In the Midst of Civilized Europe

The 1918–1921 Pogroms in Ukraine and the Onset of the Holocaust

By: Jeffrey Veidlinger

Narrated by: Leighton Pugh

Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year

A riveting account of a forgotten holocaust: the slaughter of more than 100,000 Ukrainian Jews in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. In the Midst of Civilized Europe repositions the pogroms as a defining moment of the 20th century.

Between 1918 and 1921, over a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine by peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. In hundreds of separate incidents, ordinary people robbed their Jewish neighbors with impunity, burned down their houses, ripped apart their Torah scrolls, sexually assaulted them, and killed them. Largely forgotten today, these pogroms–ethnic riots–dominated headlines and international affairs in their time. Aid workers warned that six million Jews were in danger of complete extermination. Twenty years later, these dire predictions would come true.

Drawing upon long-neglected archival materials, including thousands of newly discovered witness testimonies, trial records, and official orders, acclaimed historian Jeffrey Veidlinger shows for the first time how this wave of genocidal violence created the conditions for the Holocaust. Through stories of survivors, perpetrators, aid workers, and governmental officials, he explains how so many different groups of people came to the same conclusion: that killing Jews was an acceptable response to their various problems.

©2021 Jeffrey Veidlinger (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd

Critic reviews

"Exhaustive, clearly written, deeply researched." (The Times)

"A meticulous, original and deeply affecting historical account." (Philippe Sands, author of East West Street)