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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 June 2022
On 19 June 1911, dozens of Jews and Ukrainians were killed by the Austrian militia in Drohobycz at the command of the Jewish leader of the city, Jacob Feuerstein, to ensure the victory of the Jewish assimilationist candidate, aligned with the Polish elite, over the Zionist candidate. While dominating news at the time, reaching front pages around the globe, this event remains relatively unknown today even among specialists. This study for the first time explicates the history of this remarkable event while challenging the nationalist narratives that successfully shaped Jewish, Ukrainian, and Polish collective memory in its aftermath. It questions the extent of the role nationalism plays in violent political conflict, even in a seemingly hypernationalized environment, and demonstrates how nationalist rhetoric masks other motivations of actors. This microhistory builds on recent efforts to locate national indifference in the modern period, in the eye of the nationalist storm. At the same time, the success of nationalists to reframe this event in nationalist terms demonstrates how nationalism could shape historical memory and successfully push back against this indifference. The massacre demonstrates that nationalization was a gradual process, during which other identities persisted and other factors guided political events, while exposing how nationalist leaders paradoxically used such moments to obfuscate this reality and advance their own agendas.
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7 While finalizing this article for publication, a short essay appeared that also concluded that the election exposed an interethnic alliance to unseat an interethnic ruling clique. Jagoda Wierzejska, “Identification Hierarchies of Inhabitants of Austrian Galicia in the Local Dimension,” Acta Poloniae Historica 121 (2020): 181–200.
8 On Galician Jewry under Austrian rule, see Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism; Israel Bartal and Antony Polonsky, eds., Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, vol. 12, Focusing on Galicia: Jews, Poles and Ukrainians 1772–1918 (1999); and the extensive publications of Rachel Manekin.
9 Thon, Jacob, Die Juden in Oesterreich (Berlin-Halensee, 1908), 17–18Google Scholar; Zeitschrift für Demographie und Statistik der Juden (Feb. 1912), 26; and Nathan Gelber, “History of the Jews in Drohobycz” (Hebrew) in Sefer Zikaron leDrohobycz, Borislav vehasevivah (Jerusalem, 1959), 35. Antisemites nicknamed Drohobycz “the capital of Galician onion-eaters.” Yaroslav Hrytsak, “A Strange Case of Antisemitism: Ivan Franko and the Jewish Issue,” in Shatterzone of Empires, ed. Omer Bartov and Eric D. Weitz (Bloomington, 2013), 231.
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12 Rivka Shapira, “My Memoirs of Drohobycz” (Hebrew) in Sefer Zikaron leDrohobycz, 105. For a loosely historical biography of the Jewish “oil magnates” see Hirshaut, Julien, Yidishe naft-magnatn (Buenos Aires, 1954)Google Scholar.
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15 Yevhen Polyakov, “Inter-Ethnic Relations in the Social and Political Space of Galician Provincial Cities at the Turn of the XIX-XX Centuries, the Cases of Drohobycz and Stryj” (Ukrainian), (Master's thesis, Lviv University, 2011), 29; and Moskalets, “The Importance of Connections,” 19.
16 Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism, 50–69.
17 Moskalets, “The Importance of Connections,” 7–9.
18 For example, Joseph Funkenstein dominated Kolomea although he officially only served as vice mayor. Berish Stern served as mayor in Buczacz for decades and likewise ran the town as a fiefdom, faithfully delivering government candidates by any means.
19 Frank, Oil Empire, 172.
20 Moskalets, “The Importance of Connections,” 9–16; Hatzfira, 26 June 1911, p. 2; and Jacques Benbassat, “Histoire de ma Famille,” Jewish Heritage Collection Manuscripts Mss 1065-002, College of Charleston. See Ernst Breiter's 1905 parliamentary motion against Feuerstein's criminal business tactics. Stenographische Protokolle des Abgeordnetenhauses (hereafter SPA), Session XVII (1901–7), 28870–74.
