The Odessa pogroms were a series of violent anti-Jewish riots and attacks in the multi-ethnic port city of Odessa in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Odessa had become a successful and cosmopolitan city known for liberal attitudes, and a hotbed of revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire, with a growing and vital Jewish community that had grown more prosperous along with the city, even though the majority still lived in abject poverty. The pogroms became an international cause célèbre for the Jewish diaspora. Notable pogroms occurred in 1821, 1849, 1859, 1871, 1881, 1886, 1900, 1905, and 1918–1919, resulting in hundreds of Jewish deaths, thousands of injuries, and destruction of property, devastating the community and driving emigration.
The causes of the pogroms included religious and ethnic discrimination, economic competition and resultant economic antisemitism, and political changes. Odessa's population included Greek, Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian, and other communities, with the Jewish population growing to become the second-largest group behind Russians. The earlier pogroms, such as those in 1859 and 1871, were initiated by Greeks with Russians joining in. After 1871, the pogromists were mainly Russian joined by ethnic Ukrainians. Pogromists came from all different classes and occupations. According to Jarrod Tanny, most modern-day historians argue that pre-1881 pogroms were "largely the product of frictions unleashed by modernization", rather than a resurgence of medieval antisemitism. The 1905 pogrom was markedly larger in scale, with over 500 casualties (80% Jewish), 300 injuries, and over 1600 homes and businesses damaged, and with heightened antisemitism spurred by economic and political turmoil. Historians such as Robert Weinberg and Shlomo Lambroza believe the police and hospital figures were likely an underestimate, with a range of estimates from likely over 800, to over 1000 killed, and approximately over 2000 or even up to 5000 wounded. Even the pre-20th century incidents were incited by perennial antisemitic tropes such as rumors of Jewish desecration of the church, conspiracy theories of Jewish complicity in assassinating the tsar or the patriarch, and blood libels.
While most modern-day historians do not believe there is credible evidence that tsarist state actively sponsored or centrally planned the pogroms, the tsar and his advisors created an environment of sanctioned antisemitism, toleration and leniency toward pogromists, and blamed Jews themselves for the events. Local authorities often failed to intervene, or in some cases actively abetted or perpetrated further violence. Victoria Khiterer notes that while historians debate whether the pogroms were spontaneous or organized by authorities (per Weinberg, somewhere between both), there is evidence that the pogroms were part of a Russian government policy aimed at suppressing the revolutionary movement, for which Jews were a scapegoat. Right-wing organizations such as the Union of Russian People and the Black Hundreds knew they had support from sympathetic authorities to incite the violence. After the 1917 revolution, the pogroms were also perpetrated by the Bolshevik Red Army. The pogroms became an international symbol, and inspired the growth of Jewish intellectual and national movements as enlightened Jewish thinkers were forced to contend with pervasive antisemitism that threatened their lives.
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