The Alfonse pogrom (in Polish, Pogrom alfonsów 'pogrom of the pimps'; the Polishslang term alfons means 'pimp';[1][2] 24–26 May 1905)[3] 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.[4] Accounts and analyses of the event differ with regard to its goals and participants (varying as to the participation of Jewish Bund labor-party militants, Jewish workers, Christian workers,[5][6] and criminals;[7][8] as well as to the genesis of the event and the exact numbers of casualties).[4][9][10]
Cossacks holding their rifles up, photographed on Senatorska street near the Blue Palace, Warsaw, during one of the riots in 1905[11]
In the second half of the 19th century, prostitution, sex trafficking, and sexual slavery became widespread in Warsaw.[12] These activities were mostly dominated by the Jewish underworld, and their existence caused much tension and controversy within Warsaw's Polish-Jewish community.[12] While in Congress Poland and Warsaw, overall, 72.7% of prostitutes were 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.[13] In 1889 around 75% of all brothels in Warsaw were run by Jews.[14][6]
Accounts differ as to the cause of the violence. Some consider this a political action by Jewish workers.[4] As violent riots escalated during the 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.[12] According to Laura Engelstein, the pimps were perceived by Bundists to be agents of the Okhrana (Russian Tsarist police).[15]
The riot
The pogrom started following a rumor, though it is not clear which rumor actually sparked the pogrom.[4][12] 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.[3][12] Another says a Jewish prostitute asked a Jewish worker for help in her plight, and when he tried to rescue her, he was killed.[12] All versions suggest that after the rescuer was injured or killed, his friends started a large-scale riot.[12] Jewish activists associated with the Bund labor party were involved in the rioting.[12]
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".[8]
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.[4][16] The rioting started in northwest Warsaw before spreading throughout the city.[12] 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.[3] Jewish workers acted only in the Jewish neighborhood, striking just the Jewish parts of the underworld. Christian workers did corresponding with the Christian gangsters.[6] Tsarist police authorities allegedly attempted to orchestrate an anti-Jewish pogrom [3] (such accusations are part of the Bund narrative of the events[16]), but when the attempt failed, the Russian governor, Konstantin Maximovich [ru] ordered the military to suppress the riot.[3][12]
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.[12]
Aftermath
During the disturbances 150 dwellings (including 40 brothels)[3][12] were destroyed, with property damage estimated at 200,000 rubles,[3] 5 people were killed, 10 severely injured (most died later in hospitals)[3] and over 40 injured.[3] According to Scott Ury, 5 persons were killed in the events themselves, another 10 died from wounds they incurred, and over 40 were hospitalized.[4] According to a Reuter report, the number of injured was 100.[17] Police arrested close to 100 pimps and prostitutes.[12]
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.[18]
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.[19]
Leo Belmont [pl] wrote a poem, "Po pogromie" ("After the Pogrom"), about the incident.[7]
^Podracki, Jerzy (1 January 2003). Słowa i ludzie: szkice o języku polskim i kulturze [Words and People: Sketches about Polish Language and Culture] (in Polish). Adam. p. 41. ISBN9788372324283. Alfons: a man living at the expense of women. (Polish quote: Alfons - meżczyzna żyjacy na koszt kobiet.)
^Hetherington, Philippa (April 2018). "Reviewed work: The Devil's Chain: Prostitution and Social Control in Partitioned Poland, Stauter-Halsted, Keely". The Slavonic and East European Review. 96 (2): 368–371. doi:10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.96.2.0368. JSTOR10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.96.2.0368. 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.
^ abcdefghiBorzymińska, Zofia (2003). Polski słownik judaistyczny: dzieje, kultura, religia, ludzie (in Polish). Wydawn. Prószyński i S-ka. p. 68. ISBN9788372551269. Entry reproduced online hereArchived 27 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine 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."
^Sikorska-Kulesza, Jolanta (2007). "Sądy doraźne nad prostytucją w Warszawie w maju 1905 roku w świetle prasy" [Summary justice for prostitution in Warsaw in May 1905, in the light of the press]. Rocznik Warszawski (in Polish). XXXV: 111–127. Attacks by Warsaw's workers, both Christian and Jewish, on brothels, pimps, thieves.
^ abcJakubczak, Aleksandra (2015). "Alfonse pogrom w Warszawie 1905 roku w świetle prasy żydowskiej" [1905 Warsaw "Alfonse pogrom" in the light of the Jewish press]. Studia Judaica (in Polish). Warsaw. 2015 (2 (36)): 339–357. doi:10.4467/24500100STJ.15.015.4606. ...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.)
^ abKołodziejska-Smagała, Zuzanna; Antosik-Piela, Maria (2017). Literatura polsko-żydowska 1861-1918: Antologia [Polish-Jewish Literature 1861-1918: An Anthology] (in Polish). Wydawnictwo UJ. p. 28. ISBN9788323396949. W kolejnych dniach do zamieszek wlaczyli sie chrześcijanie oraz pospolici przestepcy." ("In following days, Christians and common criminals joined the riots.")
^ abAntony Polonsky, The Jews in Poland and Russia, volume 2: 1881 to 1914, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2010, p. 93.
^Holewiński, Wacław (2018). Pogrom 1905 (in Polish). Poznań: Wydawnictwo Zysk i Spółka. ISBN978-83-8116-303-3. 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.)
^Antony Polonsky, The Jews in Poland and Russia, Volume 2: 1881 to 1914, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2010, p. 93
^Sikorska-Kulesza, Jolanta (2004). Zło tolerowane: prostytucja w Królestwie Polskim w XIX wieku [Evil Tolerated: Prostitution in the Kingdom of Poland in the Nineteenth Century] (in Polish). Mada. p. 243. ISBN9788389624130. Religion and nationality of brothel owners - Table VIII - 3 Catholic, 16 Jewish (page 243)
