMIES FOR A DAY
HISTORICAL STUDIES
in Eastern Europe and Eurasia
VOLUME III
SERIES EDITORS
Alexei Miller, Alfred Rieber,
Marsha Siefert
ENEMIES FOR A DAY
Antisemitism
and Anti-Jewish Violence in
Lithuania under the Tsars
DARIUS STALIŪNAS
Central European University Press
Budapest–New York
© 2015by Darius Staliūnas
Published in 2015by
Central European University Press
An imprint of the
Central European University Limited Liability Company
Nador utca 11, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary
Tel: [phone] or 327-3000
Fax:[phone]
E-mail:[email protected]
Website:www.ceupress.com
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Tel: [phone]
E-mail:[email protected]
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, without the permission
of the Publisher.
ISBN 978-963-386-072-4
ISBN 978-963-386-097-7
ISSN 2306-3637
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Staliūnas, Darius, author.
Enemies for a day : Antisemitism and Anti-Jewish violence in Lithuania under
the Tsars / Darius Staliūnas.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-9633860724
1. Antisemitism—Lithuania—History—19th century. 2. Jews—Lithuania—
History—19th century. 3. Lithuania—Ethnic relations. I. Title.
DS146.L53S73 2014
305.892’40479309034—dc23
2014028552
Printed in Hungary by
Prime Rate Kft., Budapest
To the memory of John D. Klier

Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
|
1
The Blood Libel in Nineteenth-Century Lithuania 17
|
2
Antisemitism in Lithuania 63
|
3
Lithuania during the “Storms in the South”
(Early 1880s) 85
|
4
How Insulted Religious Feelings Turned
into Pogroms: Lithuania in 1900 129
|
5
Antisemitic Tensions and Pogroms in
the Late Imperial Period 171
|
6
Comparative Perspective 211
Conclusion 251
Bibliography 257
Index 281

Preface and Acknowledgments
When there is a discussion revolving around Lithuanians, Jews, and
violence, reference is made as a rule to the events of World War II, in
which more than 90 percent of Lithuanian Jews were killed. This
theme has already attracted the interest of researchers, including those
in Lithuania in the last decade. What is lacking, however, is attention
to the earlier, pre-Holocaust, history of the Lithuanian Jews. This book
is about the nineteenth century, when Lithuania was part of the Rus -
sian Empire, and focuses on the relations between Christians and Jews.
Although the questions that the book attempts to answer are related
to the number of pogroms and their causes and circumstances, the ana -
lysis of anti-Jewish violence is actually important in a much broader
context, as it reveals the relations between Christians and Jews, their
images of each other, and various informal hierarchies. The topic of
pogroms in the Romanov Empire has garnered considerable interest
among scholars, mostly thanks to the recently deceased John D. Klier,
to whose memory this book is dedicated. The researchers, however,
have been primarily attracted by those regions of the Russ ian Empire
where anti-Jewish violence reached a larger scale, and so less attention
was given to the pogroms in Lithuania.
Although this project has been intensively developed over the last
three to four years, the earliest text I wrote on this theme came out
some ten years ago. From then until the submission of this manuscript
in summer 2013, I have received support from a number of individuals
and institutions. The most support, advice, and valuable observations
came from my colleagues Vladimir Levin and Vilma Žaltauskaitė, who
have helped me innumerable times. I also thank Eglė Bendikaitė,
Mikhail Dolbilov, David Fishman, Il’ia Gerasimov, Guido Hausmann,
Ēriks Jēkabsons, Lara Lempert, Lidija Levchenko, Veniamin Lukin,
Dangiras Mačiulis, Zita Medišauskienė, Elmantas Meilus, Rimantas
Miknys, Ol’ga Min kina, Vytautas J. Petronis, Stefan Rodhewald, Vladas
Sirutavičius, Shaul Stampfer, Giedrius Subačius, Saulius Sužiedėlis,
Žilvytis Šaknys, Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė, Andrzej Tikhomirov,
Paul W. Werth, and Gitana Zujienė for their assistance. This project