Haldan wrote:Vallon wrote:And just out of curiosity - what is the revisionist position on earlier pogroms, like for example the one in 1919?
I don't understand the relevance of the question.
-haldan
I think I do. I had no idea that there had been claims of a previous massacre of Jews in Proskurov. Along with two striking similarities, a convergence of numbers, and a lurid pictographic history.
You guys know how in 1919 there were the newspaper articles in the West stating that 6,000,000 Jews in Europe were facing a "holocaust" and needed immediate help? There's even a revisionist book on that subject.
Here in Proskurov, they're claiming that, also in 1919, 1600 Jews were massacred in an anti-semitic pogram. The claim of the World War Two account is that 1700 Jews were massacred in an Einstazgruppen Aktion.
Two different numbers converge - 1600/1700 and 1919. I work on stage a lot, and the rule is - if it plays, run with it. In this case, the story of a massacre in Proskurov found an audience in 1919, so why not again in 1942? Worth a try, that's for sure.
I'm going to study Vallon's material, which is brand new to me. The fact that Vallon's material is linked to a Zionist organization I never heard of before that operated in the depths of the Ukraine in 1919 (A period of the most violent possible civil war) suggests many interesting questions.
Vallon, is there info on the town of Proskurov itself? Population, industry, ethnic makeup, local economy, etc? If it was picked out twice as the setting for a "massacre", I'm sure there is a reason why. After all, according to the 1919 story, most of the Jewish population was killed. How is it that they were restored in time for the Einstatzgruppen to "repeat history"?
Also, from about 1919-1923, the Ukraine was to some degree an independent country, something Stalin moved to destroy with his manmade famine. How did a Jewish community manage to re-establish itself under those conditions? Settled in from Russia?
Be patient. The relevance of the 1919 "massacre" to the 1942 "massacre" will reveal itself with a little research. In particular, I'm wondering if some of the same names might be found.
Two different "massacres" with just about the same death toll, in the same location, under remarkably similar circumstances sounds like more than a coincidence.