A Pogrom in Poland by Edna Worthley Underwood
During the Day of Atonement, Polish Jews gather in the Temple, where Reb Chajim’s cantor’s voice and the congregation’s prayers rise from generations of want, disgrace, and persecution. The men wear white grave-clothes and pray for life and mercy; the women weep in the balcony. Among them, Rivkele Kalischer is unable to pray. Three weeks earlier, Cossacks burst into her home on Friday evening and hanged her husband and brother-in-law from her balcony, falsely posting that they had been executed for refusing to change a three-ruble note. She and the other Jews were forced to watch the bodies for twenty-four hours. As the congregation reaches the solemn climax of the service, sounding the shofar and proclaiming, “Hear Israel!—the Eternal, the one God—the eternally One!”, a boy warns that Cossacks have surrounded the Temple. Panic spreads, but old Rabbi Zaddik orders the people to remain calm and continue praying. Cossacks break in and accuse the Rabbi of aiding the Austrian troops, though he explains that he had met the German and Austrian armies with a Polish officer and citizens only to beg protection for the people. The officer calls this a lie, claims a telephone is hidden in the altar as a signal to the enemy, and orders Rabbi Zaddik and eleven other men hanged. The Cossacks seize the Rabbi, the cantor, and others from the front seats. A woman leaps from the balcony, crying that she will bring the rope; the officer then reduces the number to eleven. The Cossacks build scaffolds upon the Temple’s pillars while the women beg and the men hide their faces beneath their prayer cloths. The congregation repeats its death-prayer, “Hear Israel! the Eternal, our God, the eternally One!” as the eleven are hanged. The Cossacks desecrate the altar, smash sacred objects, throw the Torah roll to the floor, and steal gold and silver. The survivors are ordered immediately into exile for supposedly betraying the city to the Germans. They beg to return home for their babies, sick relatives, or food after their fast, but the Cossacks tell them that everything has been burned and destroyed. Driven out with bayonets, about ten thousand men, women, and children leave the city on the Day of Atonement. They are forced through the night toward the Vistula and told they might as well throw themselves into the river. A Rabbi from another Temple carries a rescued Torah roll at the head of the ghostly procession of white-clad exiles, who continue to cry, “Hear Israel!”
By Edna Worthley Underwood · First published 1919 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Tragedy, Religious Fiction · 3,067 words
First lines
JOACHIM FRIEDENTHAL
High and clear rang the cantor's voice. It was as if with musical fervor / it tried to reach heaven itself, to plead that a door be opened and / mercy granted, to plead that an ear be made sympathetic, to plead that / the suffering in the heart of Jehova make it tremble with pity. [10]
[10] This is a story of the late war.
Never so splendidly before sang Reb Chajim's voice, sang the ancient / melodies of the Day of Atonement. The voices of the men joined with it. / With heaven-storming power they rose to heights of melody and then sank / to depths again, as the pain of despair increased within them and opened / up their measureless grief.
What this Textopian page supports
A Pogrom in Poland is listed on Textopian as a short story by Edna Worthley Underwood, dated 1919 CE.
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- Work type: Short story
- Author: Edna Worthley Underwood
- Date: 1919 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Tragedy, Religious Fiction, Pogrom Literature, War Literature
- Length: 3,067 words
- Structure: 1 section, 39 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Historical Fiction — The narrative explicitly frames itself as a story of WWI Poland, depicting specific historical events involving Cossacks, German-Austrian armies, and systemic persecution of Jewish communities during wartime.
- Tragedy — The work follows classical tragic structure with catastrophic outcomes: mass execution of religious leaders, forced exile of ten thousand people, desecration of sacred spaces, and the complete destruction of a community's way of life.
- Religious Fiction — The narrative is saturated with Jewish religious practice, theology, and spirituality, centered entirely on Yom Kippur observance, prayer, faith, the Torah, and the spiritual struggle to maintain belief amid persecution.
- Pogrom Literature — The work directly chronicles a pogrom against Polish Jews, depicting systematic violence, mass hangings, forced displacement, arson, and harassment orchestrated by Cossack authorities against the civilian Jewish population.
Tags
historical-violence · Poland · anti-Semitism · pogrom · Jewish-persecution · ethnic-conflict · non-fiction · historical-narrative · early-twentieth-century · survivor-accounts · tragedy · religious-persecution