The conduct of these troops in quiet and, if I may say so, pogromless times, and the attitude toward them of the military authorities, are exhibited in a glaring light in a sketch of a memorial prepared by Abrrius, the head of the police of Zhitomir, and handed to the Directory in the name of the administration of the city of Zhitomir. In this cautiously written memorial the authors request the Directory to remove from the city the troops which were quartered there during the first pogrom (the sketch in question was composed in the time between the first and the second pogroms). The soldiers are "very much demoralized, have absolutely no occupation and in connection with the mob strike fear and terror into every inhabitant.... This refers especially to the 'Sotnias' of the commandants. The city administration and the, investigating commission had full opportunity to convince themselves that persons in military cloaks caught with stolen goods were in the service of the Sotnias of the commandants. When they were arrested and brought before the commandant, he at once set them free, whereupon they had the impudence to visit the administration and the investigating commission again and again and demand the return of the stolen property. This demand the investigating commission sometimes granted in view of the defiant attitude of the offenders and the circumstance that they had been let go without any punishment. Later these same persons, armed, drove in droshkas through the city, where they no doubt kept up their nefarious doings."
After the first pogrom the city administration organized night patrols of the inhabitants to prevent robbery (a kind of self-defense). The commandant gave his consent to the organization. "Immediately thereafter the city administration in the first night of the patrol's duty found themselves face to face with serious misunderstandings. In the first place, the commandant had given an order that no Cossack was to be arrested, and there were no exceptions to this rule. By this order all possibility was removed of doing anything to stop the excesses committed by the persons in gray cloaks. On the other hand, despite the requests of the administration, the commandant gave a special order in which he explained to the soldiers the purpose and the task of the night patrols. The night patrols were attacked by persons in soldiers' uniform and by Cossack officers. They began to disarm the city patrols, first in single cases, then more and more frequently, and finally the disarmament assumed a systematic and general character. Besides, the persons in military cloaks evidently were supported by the law, which prohibited any action against them, and became more defiant and shameless every day. A band of eight persons passed through the main streets at one o'clock in the afternoon and robbed the passersby of their purses and valuables under the pretext of looking for arms. Despite the complaints of the administration the excesses remained unpunished. Attacks on dwellings became more and more frequent, while at the same time the city patrols were disarmed and robbed. The bandits took away their caps, watches, shoes, abused and insulted them at every step and indulged in anti-Semitic incitations. "Later the city administration which had reported ic matter to the commandant and commander of the >rps was astounded to read in the papers an order by rhich it was made a duty of the military patrols to shoot down not only the plunderers but also those whom the patrols regarded as enemies of the Republic
UKRAINE
and propagandists of Bolshevism. In this way the peaceful population was handed over to the arbitrary and unlimited whims of a degenerate and unruly mob in gray coats, and the city administration was deprived by this order of every possibility of organizing any resistance against the robbers and authors of violence."
In this way the soldier bands were systematically trained for the pogroms. They were demoralized, the life, honor and property of the peaceful population were given over to them and they disposed of life and death.
They carried out the order of their chiefs, because the orders were for and not against them. They still maintained discipline. Later, in consequence of impunity, they lost all discipline and degenerated simply into robber bands.
As long as discipline still prevailed among them, the pogroms instituted by them clearly bore the character of the execution of a military command. The Jewish persecutions began and ended at a signal, mostly open, sometimes secret.