{{Short description|Riot in Warsaw in May 1905}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}The '''Alfonse pogrom''' (in [[Polish language|Polish]], ''[[:pl:Pogrom alfonsów|Pogrom alfonsów]]'' '[[pogrom]] of the [[pimp]]s'; the [[Polish language|Polish]] [[slang]] term ''alfons'' means '[[pimp]]';<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gm4bAQAAIAAJ&q=na+koszt+kobiet+znaczenie+alfonsa+|title=Słowa i ludzie: szkice o języku polskim i kulturze|last=Podracki|first=Jerzy|date=1 January 2003|publisher=Adam|isbn=9788372324283|pages=41|language=pl|trans-title=Words and People: Sketches about Polish Language and Culture|quote=Alfons: a man living at the expense of women. (Polish quote: ''Alfons - meżczyzna żyjacy na koszt kobiet.'')}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hetherington|first=Philippa|title=Reviewed work: The Devil's Chain: Prostitution and Social Control in Partitioned Poland, Stauter-Halsted, Keely |date=April 2018|journal=The Slavonic and East European Review|volume=96|issue=2|pages=368–371|quote=In May 1905, a crowd of angry workers stormed Warsaw's brothel district...The furor became known as the "Alfonse pogrom", named after a slang term for a pimp.|doi=10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.96.2.0368|jstor=10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.96.2.0368}}</ref> 24–26 May 1905)<ref name="zb">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbZtAAAAMAAJ&q=pogrom+alfons%C3%B3w|title=Polski słownik judaistyczny: dzieje, kultura, religia, ludzie|last=Borzymińska|first=Zofia|date=2003|publisher=Wydawn. Prószyński i S-ka|isbn=9788372551269|page=68|language=pl}} Entry reproduced online [http://www.jhi.pl/psj/alfons-pogrom here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127021517/https://www.jhi.pl/psj/alfons-pogrom |date=27 November 2020 }} by the Żydowski Instytut Historyczny (Jewish Historical Institute). (Translated quote: "On the first day of the riots, groups of Jewish workers attacked pimps on the streets and destroyed their apartments and brothels. On the second day, Christians joined in; on the third day, the criminal element committed robberies." Original Polish-language quote: ''"Pierwszego dnia zamieszek grupy robotników żydowskich napadały na ulicach na stręczycieli oraz niszczyły ich mieszkania i domy publiczne. W drugim dniu do zajść włączyli się chrześcijanie; trzeciego – element przestępczy - napady rabunkowe."''</ref> was a three-day riot in [[Warsaw, Poland]]. The violence led to the destruction of several dozen brothels, and to as many as 15 deaths.<ref name="Ury2012-127"/> Accounts and analyses of the event differ with regard to its goals and participants (varying as to the participation of Jewish [[General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland|Bund]] labor-party militants, Jewish workers, Christian workers,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sikorska-Kulesza|first=Jolanta|author-link=Jolanta Sikorska-Kulesza|date=2007|title=''Sądy doraźne nad prostytucją w Warszawie w maju 1905 roku w świetle prasy''|trans-title=Summary justice for prostitution in Warsaw in May 1905, in the light of the press|journal=Rocznik Warszawski|language=pl|volume=XXXV|pages=111–127|quote=Attacks by Warsaw's workers, both Christian and Jewish, on brothels, pimps, thieves.}} *{{lay source |template=cite web |type=Library catalog |title="Sądy doraźne" nad prostytucją w Warszawie w maju 1905 roku w świetle prasy / Jolanta Sikorska-Kulesza. Rocznik Warszawski |url=http://primo.koszykowa.pl:1701/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=48BPW_BSR_VIEW&docId=48BPW_Aleph_VAR01000036578&fromSitemap=1&afterPDS=true |website=Biblioteka Publiczna m.st. Warszawy}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> and criminals;<ref name=ant>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DG5UDwAAQBAJ&q=Literatura+polsko-%C5%BCydowska+1861-1918%3A+Antologia|title=Literatura polsko-żydowska 1861-1918: Antologia|last1=Kołodziejska-Smagała|first1=Zuzanna|last2=Antosik-Piela|first2=Maria|date=2017|publisher=Wydawnictwo UJ|isbn=9788323396949|pages=28|language=pl|trans-title=Polish-Jewish Literature 1861-1918: An Anthology|quote=''W kolejnych dniach do zamieszek wlaczyli sie chrześcijanie oraz pospolici przestepcy."'' ("In following days, Christians and common criminals joined the riots.")}}</ref><ref name=Polon2010-93/> as well as to the genesis of the event and the exact numbers of casualties).<ref name="Ury2012-127" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-5IDwAAQBAJ&q=historians+disagree+about+the+genesis+of+the+riots|title=The Devil's Chain: Prostitution and Social Control in Partitioned Poland|last=Stauter-Halsted|first=Keely|date=2016|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=9781501701665|location=Ithaca and London|pages=197|language=en|quote="historians disagree about the genesis of the riots"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://instytutksiazki.pl/literatura,8,recenzje,25,wszystkie,0,pogrom-1905,116.html|title=Pogrom 1905|last=Holewiński|first=Wacław|publisher=Wydawnictwo Zysk i Spółka|year=2018|isbn=978-83-8116-303-3|location=Poznań|language=pl|quote=At the end of May 1905, mysterious and still unexplained events took place in Warsaw. Jews, and later also Poles, passed summary judgment on prostitutes and pimps, murdering the women of easy virtue and their protectors, and devastating and burning brothels. (The Polish quote: ''"Pod koniec maja 1905 roku w Warszawie doszło do zagadkowych i do dzisiaj niewyjaśnionych zdarzeń. Żydzi, a chwilę później również Polacy, dokonali samosądu na prostytutkach i sutenerach, mordując kobiety lekkich obyczajów i ich "opiekunów", dewastując i paląc domy publiczne.'')}}</ref>