21 Kurjer Lwowski, 24 June 1911 (morn.), p. 1. Efforts in the city council to rename the street immediately after the massacre, blaming Feuerstein as its “main perpetrator,” failed. After independence, Poland renamed it after Henryk Sienkiewicz. (Ukrainians later renamed it after Ivan Franko.)
22 Benbassat, “Histoire de ma Famille.”
23 Drohobycz appeared prominently in reports of Jews fined or jailed for answering “Yiddish.” One thousand two hundred census sheets indicating “Yiddish” were later discovered as trash in a cellar there. Jüdische Zeitung, 10 Mar. 1911, p. 2; 24 Mar. 1911, p. 2; Die Welt, 7 Apr. 1911, pp. 8–9. See also SPA, Session XX (1911), 5183 and the petitions on 2583/I, 2698/I, and 2712/I.
24 Shimon Lustig, “The Zionist Movement in Drohobycz” (Hebrew) in Sefer Zikaron leDrohobycz, 123; Hirshaut, Yidishe naft-magnatn, 345–54. Hatzfira (26 June 1911, p. 2) admitted even after the massacre, which it pinned on Feuerstein, that he generously supported the poor in return for political support.
25 Shmuel Rothenberg, “Drohobycz in the Period between the Two Wars” (Yiddish) in Sefer Zikaron leDrohobycz, 96–97. Sokol was a gymnastic movement promoting Polish national revival.
26 Prawda o wyborach drohobyckich odbytych dnia 19. czerwca 1911. r. (hereafter Prawda) (Lwow, 1911), 4–5.
27 Horowitz, David, Ha-etmol Sheli (Jerusalem, 1970), 24–25Google Scholar.
28 Neue Zeitung, 30 Aug. 1907, p. 4. Birnbaum called him “one of the worst examples of moshko Jews,” a standard Zionist pejorative for their Jewish opponents, similar to “Uncle Tom” in the United States.
29 SPA, Session XVIII (1907–9), 4513 and SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 202. Diamand, a one-time Zionist, was now a socialist and a firm advocate of assimilation.
30 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 273. That Feuerstein appointed every city official from the mayor on down was discussed extensively by the contemporary press. Bohdan Lazorak, “Franz Joseph I Home for Jewish Orphans in Drohobycz (1912–14): Mafia Public Relations or Merciful Foundation of Jacob Feuerstein” (Ukrainian), in Gumanitarnikh Nauk, ed. V. Il'nitskii, A. Dushnii, and I. Zimomria (Drohobycz, 2013), 33–51.
31 Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism, 196–201.
32 Already in 1897, several socialist and peasant deputies elected in the newly created open curia refused to join the Polish Club and ended the traditional solidarity of Polish representatives. Wandycz, “The Poles in the Habsburg Monarchy,” 281.
33 Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism, 197–277.
34 Binder, Harald, Galizien in Wien: Parteien, Wahlen, Fraktionen und Abgeordnete im Übergang zur Massenpolitik (Vienna, 2005), 295–308CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Aaron Schussheim credited the Polish Socialist leader Ignacy Daszyński for popularizing the term in Parliament. Aaron Schussheim, “Jewish Politics and Jewish Parties in Galicia” (Yiddish), in Pinkes Galitsye, ed. Nechemia Zucker (Buenos Aires, 1945), 71.
35 Schussheim, “Jewish Politics,” 51, 71–73. The “Kahalniks” (a derogatory term for Jewish communal leaders as self-serving oligarchs) knew the “economic and private situation” of every Jewish resident and manipulated them with ease.
36 For numerous examples see Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism, 268–72. Zvi Heller recalled the military blocking voters from the polls in Buczacz while paid, drunk “rabble” stuffed the ballot box. Zvi Heller, “From My Memories” (Hebrew), in Sefer Buczacz, ed. Israel Cohen (Tel Aviv, 1956), 143–44.
37 A wealthy attorney and member of the Lemberg City Council and Galician Diet, Löwenstein also advocated on behalf of the oil magnates. In 1904, he was one of the founders of a new Galician oil company established with headquarters in Drohobycz with six million francs capital. The Petroleum News, 3 Sept. 1904, p. 184.
