In addition to the killed, the number of wounded and injured was also very great. It can not be determined even approximately because the greater part of the injured remained at home and could not get any medical help. The victims of the pogrom belonged in the great majority to the poor classes and those just above them.
The pogrom of Zhitomir completely discloses the cards of the pogrom politics of the Directory. A delegation of the Jewish socialistic parties once came before Vinnichenko, the former head of the Ukrainian People's Republic, and complained of the terrible Jewish persecutions which the regular Ukrainian troops instituted according to a definite plan and by order of the responsible military leaders. His reply was: "Tell your Jews and your young men that they should not support the Bolshevists. The Jewish workmen organized uprisings in the towns of Ukrainia to hand over the power to the Bolshevists. We shall soon be powerless against the anger of our troops against the Jews." Hereupon a member of the delegation justly remarked that a similar reply was made to a Jewish delegation after the Kishinev pogrom by the all-powerful satrap of the tsar, Plehve.
During the Zhitomir pogrom, just as the deeds of horror had reached their highest point, Petlura, the head of the Directory, came to Zhitomir. The highest Ataman of the Ukrainian troops did not prevent the pogrom which a few days later the chief of the Galicians easily suppressed.
The attitude of Petlura is clear from the frank conversation which Colonel Petrov, chief of the garrison, had with a deputation of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission. Petrov, a former officer of the general staff, said of himself to some persons in public life that he had been a faithful servant of the tsar until the first of March. After the ist of March
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he found that he had been mistaken and became a socialist. The conversation was so significant that the Extraordinary Investigation Commission resolved to send the Directory an extract from the Protocol which had reference to the conversation with Petrov. The extract is as follows:
F THE DELEGATION CHOSEN AT THE SESSION OF THE 3RD OF APRIL.
The delegation consisted of the following members of the Commission: M. A. Kitz, Second Attorney General, Judge G. W. Rublevski, and P. T. Redko, Representative of the Government District.
The delegation reported that they first called on the Government commissar Sumkevich, who was very favorable to the work of the Commission. He said it was necessary to hand over the matter of the second pogrom to the Extraordinary Investigation Commission that was already in existence, and promised personally to appeal to the Directory for this purpose. He requested us to let him present a memoir of his own on this matter, advised us to approach the military authorities, promised to secure the necessary means and allowed the Commission an advance of 15,000 rubles.
The Chief of the Field Police, Bogatzky, was also favorable to the work done by the Commission and promised them his full support in their house searchings and arrests.