Approximately on June 5 there arrived at Stavische from the town of Gobuslav a band which had formerly operated in Kaneva (probably Grigorievists); they called themselves "White Guards." They began to plunder, and killed four Jews. According to accounts of eye-witnesses, many land-owners, students, and priests were among the members of the band, and it was precisely these that openly called themselves "White Guards." When the band arrived it herded together all the Jews in the synagogue, accused them of being bolsheviks and communists, and demanded that they surrender their weapons and pay a contribution of 400,000 rubles. Entreaties and exhortations were of no avail, and after long agonies they collected among the Jewish population 357,000 rubles and handed it over, through the Rabbi, to the head of the detachment. The Rabbi remarked as he handed it over that the money was taken from poor people; the head of the detachment "showed mercy" and handed back seven thousand. The gang stayed in the town about seven or eight days, during which robberies and murders continued. Two more Jews were killed. Moreover, two non- Jewish communists were also killed. Then a part of the gang departed for Tarascha, where the Soviet troops defeated them and drove them away. Then, approximately on June 16, they returned to Stavische and began to pillage again, and killed 22 people. In all about forty Jews were killed. On the next day the 6th Soviet regiment arrived in town. The "Grigorievists" naturally retreated and disappeared. The soldiers of the 6th regiment also indulged in some plundering. But the 6th Soviet regiment only remained one day in all and on the next (approximately June 18) left Stavische. The town remained entirely unguarded, and the Jews had grounds to fear new attacks of Grigorievist gangs. The greater part of the Jewish
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population abandoned their property to the will of fate, arose and left for Bielaia Tserkov, which is about fifty versts from Stavische. At twelve versts from the town the fleeing Jews were held up by a detachment of the 6th Soviet regiment, which perpetrated some robberies and wanted to turn them back to Stavische. Some scattered through the villages and towns (e.g., Volodarka, canton of Skvira), but about seven or eight hundred of them arrived at Bielaia Tserkov. Here a committee of aid was organized for the refugees from Stavische, who spent about a week in Bielaia Tserkov. When some reassuring tidings were received from Stavische, the committee of aid hired carts and took the refugees home.
TOWN OF ZLATOPOL ( F KIEV) Pogrom of May 2-8, 1919
I. Testimony of the Physician Joseph Benjaminovich Isaacson, July 21
Zlatopol is a town in the government of Kiev, canton of Chigirin, a verst and a half from Novo-Mirgorod and the border of the government of Kherson. It has 15,000 inhabitants, of whom ten or twelve thousand are Jews. The chief occupations are small handicrafts and commerce. During the war and the revolution speculation throve. Previously the town was considered very poor, but later it began to be considered decidedly rich; there was no poverty at all. This was true of the Christian population as well as the Jewish. There was no open anti- Semitism visible, but the Christians lived a separate life from the Jews.
From the time of the fall of the Hetman's power, and the appearance of the Petlurist regime, and afterwards of the Soviet regime, the town constantly was visited by various detachments and gangs, which seized the power, levied contributions, and sometimes pillaged and took away weapons. There came the gangs of Kotzyr, Lopata, and Yastrensky, in general each with about sixty to eighty men, not more than a hundred. There was a militia and a home guard in the town, and latterly even a selfdefense guard, but they all ran away at the first shots, and the gangs would penetrate into the town without resistance.
When the Soviet regime was established, the local population discovered with amazement that Jews were at the head of many of its institutions. This led to the accusation that all Jews were responsible for the disorganization of life, and anti-Semi-
ZLATOPOL: KOTZYR'