38 Zionists charged that Feuerstein personally inspected ballots, in direct violation of the law. Lustig, “The Zionist Movement in Drohobycz,” 123; Jüdische Zeitung, 11 May 1907, p. 7; Dov Sadan, ed., Zikaron Mordechai Ze'ev Braude (Jerusalem, 1960), 211.
39 Lustig, “The Zionist Movement in Drohobycz,” 124; and Rothenberg, “Drohobycz in the Period between the Two Wars,” 97–98.
40 Jüdische Zeitung, 28 Apr. 1911, pp. 3–4; 30 June 1911, p. 3; Prawda, 9–10; SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 204. A socialist correspondent quoted him saying, “Among us people aren't elected, but rather are named. We don't need any voters.” Arbeiter Zeitung, 24 June 1911, p. 1.
41 Schoenfeld, Rose, “What Drove Me to America and My Experiences in Europe and America,” in My Future Is in America: Autobiographies of Eastern European Jewish Immigrants, ed. Cohen, Jocelyn and Soyer, Daniel (New York, 2006), 180Google Scholar.
42 Hirshaut, Yidishe naft-magnatn, 354; Mordechai Kaufman, “Torn out memories from Jewish Galicia” (Yiddish), in Pinkes Galitsye, 91.
43 Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny, 22 June 1911, p. 2.; Hatzfira, 22 June 1911, p. 2; 26 June 1911, p. 2; Haor, 2 July 1911, p. 1; Jacob Spitzmann and Lipa Schutzmann were oil magnates based in Tustanowice and Boryslaw, respectively, where they served as mayors. Social Democrats allegedly agreed not to run in Drohobycz in exchange for the Polish Club nominating a weak candidate against Diamand in Lemberg. Jüdische Zeitung, 4 May 1911, p. 3.
44 Joseph Kitai, “The Rabbi from Drohobycz: Rabbi Chaim Meir-Yechiel Shapira Zatzal” (Hebrew), in Sefer Zikaron leDrohobycz, 150–51; Hirshaut, Yidishe naft-magnatn, 349–50; and Rivka Shapira, “My Memoirs of Drohobycz,” 105.
45 For example, they challenged voters named Lea R, Nissel Falk, Gitla Steuermann, Hene Hammermann, and Estera Killemann, all women's names who authorities insisted were men. Diamand pointed out that fifty-one voters were listed at a single address, a home fit for six people, while Breiter showed a picture in Parliament of a tiny house at which sixty-eight voters were registered. Noting a string of nonexistent addresses among alleged voters, Breiter estimated that 10 to 15 percent of the new names were legitimate. SPA, Session XX (1911); Prawda, 14.
46 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 205, 274–5; Jüdische Zeitung, 16 June 1911, p. 3; 30 June 1911, p. 3; Arbeiter Zeitung, 24 June 1911, p. 3.
47 Schoenfeld, “What Drove Me to America,” 180.
48 Prawda, 13–20.
49 Die jüdische Presse (30 June 1911, p. 1) reprinted testimony that men stuffed the urn with packets of 50 to 100 ballots for Löwenstein at a time.
50 Drohobyczer Zeitung, 23 June 1911, p. 2. By law, each party was supposed to have its own observers at the polls. Łyszkowski allowed only one Zionist (Aberbach) along with three lackeys of Feuerstein, who publicly boasted about their appointment as “Zionist” representatives. Aberbach was later ejected, arrested (he claims) for refusing to sit with his back to the ballot box. Die Welt, 7 July 1911, p. 13; Prawda, 20–23, 27–28.
51 Kurjer Lwowski, 23 June 1911 (eve.), p. 1.
52 Lustig, “The Zionist Movement in Drohobycz,” 124.
53 Lustig remembers two army divisions from Przemysl, but contemporary reports indicate a battalion from Przemysl arrived only after the massacre to restore order. Ibid., 124; Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 21 June 1911, p. 2.
