Judy Baston

As World War I drew to a close, a series of attacks in 1918 and 1919 on Jews took place in interwar Polish towns such as Lemberg, Czestochowa, Wilno, Pinsk, and Lida. A US Mission led by Henry Morgenthau, Sr. visited these towns and took testimony and evidence on the attacks. Some members of the Mission also participated in the 1919 Paris Peace Talks, which discussed minority rights in Poland. The evidence, available in the U.S. National Archives, includes lists of Jews who were injured, killed, arrested, and even details of Jewish homes that were damaged in the attacks. The presentation will provide some historical background on the Mission and will outline the sort of genealogically relevant information that can be found on the listsThe presentation will also discuss an earlier investigation by Israel Cohen, the result of which describes "anti-Jewish outrages" in 129 towns in November and December, 1918.