The terrible events that unfolded in Ukraine against the backdrop of the civil war could not, of course, fail to reverberate in Belarus, adjacent to Ukraine: pogrom outbreaks occurred here and there, and the Jewish population lived in anxiety and fear. But since there was not that specifically pogrom situation that was created in Ukraine as a result of the most acute internal struggle of political groups, and most importantly, there were no armed counter-revolutionary forces, the pogrom sentiments did not initially assume threatening proportions and did not spill over into such drastic and monstrous forms, like in Ukraine. With the Polish invasion of Belarus in August 1919, the picture changed: a bloody orgy of pogroms immediately began, which lasted about two years and inflicted gaping wounds on the local Jewish population that have not yet been healed. By their pace and scope, Belarusian pogroms are divided into 3 periods. The first period is a period of relatively “moderate” pogroms carried out directly by the Polish army during the 11 months of occupation until the retreat from Belarus. The second period - 1920 - is distinguished by greater ferocity and bloodthirstiness. The White Guard hordes of Balakhovich and Savinkov are already working here, and they are successfully imitating the Petliurites and Denikinites, using their methods entirely; finally, the third period is simply banditry, which raged throughout 1921. But since the Bulak-Balakhovich gangs, as well as bandit gangs, were actually organized under the hands of the Polish command and received supplies from it, then during all these three pogrom periods we justice should be put under one general heading: “Polish pogroms in Belarus.” The pogroms of the first period reflected the specific gentry’s contempt for the Jew and the grossest mockery of his national and human dignity, his religion, culture and his entire way of life. First of all, the Poles widely practiced their favorite technique of cutting off or pulling out the beards of old Jewish men. In many towns at that time it was almost impossible to meet a Jew with part of his beard uncut. This was a kind of shameful mark by which the noble gentry recognized a Jew from afar. Only especially respectable Jews wore a beard without risk or fear, with special permission from the authorities. In this way, a dark page from the Middle Ages was resurrected. Beating with whips was widely used and sometimes took on a completely massive character. There have been cases of mass beatings, as, for example, in the village of Ganevichi, Borisov district, where in August 1919 the Poles carried out executions on the Jewish population, beating the unfortunate people half to death. Blasphemy, desecration of religious objects and mockery of the religious feelings of the Jewish population are also a very characteristic feature of the Polish pogromists. So, for example, in the town of Titovka, in January 1920, the Poles occupied the synagogue, built a closet in the altar, blasphemously mocked the Torah scrolls and, finally, completely destroyed the synagogue to the very foundation. On Saturdays and on the most revered Jewish holidays, the Poles systematically mobilized the Jewish population for hard and unpleasant work, and during the work they mocked their victims and beat them with rifle butts and whips. For example, in Bobruisk, on the day of Yom Kippur (judgment day), in 1919, the entire Jewish male population was expelled from all synagogues and sent under escort 8 miles from the city to load hay. On the occasion of fasting, the Jews were in only stockings, without shoes, but the soldiers did not allow them to put on shoes the whole way showered them with a hail of beatings. The hay was in a marshy, swampy meadow, and the Jews had to wade knee-deep in water and from there carry the hay to the carts, which were placed half a mile from the stack. All this work, like many others, had the character of an acute mockery of Jewish population. Here are a few striking touches that characterize the atrocities and mockery of Polish soldiers. In the town of Glusk, Polish soldiers rounded up the Jewish population at night to damage and cut down telegraph poles, and the soldiers mercilessly beat everyone with whips and rifle butts, forced them to touch electrical wires, entangled them in wire, drove them into the field to dig holes, forced them to fill up these holes and again dig: with the help of beatings they forced their victims to lie down on the ground, jump up, march, do gymnastics, dance, etc. until the morning, and in the end, having robbed and robbed them completely, they were sent home. In another village in the Mozyr district, the Poles subjected 11 Jews to the following painful torture: they forced the unfortunate people to drink water and drink a whole bucket without a break. To do this, they stuck sticks in their mouths, artificially induced vomiting and forced them to drink again, then, laying everyone on the ground, covered them with boards and led several horses over them; finally, having had enough fun with the victims, they put stones around their necks and threw them into Pripyat... Cases of senseless cruelty of Polish legionnaires are far from dinic. So, for