54 Prawda, 30–31. One correspondent claimed the violence started by 10:00 a.m. Neue Freie Presse, 21 June 1911 (morn.), p. 10. Most reports agreed that the mob's violence was stoked by their inability to vote, although Feuerstein and other officials describe these as false rumors, whereas their opponents and most eyewitnesses describe the fraud as factual.
55 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 276; Drohobyczer Zeitung 23 June 1911, p. 2; and Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 21 June 1911, p. 1. The latter paper reported that no forged cards were discovered, although others reported the opposite. Feuerstein's failure to note this in his defense suggests that the building—illegally located across the street from the polling station—did serve as his base to control the election.
56 Witnesses swore under oath that soldiers stabbed fleeing people and even corpses. Kurjer Lwowski, 21 June 1911 (eve.), p. 3; 22 June 1911 (morn.), p. 1. For gruesome details of other deaths and a complete list of the victims (including age, occupation, and wounds), see Prawda, 34–38 and Drohobyczer Zeitung, 7 July 1911, pp. 2–3.
57 See coverage from 20–21 June in The Dominion, Straight Times, The Times, Dallas Morning News, Lexington Herald, Boston Herald, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, and others. At least eight papers across Australia carried the news, as did countless more throughout the world.
58 Agramer Zeitung, 20 June 1911, p. 2; Salzburger Volksblatt, 20 June 1911, p. 2; Linzer Tages-Post, 21 June 1911, p. 2; Neues Wiener Journal, 20 June 1911, pp. 3–4.
59 Neue Freie Presse, 21 June 1911 (morn.), p. 11; Kurjer Lwowski, 20 June 1911 (morn.), p. 1. At least one Jewish paper also blamed the riots on workers sent by Spitzmann and Schutzmann (Haor, 2 July 1911, p, 1).
60 Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 21 June 1911, p. 1. It described the mob as “over one thousand heads,” but other sources describe even larger numbers.
61 Bukowinaer Post, 22 June 1911, p. 2; Der Tog, 21 June 1911, p. 1; Kurjer Lwowski, 21 June 1911 (eve.), p. 1. Aberbach was arrested along with other protestors after the massacre, many with stones in their satchels. Linzer Volksblatt, 21 June 1911, p. 2.
62 Kurjer Lwowski, 20 June 1911 (morn.), p. 1; Neue Freie Presse, 20 June 1911 (eve.), p. 2. See Zipper's defense against these accusations in Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, 30 June 1911, p. 3.
63 Arbeiter Zeitung, 21 June 1911, p. 8. Promilitary voices mocked their suggestion that soldiers being pelted with rocks should stand still for hours without responding, describing a chaotic scene of “hundreds of Jewish voters in Galicia bashing in each other's skulls.” Militär Zeitung, 24 June 1911, p. 5.
64 Though technically Piatkiewicz's assistant, Zionists described Łyszkowski as a thuggish, criminal outsider who dominated his boss, and contemporary accounts focused far more on him than Piatkiewicz. Prawda, 7.
65 Neue Freie Presse, 21 June 1911 (morn.), p. 11. For this version of events, see also Bukowinaer Post, 22 June 1911, p. 2; and Der Tog, 22 June 1911, p. 3. Another report claimed that a shot was fired on the soldiers from a nearby balcony, triggering the massacre in response, though this too was contested. Das Interessante Blatt, 29 June 1911, p. 11.
66 Neue Freie Presse, 25 June 1911 (morn.), p. 6. I discovered the compensation package buried in an internal government report. Österreichisches Staatsarchiv/Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv, Minesterium des Innern, Praesidiale, Sign. 22, Karton 2114 (25 July 1911).
67 Die Welt, 7 July 1911, p. 13; Der Tog, 4 July 1911, p. 1. Der Tog (30 June 1911, p. 1) reported rumors that Łyszkowski was personally involved in the investigation but could not verify what it considered to be shocking news.