==Background== {{main|Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–07)}} [[File:Ul. Senatorska, Warszawa 1905.jpg|thumb|Cossacks holding their rifles up, photographed on Senatorska street near the Blue Palace, Warsaw, during one of the riots in 1905<ref>[http://wyborcza.pl/56,75410,14826105,niezwykle-ujecia-znajomych-miejsc,,1.html Niezwykłe ujęcia znajomych miejsc], Gazeta Wyborcza website</ref>]] In the second half of the 19th century, [[prostitution]], [[sex trafficking]], and [[sexual slavery]] became widespread in [[Warsaw]].<ref name="wnm" /> These activities were mostly dominated by the Jewish underworld, and their existence caused much tension and controversy within Warsaw's [[Polish Jewish|Polish-Jewish]] community.<ref name="wnm" /> While in [[Congress Poland]] and Warsaw, overall, 72.7% of prostitutes were [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and 21.36% were Jewish, in Warsaw the proportion of Jewish prostitutes was much higher. In 1874 two-thirds of all registered prostitutes in Warsaw were Jewish.<ref>Antony Polonsky, The Jews in Poland and Russia, Volume 2: 1881 to 1914, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2010, p. 93</ref> In 1889 around 75% of all brothels in Warsaw were run by Jews.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xu2LAAAAIAAJ|title=Zło tolerowane: prostytucja w Królestwie Polskim w XIX wieku|last=Sikorska-Kulesza|first=Jolanta|date=2004|publisher=Mada|isbn=9788389624130|pages=243|language=pl|trans-title=Evil Tolerated: Prostitution in the Kingdom of Poland in the Nineteenth Century|quote=Religion and nationality of brothel owners - Table VIII - 3 Catholic, 16 Jewish (page 243)}}</ref><ref name=":0"/>
Accounts differ as to the cause of the violence. Some consider this a political action by Jewish workers.<ref name="Ury2012-127"/> As violent riots escalated during the [[Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–07)|unrest in the mid-1900s]], tensions between the Jewish underworld and workers grew to the point where a violent wide-scale incident was increasingly likely.<ref name=wnm/> According to [[Laura Engelstein]], the pimps were perceived by [[Bundism|Bundists]] to be agents of the [[Okhrana]] (Russian Tsarist police).<ref>[https://archive.org/details/keystohappinesss0000enge/page/309 <!-- quote="great cathouse massacre". --> The Keys to Happiness: Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-siècle Russia], [[Laura Engelstein]], Cornell University Press, page 309</ref>
==The riot== The pogrom started following a rumor, though it is not clear which rumor actually sparked the pogrom.<ref name="Ury2012-127">{{cite book|author=Scott Ury|title=Barricades and Banners: The Revolution of 1905 and the Transformation of Warsaw Jewry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_W-DuzHlAEC&pg=PA129|date=8 August 2012|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-8104-6|page=127}}</ref><ref name=wnm/> One version suggests that a sister or fiancée of a Bund activist was kidnapped and taken to a brothel, and he was wounded trying to rescue her.<ref name="zb" /><ref name=wnm/> Another says a Jewish prostitute asked a Jewish worker for help in her plight, and when he tried to rescue her, he was killed.<ref name=wnm/> All versions suggest that after the rescuer was injured or killed, his friends started a large-scale riot.<ref name=wnm/> Jewish activists associated with the [[General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland|Bund]] labor party were involved in the rioting.<ref name=wnm/>
Another version is that the reason for the riot was criminal interference in the competition between legal and illegal brothels. [[Antony Polonsky]] rejects the view that this was a political action organized by the Bund as "a reaction of Jewish workers to the exploitation of Jewish women." Polonsky writes that the criminal underworld was substantially involved, and he notes that "only licensed brothels were affected".<ref name=Polon2010-93>[[Antony Polonsky]], ''The Jews in Poland and Russia'', volume 2: 1881 to 1914, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2010, p. 93.</ref>
