18th century
Massacre of the Koliivchtchyna
1768·Balta
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
the city taken by the Haydamaks, the Jewish quarter destroyed
Balta stood on the frontier: the town was divided by the river, one half Polish, the other Ottoman. When the haidamaks of Maksym Zalizniak swept across the Polish bank, they pursued their victims beyond the line, into the sultan's territory. The Jewish quarter was destroyed, its inhabitants killed or scattered. The incident transcended the locality: the violation of Ottoman soil served as a pretext for the Porte to declare war on Russia, whose troops were pursuing the Bar confederates in the region. Balta thus remains the only massacre of the Koliivshchyna whose aftermath can be read in the diplomatic history of Europe.
- Period :
- 18th century
- Type :
- Massacre
- Region :
- Central and Eastern Europe
- Country :
- Ukraine
Simon Doubnov, *Histoire des Juifs de Russie et de Pologne* ; Vladimir Antonovitch, *Actes relatifs aux mouvements haïdamaks* ; *Encyclopaedia Judaica*, article « Haidamacks ».