Sources

This book is based on the documents in the Archives of the Editorial Board for the Collection and Investigation of Materials Concerning the Pogroms in Ukraine, and in general these materials fall into two categories:

I. The Board’s own documents:

1. Special investigations that the Board itself sponsored by sending people to certain locations. Although Kiev was cut off from the rest of the province, and it was dangerous to travel on the trains, especially for Jews, the Board managed to investigate Boyarka, Fastiv, and to some extent the Jewish agricultural community of Koldubitsk-Obraztsova, near Fastiv.
2. Eyewitness testimony from observers and victims. This comprised the bulk of the documentation. We interviewed people on site and homeless people who had fled to Kiev. We used a certain format and were careful in choosing subjects. The testimony was recorded using the person’s own words. We tried to interview as many people as possible from the same location, people from different classes, so that there would be an impartial verification of the testimony.
3. Reports from the Board’s own correspondents.
4. Official reports (in copies) from government officials.
5. Complaints and appeals by victims to the regime.
6. Documents: proclamations, commands, orders, etc. from the regime, social organizations, etc.
7. Lists of the names of those who had been murdered.
8. Newspaper materials.

   II. Documentation from other organizations and institutions that the Board has in its archives
   (mostly copies). The most important among these are materials are:

   1. From the Russian Red Cross (specifically the Relief Committee for Victims of Pogroms of the Russian Red Cross in Kiev). The Red Cross worked on behalf of pogrom victims, sent people to pogrom areas, kept correspondents there, and had an information office in Kiev to collect documentation. The most significant among those materials were:

      1. Reports from those fully-authorized to do relief work on site. The Red Cross also had: 2. Testimonies of victims and witnesses, 3. Documents, 4. Lists of those who had been murdered.

   2. Reports from the Central Jewish Committee for the Assistance of Pogroms (in Kiev), especially the Committee’s Legal Office. This office gathered very important documents, especially the Kiev pogrom (eyewitness testimony). There were also:

      1. Reports from fully-authorized local committees and correspondents, 2. Testimonies of victims, 3. Documents, 4. Complaints and petitions by victims to the authorities, 5. Memoranda from the Committee itself to the authorities and other institutions.

   3. Reports from Jewish communities
      1. Kharkiv, especially pogroms in Kharkiv province and massacres on the railroads.
         1. Testimonies of victims.
         2. Hostages in Valk.
         3. The discussion between the Jewish delegation and General Denikin of 26 July (8 August) 1919, and the memorandum that the delegation delivered to Denikin.
      2. Kiev
         1. Testimonies of victims.
         2. Various memoranda.
      3. From the League to Combat Anti-Semitism (Kiev). These are mostly reports to the Prosecutor in the Court concerning plundering and massacres against Jews in Kiev.
      4. From various organizations
         1. From the Union for the Regeneration of Russia (copies of memoranda to General Denikin and General Bredov, with detailed information on the pogroms.
         2. From the organization Poalei-Zion (reports, testimonies).
         3. Various others.

            On the worst pogroms, the Editorial Board and other institutions independently gathered parallel materials, on their own. On those pogroms there are reports both from correspondents and eyewitnesses.