In The Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918-1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust

In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918-1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust by Jeffrey Veidlinger is a work of non-fiction positing that the genocide which took place in the Pale of Settlement following the Russian Revolution was a dress rehearsal for the Holocaust. This particular era of Jewish bloodshed is often overlooked, eclipsed by the Holocaust or lumped in with the wave of pogroms in the Pale of Settlement following the assassination of Alexander II in 1881. Further, until recently, Soviet documents detailing it were hidden and, per this book’s thesis, it is not politically convenient for the world to remember. This history is personal to me as I’m partially descended from teenage survivors of this particular genocide.

The book pulls no bunches in its descriptions and thus trigger warnings are necessary for descriptions of murder, violence, rape, torture, and antisemitism.

I found the book dense but necessary. It centers a corner of the world, whose population is divided into warring political factions—Bolsheviks, Russian Nationalists, Ukrainian Nationalists, Polish Nationalists, who each join together—soldiers and civilians—to slaughter their Jewish neighbors in what is now primarily Ukraine, as well as Poland, Belarus, and the Baltic states. Each political faction blamed Jews for their past woes and claimed “the Jews” conspired with whichever political movement they disliked the most.

In truth, though Jewish activists existed within each of the various political factions, most of the Jewish population lacked firm political inclination because, as my great-grandfather once said, we were “too poor for opinions.” Further, the Jews living in the Pale lacked political influence, except, as often happens with antisemitism, to act as a unifier for disparate gentiles to come together and slaughter.

The book describes each major political movement with nuance and complexity, while also explaining how hundreds of thousands of Jews were slaughtered in the name of so many disparate ideas—communism, western-style democracy, self-determination, etc.

While the book spends significant time relaying the events and their roots, the author focused equal or more time on the world’s response to these events focused not on saving lives but on their own political interests.

Of particular note, it was clear that Jews in the United States knew of the danger and became concerned over the killing. However, American interests aligned with that of a democratic independent Poland. And, to those ends, refused to even use diplomatic pressure to stop the bloodshed, instead
adopting the antisemitic position proposed by Polish leaders at the time—that the Jews were “exaggerating,” and secretly aligned with the Bolsheviks or the Russians or the Germans and thus merely seeking to undermine Poland and the west.

Additionally, the book recounts how Polish politicians successfully used the Tulsa Massacre to push back against the idea of American moral authority. It is reiterated that this was duplicated by Germany during WWII, who were prepared to use the specter of Jim Crow to undermine any objection
that the west might have had to its treatment of Jews.

There is also an excellent discussion of the limited options for refugees and how western countries amended their laws to prevent Jewish refugees from this particular genocide from immigrating. Further, U.S. immigration laws in 1921, 1922, and 1924 were aimed directly and specifically at limiting the number of Jews admitted into the U.S. and most certainly contributed to the death toll in
the Holocaust.

As previously stated, the book carefully lays out the case that the world’s response to this particular genocide set the table for the Holocaust and that response is why several hundred thousand became six million. Moreover, a direct line can be made from the antisemitic theories espoused by the world then and the antisemitism of today.

Further, this book makes a subtle argument against people who argue that the Holocaust is only remembered because it involves Jews (implying the deeply antisemitic idea that Jews have special power and privilege). It is clear from the actual history outlined that Jewish genocide (or antisemitism for that matter) is only notable when it can be used for the political benefit of gentiles. While the Holocaust can be laundered to bolster the western claim to a moral high ground during WWII, this genocide cannot, and thus it and the hundreds of thousands of people who died are forgotten.

The biggest criticism I have with this book, is that it lacks certain historical context for readers. While it discusses the Pale of Settlement, and generally alludes to the fact that the Jews of the Russian Empire were required to live there under draconian rules governing their lives, I think, despite the length, most readers probably needed more information. I’m not sure one can understand the period without an acknowledgement that the systemic discrimination of Jews was one of the ways the Tsarist Russia held onto its territories and quelled rebellions from other ethnic minorities prior to the
revolution.

Further, I’m not sure one can understand the position of the Jews in the Pale without discussing that while some of them lived in those territories before the partition of Poland in the 18 th century (first arriving in the 15 th century after a series of expulsions in the west), many Jews were “resettled” in the Pale from elsewhere in Russia in the late 18 th and 19 th centuries.

These details don’t excuse the behavior of the various gentile groups. Nevertheless, they would give a particular context to how Jews were always seen as foreign and not necessarily considered to have a place in any of the proposed new nations, demonstrating the fine line between anticolonial self- determination and ethnonationalism. However, given the considerable length of the book, such would’ve most likely been very difficult.

All and all, the book, while not easily read by a casual reader or a reader without some context, is still an extremely well-done, well-researched, and important book. Its thesis is relevant today, on a variety of fronts, from fighting antisemitism to understanding how even the best ideals can be used to commit evil acts.

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