Kielce Pogrom

On July 4, 1946, spontaneous, anti-Jewish mass violence broke out in the city of Kielce, Poland. This violence against Jews was perpetrated by mobs of local, non-Jewish Poles. Participants included factory workers, members of the postwar police, and members of the postwar military. 

The Kielce pogrom was sparked by a blood libel rumor. Blood libel is an old antisemitic lie claiming that Jews perform ritual murder of Christian children. In Kielce, a young boy started the rumor by falsely accusing a Jewish couple of kidnapping him. In reality, he had run away from home and was afraid of getting into trouble. The rumor spread rapidly throughout the city, triggering a mob. The antisemitic violence escalated. By the following day, more than 40 Jews had been killed and dozens were injured. 

The Kielce pogrom was not the only instance of anti-Jewish violence in postwar Poland, but it was the most infamous. This violence convinced many Polish Jews that they had no future in Poland after the Holocaust and spurred them to emigrate.