1900–1939
Mass expulsion ordered by the Russian command
1915·Zone de Résidence
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
Jews from Courland, Lithuania and Galicia expelled from the army zone, accused of espionage
The Russian command ordered the expulsion of Jews from the army zone, accusing them wholesale of espionage on behalf of Germany. The communities of Courland, Lithuania, and Galicia were driven into the interior, often within a matter of hours, without being allowed to take their belongings.
This was one of the largest forced displacements of population Europe had known before the next war. It had an effect the command had not foreseen: the Pale of Settlement, which barred Jews from the interior of the Empire, could no longer be maintained, since the army itself was pouring hundreds of thousands of expellees into it. The institution thus died, not through reform but through its own contradiction.
- Period :
- 1900–1939
- Type :
- Expulsion
- Region :
- Central and Eastern Europe
- Country :
- Empire russe
Ordres du commandement russe ; rapports des comités de secours juifs.