Introduction

Pogroms are commonly defined as ethnic riots that last several days and involve a large number of assailants and victims. Some events that took place in Poland from 1935 to 1937 fit this definition, but conditions in Poland during this period more closely resemble what Leshchinsky calls a “permanent pogrom”—a single, sustained collective event stretching over nearly three years and involving many discrete bursts of property destruction and interpersonal violence varying widely in duration, intensity, and level of participation. The permanent pogrom normalized fear in Poland’s Jewish population. Organized groups of Jewish workers in particular managed to fight assailants and organize anti-pogrom protests, but on the whole Jewish resistance was piecemeal and largely ineffective. Leshchinsky recognized that the permanent pogrom stemmed from the incompatibility between Polish industrialization and the ethnic composition of the country’s class structure. However, the timing, scope, and severity of violence were largely the outcome of political circumstances.