- published: 20 Apr 2014
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A pogrom (Russian: погро́м) is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centers. It originally and still typically refers to 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews, particularly in the Russian Empire.
Infamous pogroms include the Odessa pogroms, Warsaw pogrom (1881), Kishinev pogrom (1903), Kiev Pogrom (1905), Białystok pogrom (1906), Lwów pogrom (1918), and Kiev Pogroms (1919). The most infamous pogrom in Nazi Germany was the Kristallnacht of 1938, in which at least 91 Jews were killed, a further 30,000 arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps, over 1,000 synagogues burned, and over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged.
Notorious pogroms of World War II included the 1941 Farhud in Iraq, the Iaşi pogrom in Romania – in which over 13,200 Jews were killed – and the Jedwabne pogrom in Poland. Post World War II pogroms included the 1945 Tripoli pogrom, the 1946 Kielce pogrom, and the 1947 Aleppo pogrom.