Timeline of pogroms in the former Soviet occupation zone – summer of 1941

Latvia

4 July pogrom in Riga

Having entered the town, German Einsatzgruppe A initiated a pogrom with the participation of Latvian units. Ca. 400 Jews were murdered and all synagogues were burned down.

Lithuania

25–29 June pogrom in Kaunas 

Massacre of the Jewish population perpetrated by Lithuanian paramilitary units under the command of Algirdas Klimaistis after Germans had seized the town. The anti-Jewish incident was inspired by Franz Stahlecker, the leader of Einsatzgruppe A, who reported the killing of 3,800 Jews in Kaunas and 1,200 in surrounding localities as of 28 June.

Łomża and Białystok regions

5 July pogrom in Wąsosz

Perpetrated by Polish inhabitants after the visit of the Gestapo in the town. Jews were killed with knives and clubs. The death toll was probably 150-250 people, although some claim that there may have been as many as 1,200 victims.

7 July pogrom in Radziłów

Mass murder perpetrated on the Jewish population by the town’s Polish inhabitants; before the pogrom, the Gestapo had arrived to the town. According to available data, 800 people were killed, out of which 500 were burned alive in a barn.

10 July pogrom in Jedwabne

Mass murder perpetrated on the Jewish population by a group of Polish inhabitants of the town in the presence, and probably also at the inspiration, of Germans. Some victims were killed with clubs, knives, etc., but the majority was burned alive in a barn.

Eastern Galicia

29 June pogrom in Borysław (Ukr. Boryslav; Lviv Province)

Ukrainian nationalists started to murder Jews after Germans had entered the town; Jewish people were forcibly taken out of their homes and herded to the prison where corpses of prisoners killed by the NKVD had been found; 300 people were murdered.

30 June – 2 July pogrom in Lviv

Before the Soviet forces finally withdrew from the town, they had murdered ca. 7,000 prisoners held in four jails in Lviv. Once Germans had entered the town, Ukrainian nationalists gathered all Jews and forced them to wash the corpses of the killed, which were already decomposing in the summer heat. The gathered were then forced to run the gauntlet formed by people holding clubs and rocks. Ca. 4,000 Jews were killed.

2–3 July pogrom in Niezwiska (Ukr. Nezvysko; Stanisławów Province)

By night, Ukrainian fascists forced Jews out of their houses in Niezwiska and in nearby villages: Harasymów, Łuka, Uniż, Podwierbiec, Woronów, Żabokruk, Żywaczów, and Piotrów; they murdered them by throwing them overboard from the ferry in Łuka into the Dniester.

2–4 July pogrom in Złoczów (Ukr. Zolochiv; Tarnopol Province)

Perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists and German soldiers. Having entered the town, Germans discovered several hundred victims of the NKVD and used it as a pretext for organising a pogrom of Jews, who were accused of supporting communism. Ca. 3,000 Jews died.

4-11 July pogrom in Tarnopol

It was similar to the pogrom in Złoczów; units of Einatzgruppe C and Ukrainian nationalists murdered over 600 people.

25-27 July Petlura Days in Lviv

Pass murder perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists; the name derives from the event commemorating Ukrainian leader Symon Petlura which was taking place at the time of the pogrom; 1,500-2,000 Jews were killed.

Romania

29 June – 6 July pogrom in Jassy

Directed against the Jewish population, which the regime of Antonescu considered to be a “fifth column” sabotaging the Romanian war effort against the USSR. Among the perpetrators of the pogrom were the local police, soldiers, and civilians. According to some estimates, as many as 13,000 people were killed.

5-6 July pogrom in Czerniowce (Ukr. Chernivtsi)

Perpetrated by Romanian soldiers and the local population soon after the withdrawal of Soviet forces. 2,000 people were killed. During the process of Romanian forces entering the territory of northern Bukovina, previously taken by the USSR in 1940, the total of tens of thousands Jews were killed. A similar wave of murders swept through Bessarabia.

6 July pogrom in Jedyńce (Rom. Edinet)

500 Jews were killed after Romanian forces had entered the town.

11 July pogrom in Bielce (Rom. Balti)

500 Jews were killed in similar circumstances.

17 July pogrom in Kishinev (Rom. Chisinau)

Organised after Romanian and German forces had entered the town; ca. 10,000 Jews were killed.