Siedlce pogrom Siedlce pogrom refers to the events of September 8 – 10 or 11 , 1906 , in Siedlce , ( Congress ) Kingdom of Poland . It was part of a wave of pogroms in Russia and controlled territories ( such as the Kingdom of Poland ) , in the larger context of the widespread unrest . The pogrom in Siedlce was organized by the Russian secret police ( Okhrana ) . There were 26 fatalities among the Jewish populations . Background . Siedlce had a significant Jewish population ( estimated at 10 , 000 to 64 % out of 24 , 000 total ( so about 15 , 000 ) ) . In the larger context of the widespread unrest it was the site of socialist and Polish patriotic agitation and demonstrations ( organized by Polish Socialist Party and Jewish Bund ) , and the government desired to make a vivid response to the Bloody Wednesday , a series of attacks on government officials organized by PPS that took place barely a months earlier , and other similar events . On August 26 an OB PPS activist , disguised as a Jew , assassinated a Russian police captain in Siedlce . As many Jews took part in the protests , the Russian government saw the Siedlce as a ripe territory to show its force . Siedlce was not the only place where the Russian police and military terrorized workers who were seen as sympathizing with the PPS and other opposition organizations ; similar excesses occurred in Warsaw and Łódź , but were directed against the workers in general , not Jews in particular . Pogrom . The pogrom , planned systemically " for some time " , took place on September 7 or 8 to 9 , 10 or 11 ) , 1906 . It was organized by the Russian secret police ( Okhrana ) , in particular by Colonel Tichonowski , who was tasked with the preparations . Anti - semitic pamphlets had been distributed for over a week and before any unrest begun , a curfew was declared . The primary perpetrators were Russian soldiers from the Liepāja ( " libawski " ) infantry regiment . They had replaced the Ostrołęka garrison , previously garrisoning the town , which had been deemed too sympathetic to the local residents . The soldiers were ordered to start shooting on the town square ; soon afterwards , they were ordered to set some fires , and allowed to loot Jewish stores at will . Artillery pieces were used , as noted even in the official news reports . Some sources also report the involvement of Black Hundreds , which had no native presence in the Kingdom of Poland , and would have had to have been brought in by the authorities from the Empire proper . Most of the shops in the town were destroyed and looted , and there were many cases of arson ; private ( Jewish ) homes were also broken into and looted . Official military reinforcements from nearby garrisons were moved to Siedlce . In the meantime , Russian officials were demanding from the Jewish community that the " bandits " who opened fire on the soldiers were to be turned in . There were 26 fatalities among the Jewish population , and an unspecified , larger number , into the hundreds , were reported as injured . The Polish populace helped to shelter the Jews . About a 1000 people were arrested . According to official sources , the military and police had no casualties . Aftermath . The official story spun by Russian propaganda was that the events in Siedlce were triggered by " revolutionaries " , whose plot has been discovered and put down by the police and the army . Despite their leading role in the pogrom , some soldiers and policeman were recognized with medals or honorable mentions . OB PPS carried out an successful assassination of nother of high ranking Russian officials who was involved in organizing the Siedlce pogrom , colonel Obruczew , in December that year . Nonetheless , the fact that the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party ( OB PPS ) , which organized the events of the Bloody Wednesday , took no other significant action in response to the Siedlce pogrom , was , in the words of one of the PPS leaders , Józef Piłsudski , " a moral defeat " for OB PPS ; further , it demonstrated to OB PPS that they have no power to stop the Russian military from carrying out such brutal demonstrations of force at any time and place of their choosing . One of the responses of the Siedlce pogrom was the organization of Jewish self - defense groups in many cities and towns , although according to other sources , those groups existed before that pogrom , even in Siedlce . The pogrom has been widely condemned in the public opinion in Poland and abroad , and by most Polish political parties . The Polish press was unanimous in denouncing these acts of violence . Polish and Jewish deputies to the Russian parliament ( Duma ) demanded an investigation , which eventually reached the conclusion that the events were caused by some soldiers acting without official orders . The outcome of the events was disappointing for the Russians , and dissuaded the Russian government from organizing more pogroms in Poland , as the Siedlce and Białystok pogrom proven to be a failure , with Polish populace steadily refusing to support the Russian forces , and sufficient independent and political coverage and investigation so that little desirable propaganda was to be had in the aftermath . In particular , the fact that official investigation of the events in Siedlce and Białystok had to conclude that they were not the fault of local populace , but of the Russian army ( even if the blame was laid on disobedient soldiers ) , represented a major loss of face for the government . This pogrom was one of the last , if not the last , of significant pogroms in the Russian Empire and related territories in the period following the Russian Revolution of 1905 .