68 Salzburger Macht, 13 Aug. 1911, p. 6. One man saw his sentence increased on review from three months to a full year.
69 “Yesterday,” one reporter wrote, “for Drohobycz, the secret ballot was abolished.” Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 21 June 1911, p. 2. See also Arbeiter Zeitung, 22 June 1911, pp. 1–3; and Dilo, 21 June 1911, pp. 4–5.
70 Jüdische Zeitung, 30 June 1911, pp. 2–3. Ernst Breiter and Benno Straucher elaborate on the fraud, noting the deliberate exclusion of most voters, the need for a special pass to enter, and the 100–150 member “honor guard” that ripped people's voting cards from their hands. SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 275.
71 Kurjer Lwowski, 20 June 1911 (eve.), p. 1; 21 June 1911 (morn.), p. 1; 21 June 1911 (eve.), p. 2; Die jüdische Presse, 30 June 1911, p. 4; Haynt, 25 June 1911, p. 2. Jehuda Epstein, an eyewitness who lived in the Hotel Schultz just twenty meters from the station, insisted that the mob violence had abated by noon and that the shooting occurred during a relatively calm period. Neue Freie Presse, 24 June 1911 (morn.), p. 6; Drohobyczer Zeitung, 30 June 1911, pp. 1–3; Die jüdische Presse, 30 June 1911, pp. 1–2. The official delegation to Bienerth emphasized the same point. Neue Freie Presse, 25 June 1911 (morn.), p. 6; Haynt, 27 June 1911, p. 1.
72 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 276–81, 375. Straucher added that the presence of women and children testifies to the tranquility at that time.
73 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 210, 282. For a copy of Dr. Bronisław Kozłowski's letter, see Prawda, 17.
74 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 276–80.
75 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 87–88, 210. Diamand quoted a doctor from the Jewish hospital who claimed that 30 percent of those who succumbed to their wounds could have been saved had help been permitted. The same story was brought in a Polish memoir that added other graphic details, including the claim that lightly wounded citizens, fearing arrest, refused to go to the hospital. Mściwujewski, Mścisław, “Krwawe wybory w Drohobyczu,” Z dziejów Drohobycza. Część II (Drohobycz, 1939), 184–92Google Scholar.
76 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 280; Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 25 June 1911, p. 2; Kurjer Lwowski, 22 June 1911 (morn.), p. 2.
77 Die Welt, 7 July 1911, p. 13; Jüdische Volksstimme, 6 July 1911, p. 5.
78 The local commander testified that he never finished the sequence and that the soldiers who misheard the order acted due to exhaustion. Der Tog, 25 June 1911, pp. 1–2; Kurjer Lwowski, 22 June 1911 (morn.), p. 2; SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 280.
79 Die Welt, 7 July 1911, p. 13. Early reports that the military fired prematurely in response to a shot fired from the balcony of a nearby house were later debunked. Bukowinaer Post, 22 June 1911, p. 2.
80 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 276, 280–81; Neue Freie Presse, 23 June 1911 (morn.), p. 7; Ha-Mitspeh, 30 June 1911, p. 2.
81 Wiener Sonn- und Montags-Zeitung, 26 June 1911, p. 2; Neue National Zeitung, 30 June 1911, p. 2; 14 July 1911, pp. 1–2. For three examples (Cracow, Lemberg, and Sambor), see Neue Freie Presse, 20 June 1911 (eve.), p. 5.
82 Arbeiter Zeitung, 24 June 1911, p. 3. Another witness quoted Feuerstein shouting as the mob threw rocks through his windows, “What good is the military doing here? Why don't they fire?” A correspondent from Haynt (25 June 1911, p. 2), visiting the city on 22 June, explicitly blamed Feuerstein and Łyszkowski.
83 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 273–74, 281–82. Almost no one blamed the soldiers; however, Haynt (23 June 1911, p. 1) noted that eight soldiers were arrested for disobeying the order to fire, while Hatzfira (26 June 1911, p. 2) reported a rumor that these were the Jewish soldiers. A correspondent from Haynt reported that three Jewish soldiers were arrested for refusing to fire, while the Ukrainians fired into the air! “Only the Czechs fired at people.” Haynt, 25 June 1911, p. 2.