example, in the village of Berezina, in August 1919, the Poles buried citizens alive. Zalman - manufacturer - on suspicion of Bolshevism; the same terrible fate befell the family in Bobruisk. Hekler of 9 souls suspected of communism. The entire family was arrested and then disappeared without a trace. Quite by accident, a pit was subsequently discovered, in which they found the unfortunate people with crushed skulls, broken limbs, etc. The examination established that some of the women from among these 9 victims were buried alive. In Mozyr, in broad daylight in the city garden, three Jews were hanged by the Poles on suspicion of allegedly espionage. Somewhat later, during the retreat from Mozyr, a Jew and a Russian were hanged on the same birch tree without any reason, and the Poles forced private individuals, under threat of death, to help the executioner. Refining themselves in cruelty and mockery of the Jewish population, the arrogant gentlemen came up with such innocent amusements as tying old Jewish men to horse tails or harnessing Jews to a cart instead of horses and riding them around the city for the amusement of the crowd. It should be noted that such vileness was, by the way, carried out in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where the Jewish element constitutes the majority of the population and plays a very prominent role in the economic, political and social life of the city. To put an end to the question of the Poles’ bullying of the Jewish population, one should also point out the coercion, through threats and beatings, to dance, sing and shout: “Long live Poland!..” The Polish bullying was so unbearable that many preferred death and often found her at the hands of a Polish torturer... As for qualified pogrom actions, this includes mainly robberies, arson and violence against women. In those areas that served as transit points, robberies continued continuously for many months. In this respect, the Poles were in no way inferior to the Petliurites and Denikinites; they took not only clothes, linen and shoes, but also furniture and even household utensils, and all this was openly and organizedly loaded onto carts, transferred to wagons and sent to Poland, and what could not be taken away was destroyed right there on the spot . Thanks to such a barbaric regime of the Polish occupiers, the Jewish population of these areas was ruined to the ground and completely impoverished. Particularly devastating were the numerous fires caused by the Poles in cities and towns. This vandalism, which had punitive and terrorist purposes, was the greatest disaster for the Jewish population of Belarus. We will dwell in detail on the bloody exploits of Bulak-Balakhovich, as well as on the adventures of various gangs of bandits, in the next chapter. For now, we will only note that these henchmen of the Polish bourgeoisie carried out their tasks not out of fear, but out of conscience, diligently copying the Petliura and Denikin pogromists. So, the general picture of the pogrom period in Ukraine and Belarus emerged before us with sufficient clarity. For greater completeness and completeness, we can only touch upon the question of the attitude of the non-Jewish population in the mass to these terrible events and, in particular, of the attitude of the Soviet government towards anti-Semitism and pogromists. Numerous observations of the victims themselves give us irrefutable evidence that the attitude of the non-Jewish masses of the population towards the pogroms was, in general, absolutely negative. Not to mention the advanced layers of the proletarian and labor intelligentsia, it can be argued that the more cultured part of the urban philistinism, as well as a significant part of the poor peasantry, reacted sensitively to the pogroms and came to the aid of the pogrom population in one form or another. Most often, it was necessary to hide the doomed population from the raging gangs, and this help was often provided to the Jewish population at the risk of their own lives, because the pogromists brutally dealt with such “Jewish patrons.” Among the pogrom materials there are documents testifying to the selfless activities of certain influential individuals to whom hundreds of Jews owe their salvation. (These are, for example, Perederya, Verkhola, etc. See Chapter III). If this had not happened, the Jewish population would have been completely exterminated, and the surviving part would have died from hunger, cold and disease. These bright glimpses of humanity brought a living, invigorating current into the poisoned atmosphere of savagery and villainy, saturated with the blood and suffering of three million people. In moments of the darkest despair, the hunted and exhausted Jewish population drew from this consolation and hope that all was not lost and that with the destruction of the counter-revolutionary forces, better times would come. We already know now that these hopes were fully justified. The triumph of the revolution and the victory of Soviet power brought salvation and fraternal assistance to the exhausted Jewish population of Ukraine and Belarus, over which for four years the sword of Damocles hung over the united and united counter-revolution and reaction.