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Cossack Uprisings
Uprisings of the Cossack and Ukrainian
populations against the Polish nobility, and also against
the Jews and
Jesuits. After Ukrainian territories were annexed to the
Crown after the
Union of Lublin in 1569, the great magnate families that had
been
granted large land holdings by the king quickly began making
use of
those territories. At the same time, they attempted to
impose feudal
dues and heavy taxes not only on the Ukrainian peasants, but
also on the
Cossacks, who had been free up to that point.
Jews in the southeastern voivodships played an important
economic
role, particularly in trade; they also leased mills and
inns, and even
entire small towns and villages. They were involved in the
collection of
customs, tolls and taxes, and provided various services to
the courts
of the magnates and nobility. They had broad rights with
respect to the
Christian population, which sometimes even included the
right to judge
them and mete out punishment. This meant that the Jews were
identified
with the institutions of power and oppression. Most of the
magnates'
estates hired Jewish lease-holders, brokers, and agents. In
everyday
life, one more often met the Jewish tax-collector than the
lord in whose
name the taxes were being collected.
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This situation led to serious tensions between
the local population and the Jews. There were anti-Jewish
incidents as
early as the Nalewajko and Pawluk uprisings in 1595-96 and
1637, when
the synagogue in Poltawa (Poltava) was burned. The most
tragic events
occurred during the Chmielnicki uprising in 1648-49, which
affected
Volhynia and Podole, as well as part of Belarus and Red
Rus'. Entire
Communities were massacred at that time. In 1650, the Jewish
Sejm
proclaimed the date of the pogrom in Niemir�w to be observed
annually as
a day of mourning. In some locations, Jews and Poles
organized a joint
defense, such as in Tulczyn, Bar and Polonny. The Lw�w
Community was
saved by a large ransom paid to the Cossacks.
The massacres during the Chmielnicki uprising forced
many Jews to
flee from the Commonwealth to Western Europe, though many of
them
returned to their homes after a few years. The incidents of
1648 and
1649 have been described by Jewish authors, including Natan
Hanover,
Moshe of Narol, Shimshona of Ostropole, and Shabtaya ben
Meir ha-Kohen.
In their accounts, they gave exaggerated reports of 60,000
to 100,000
victims-significantly higher than the actual figures. The
number of
victims was nevertheless high-perhaps several thousand
people.
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The year 1648 is recognized as a watershed in
the history of the Polish Jews, marking the end of an era of
peaceful
coexistence. This tragedy affected the later development of
Jewish
communities in Poland, not only from a demographic and
economic point of
view, but from a spiritual one as well. There were several
pogroms
against Communities in Poland's eastern Kresy, such as the
one in 1734.
At that time, the hajdamacy (armed robber bands, but also
peasant and
Cossack rebels in Ukraine), led by Werlacz, Prince
Lubomirski's military
commander, devastated the Braclaw voivodship, Volhynia and
Podole.
In 1734-1737, detachments commanded by Wasko Woscilo,
said to be
Chmielnicki's grandson, looted Communities in Belarus. In
1750,
Communities in Ukraine fell victim to the hajdamacy
(Winnica, Radomysl
and Human).
(H.W./CM)
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