Although accounts of events differ, most agree that bands of Jewish workers went from brothel to brothel, assaulting pimps and prostitutes, destroying and looting property. Clashes also spread into the city streets.<ref name="Ury2012-127"/><ref name="Ury2012-128"/> The rioting started in northwest Warsaw before spreading throughout the city.<ref name="wnm">{{Cite web|url=http://warszawa.naszemiasto.pl/artykul/pogrom-alfonsow-1905-r-krwawa-rozprawa-robotnikow-z,4958756,artgal,t,id,tm.html|title=Pogrom alfonsów 1905 r. Krwawa rozprawa robotników z sutenerami i prostytutkami. Zniszczono większość burdeli|last=Gaudenty|first=Radzim|date=25 January 2019|website=warszawa.naszemiasto.pl|language=pl-PL|trans-title=The 1905 pogrom of pimps. A bloody clash of workers with pimps and prostitutes. Most brothels were destroyed|access-date=25 February 2019}}</ref> According to some scholars (for instance Borzymińska and Jakubczak) the rioting was joined on the second day by Christian workers, and the third day saw criminals take advantage of the chaos to commit robberies.<ref name="zb" /> Jewish workers acted only in the Jewish neighborhood, striking just the Jewish parts of the underworld. Christian workers did corresponding with the Christian gangsters.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Jakubczak|first=Aleksandra|date=2015|title=Alfonse pogrom w Warszawie 1905 roku w świetle prasy żydowskiej.|trans-title=1905 Warsaw "Alfonse pogrom" in the light of the Jewish press|journal=Studia Judaica |language=pl|location=Warsaw|volume=2015|issue=2 (36)|pages=339–357|doi=10.4467/24500100STJ.15.015.4606|quote=...the participants of the "pogrom of pimps" took care of maintaining the order and the division of "work," i.e., the Jewish workers acted only in the Jewish quarter, attacking only the Jewish members of the underworld. Christians did the same with the Christian underworld. (pl-...uczestnicy "pogromu alfonsów" dbali o zachowanie porządku i podział "pracy", tzn. żydowscy robotnicy działali tylko w dzielnicy żydowskiej, atakując wyłącznie żydowskich członków półświatka. To samo uczynili chrześcijanie z chrześcijańskim półświatkiem.)}}</ref> Tsarist police authorities allegedly attempted to orchestrate an anti-Jewish pogrom <ref name="zb" /> (such accusations are part of the Bund narrative of the events<ref name="Ury2012-128">{{cite book|author=Scott Ury|title=Barricades and Banners: The Revolution of 1905 and the Transformation of Warsaw Jewry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_W-DuzHlAEC&pg=PA129|date=8 August 2012|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-8104-6|page=128}}</ref>), but when the attempt failed, the Russian governor, {{ill|Konstantin Maximovich|ru|Максимович, Константин Клавдиевич}} ordered the military to suppress the riot.<ref name="zb" /><ref name=wnm/>
The riot is considered to have been put down by 26 May 1905, though lesser incidents continued for a few more days, with 3 further fatalities on 28 May.<ref name=wnm/>
==Aftermath== During the disturbances 150 dwellings (including 40 brothels)<ref name="zb" /><ref name=wnm/> were destroyed, with property damage estimated at 200,000 rubles,<ref name="zb" /> 5 people were killed, 10 severely injured (most died later in hospitals)<ref name="zb" /> and over 40 injured.<ref name="zb"/> According to Scott Ury, 5 persons were killed in the events themselves, another 10 died from wounds they incurred, and over 40 were hospitalized.<ref name="Ury2012-127"/> According to a Reuter report, the number of injured was 100.<ref>Edward J. Bristow, ''Prostitution and Prejudice: The Jewish Fight Against White Slavery 1870–1939'', Clarendon Press, 1982, p. 61</ref> Police arrested close to 100 pimps and prostitutes.<ref name=wnm/>
The Bund leadership at first criticized its activists who took part in the rioting, but later changed its stance and claimed the riot was a righteous action against the morally corrupt government and criminals.<ref name="Ury2012-129">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_W-DuzHlAEC&pg=PA129|title=Barricades and Banners: The Revolution of 1905 and the Transformation of Warsaw Jewry|author=Scott Ury|date=8 August 2012|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-8104-6|page=129}}</ref>
The riot brought the problem of [[prostitution in Poland]] to wider public attention and led to attempts to address the problem through further debate and reforms.<ref name="Stauter-Halsted2016-197">{{cite book|author=Keely Stauter-Halsted|title=The Devil's Chain: Prostitution and Social Control in Partitioned Poland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-5IDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA197|date=19 February 2016|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-1-5017-0166-5|pages=197, 256}}</ref> {{ill|Leo Belmont|pl|Leo Belmont}} wrote a poem, ''"Po pogromie"'' ("After the Pogrom"), about the incident.<ref name="ant"/>
== See also == *[[Ashkenazum]] *[[Raquel Liberman]] *[[Sexual slavery]] *[[Simon Rubinstein (pimp)]] *[[Zwi Migdal]]
== References == {{Reflist}} [[Category:1905 controversies]] [[Category:1905 in Poland]] [[Category:1905 in the Russian Empire]] [[Category:1905 riots]] [[Category:20th century in Warsaw]] [[Category:Congress Poland]] [[Category:Jewish history in Warsaw]] [[Category:May 1905 in Europe]] [[Category:Prostitution in Poland]] [[Category:Riots and civil disorder in Poland]] [[Category:Sex industry in Poland]] [[Category:Sex trafficking]]