Their place was taken by the Clans of Death and later by a special band of freebooters with the Ataman Kozyr-Zyrka at the head. After the reception of a deputation of representatives of public organizations, mainly Poles and former tsarist officials, the Ataman gave an order to arrest the Jewish Rabbi and have him brought before him. On the 26th of December about two o'clock, the order was carried out and the Rabbi was brought to the office of the commandant. He remained there until ten o'clock in the evening, exposed the whole time to the insults and abuses of the Cossacks. Finally at ten o'clock he was brought before the Ataman. The latter received him with extreme rudeness, and after, an examination conducted "not without prejudice," he said to him, "I know that you are a Bolshevik, that all your relatives and all Jews are Bolsheviks. Know that I am going to destroy all the Jews in the city. Get them together in the synagogue and inform them of what I have told you." Sporadic attacks with robbery and murder followed. Under the pressure of the Bolshevist peasants of Pokalev, Kozyr-Zyrka found it necessary to retire. On the 3ist of December, having received considerable reinforcements, he advanced on Ovruch. On the way thither, in the neighborhood of the village Potapovichi, the road had been made impassable. Being told that this had been done by the Jews, the Cossacks took their revenge by putting a number of Jews to death and violating some of their women. From there they proceeded to the village of Geshovo, where they murdered two old men, a teacher and a butcher. On the 3ist of December the Cossacks entered Ovruch and began to plunder and murder the Jews. The pogrom was introduced by the violation of ten Jewish girls in the market place and the murder of the Jews who opposed the bandits. Later the Cossacks came out in bands, searched the houses, took money and property, beat old men, dishonored women and put to death young people. If one had money he could purchase his life. Thus the family Rosenmann bought a kind of "protection certificate" for twelve thousand rubles. They were told that their name was registered in the office of the staff, and they were as a matter of fact left undisturbed. The Jews were disgraced, having been compelled to dance before Kozyr-Zyrka, who amused himself by urging one of them on by the: stroke of a whip. They were ordered to sing Jewish songs, but it so happened that none of them remembered the words by heart. Accordingly they were placed in chairs with fooFs caps on their heads and lights in their hands, the words were read to them and they were made to sing. Kozyr-Zyrka and his friend lay in their beds shaking with laughter, so uproariously that the bed broke under the friend. The Jews were then compelled to fix up the bed and the officer remained in it. One of the Jews was so overcome by the humiliation that he began to weep. Thereupon he was told that his punishment would be one hundred and twenty lashes.
Seventy thousand rubles was the price the Jews paid to be spared the pogrom which had been instituted by the order of the Ataman. The Jews were ordered to assemble in the public square and were told by Kozyr-
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Zyrka that he had the right to destroy all the Jews, and that he would do so if any one of them as much as touched the hair of a single Cossack. He had done this in Potapovichi, shooting down a Jewish spy with his own hand. He advised the Jews to strangle with their own hands any Bolshevist they might find among them. When Kozyr-Zyrka had finished the speech, the Jews saluted, and the rabbi proposed to take an oath of loyalty to Ukrainia from all the Jews and to put a special body of Jewish fighters at his disposition. The Ataman thereupon said that he did not need a Jewish oath nor a Jewish body of fighters. He would let the Jews breathe the air of the Ukraine, but they must not forget his warning. Before his departure a group of thirty-four Jews were trapped by treachery and shot.
From the above description it is clear that the main figure of the pogroms instituted and organized by Petlura's troops was the Ataman, who dictated his will to his bands or gangs, his watchword being, "Cut down the Jews, for they are communists."
The course of the pogrom in Ovruch was comparatively moderate. There were insults, plunder, and to some extent dishonor of women and a few cases of murder. It was still possible to redeem one's life with money, a favor which was later taken away. The position of the Directory was not yet finally undermined by the military defeat. There was already agitation in the army in favor of pogroms, but the military leaders had not yet given the word to destroy everything Jewish.
In January the first pogrom took place in Zhitomir (7th to loth of January). It was organized by the retreating forces of Petlura.