New-York tribune., 1919-05-19
Lemberg Pogroms
Called Deliberate
Work of Pole Chiefs
Jewish Author Publishes
Description of Horrors;
Offers to Submit Proofs
to Neutral Commission

10 neutral COMMISSION
A book of horrors has just been
published in Vienna, according to a
statement issued by the Zionist Or
ganizaton of America The book is
entitled "The Lemberg Pogrom" and
its author, Joseph Bendow, has at
tempted to set down spassionately
the detailed story of the terrors that
to January l last. Of those who died in
this pogrom, or, rather, series of po-
groms, seventy-two have been identified
and their names recorded, but the list
of names, says the author, gives but an
incomplete picture, "as many of the
killed were burned to cinders in the
houses that were set afre, while in
other cases the corpses were so badly
disfgured indentitication was impossi-
ble."
The book contains, among other feat
ures, the depositions of $500 families
posed mainly of Polish soldiers. A
statistical table shows that soldiers
participated in 2,S06 robberies, some of
them resulting in the murder of re-
sisting victims; in 494 of these cases
they were led by officers; officers alone
participated in six robberies; civilians
joined with the roting soldiers in S91
cases. Only six cases are recorded
where the rioting mobs consisted en-
tirely of civilians.
In the Jewish section Of the city
442 houses were ruined by fire during
the pogroms; 173 were burned to the
ground, and Of the rest only black
ened walls remained standing.
Four Synagogues Burned
These figures, taken from a table
which gives the names of the streets
and the numbers of houses on each
that were set afre, do not include a
number of retail shops and four syn
agogues. Nor do they include seventy
five other houses where the incendiary
efforts somehow failed, and eighteen
other houses which were damaged by
means other than fire.
The author stresses the point that
the pogroms were permitted by the
Polish authorities, Notwithstanding
formal agreement had been en-
tered into recognizing and sanctioning
Jewish neutrality in the conflict be-
tween the Poles and the Ukrainians
The agreement, which is reproduced in
facsimile, is signed by Bronslaw La
pinski, chief of staff for the Polish
army, and by three representatives of
the Jewish community. 1t provides for
Jewish militia, bearing arms and dis
tingished by white grassard,
whose duty it was to maintain order
and security in the quarters of the
town inhabited by the Jews. The only
restrictions governing this Jewish mil
tia were that their names should be
certified to the Polish authorities; that
the members should bear written au-
thorizations signed by the Jewish COM
mittee, and that they should not take
part in the fighting, either on the
Polish or Ukranian side. The fifth
paragraph of this agreement, which is
dated November 10, reads: "The Polish
army will respect the neutrality of the
Jewish militia
Witnesses Accuse Poles
The author goes carefully into the
question of the organization of the
pogrom. He gives the dispositions of
eighty witnesses selected from several
hundred, tending to prove the partici-
patton of the soldiery; that as a re-
ward for the capture Of the town from
the Ukrainians the Polish troops were
given the privilege of looting the Jew
ish quarter; that the police were
either passive onloo.ers or, in most
cases, active participants in the po-
groms, and that innumerable automo~
biles, heavily laden with stolen goods,
were driven directly to the various
military headquarters and encamp-
ments, where their loads were dis
charged.
Lieutenant Colonel Czeslaw Mac
zynski, the military commander of
Lemberg, is written down as "the
guiding spirit of the whole pogrom
movement, destroying fend who
famed the pogrom flame by all the
means at hiss command, although he,
above all others, knew that the Lem
berg Jews were without weapons of any
kind and could neither attack any one
nor defend themselves, and that all the
silly twaddle about their shooting from
ambush, throwing hatchets and threat
ening with boiling water was merely
the invention of malicious and evil
minds. Not single word or all these
accusations was true, and - to the
present day Maczynski is seeking in
vain for such Established facts as
might serve to make his disgraceful
deeds appear in the light Of defensive
measures"
Another chapter is devoted to the
attitude of the Polish populace and
press. The author demonstrates that
the entire Polish community of Lem
berg, with hardly an exception, well
coined the pogrom and identified them
selves with it. The press completely
ignored the outrages, limiting them
selves to brief items under such head
lines as "Fires" or big Conhagra-
tions."
Names Are Withheld
The bulk of the book is devoted to
detailed descriptions by victims of
what befell them and of the brutal
murders that they were compelled to
Witness The names of the witnesses