Why Neighbors Kill Neighbors

Abstract

What explains the anti-Jewish pogroms of summer 1941 that broke out in the eastern borderlands of Soviet-occupied Poland in the wake of the Nazi invasion? This chapter introduces the competing theories and approaches to the problem. Most scholars highlight either revenge for the Soviet occupation, antisemitic hatred, avarice, or the German extermination effort itself. The authors offer an alternative hypothesis rooted primarily in the logic of competing nationalisms. Where Jews sought national equality with their Polish and Ukrainian neighbors, they were more likely to fall victim to pogrom violence.