84 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 372–76. At a 1 July rally in Czernowitz, he labeled Łyszkowski (as part of the “Löwensteinclique”) the primary culprit. Die Volkswehr, 4 July 1911, p. 2.
85 Neue Freie Presse 24 June 1911 (morn.), p. 6. His letter is followed by a report that the Polish National Council expressed its condolences and hopes that the guilty parties would be punished.
86 Neue Freie Presse 1 July 1911 (morn.), p. 9.
87 Benbassat, “Histoire de ma Famille”; Kärntner Landbote, 27 June 1911, p. 6; and 1 July 1911, p. 4. Benbassat claims Feuerstein disguised himself with a false beard. He returned less than two weeks later, on June 30. Der Tog, 5 July 1911, p. 1.
88 Die Zeit, 21 June 1911 (morn.), p. 3.
89 I thank an anonymous reader for this point.
90 Pilsner Tagblatt, 10 Aug. 1911, p. 5 and many others. Tennenbaum's arrest a month later was also covered widely, e.g., Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 13 Sept. 1911, p. 3.
91 Die Zeit, 5 Dec. 1911, p. 6 and many others. Another would-be assassin, Ignaz Ganzwetch, attempted to hang himself while in police custody. Arbeiter Zeitung, 23 Sept. 1911, p. 5.
92 Neue Freie Presse, 23 June 1911 (morn.), p. 7; 23 June 1911 (eve.), p. 2; 24 June 1911 (morn.), p. 7.
93 The initial inquiry almost indicted Łyszkowski, but the judge was replaced with a man rumored to be his close associate. Fearful witnesses refused to testify at the retrial and court records were deliberately corrupted with notes questioning evidence against him. In the end, only some poor protestors were sentenced to brief jail terms. Polyakov, “Inter-Ethnic Relations,” 130–31.
94 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 87–91, 198–212, 272–85, 368–78, 424–74, 555–67. Parliament debated the motions from 25 to 28 July. The Ukrainian National Democrat Kyrylo Trylowskyj—a longtime ally of the Jewish Club—demanded military reform to limit the ability of gendarme forces to fire live ammunition. Semen Wityk added an interpellation demanding support for the victim's families on 10 October. SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 516/I.
95 Gelber, “History of the Jews in Drohobycz,” 42; Schussheim, “Jewish Politics,” 74. The Zionists hosted a lecture a few days after the election on the topic, “World Jewry and the Land of Israel.” Der Tog, 7 Dec. 1911, p. 3.
96 He received double the votes of all opposition candidates combined. On 16 Nov. Breiter submitted an interpellation, undersigned by Straucher and a dozen Ukrainians, accusing Feuerstein and his clique (including his brother Itzik) of rigging the election with a network of 20 to 30 paid hooligans who terrorized the town. SPA, Session XXI, 986/I; Arbeiter Zeitung, 18 Nov. 1911, p. 5. Diamand also filed complaints of terror and assault by Feuerstein. Löwenstein's electoral committee, in turn, telegrammed Vienna that they too were threatened with “bloodshed” by opponents and requested protection. Österreichisches Staatsarchiv/Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv, Ministerium des Innern, Praesidiale, Sign. 22, Karton 2114.
97 All restaurants, bars, and schools were closed, and children were ordered to stay home. Six polling booths were guarded by 280 soldiers. Der Tog, 28 Nov. 1911, pp. 1–2; 30 Nov. 1911, p. 2.
98 Jüdische Zeitung, 20 Oct. 1911, pp. 11–12; 3 Nov. 1911, p. 3; Benbassat, “Histoire de ma Famille,” Hirshaut's claim that Feuerstein's grasp of the city was collapsing under him is fantasy. He quickly returned to prominence in the aftermath of the massacre and, reelected head of the Jewish community in 1912, ran it until World War I. Hirshaut, Yidishe naft-magnatn, 354; Jüdische Zeitung, 11 Sept. 1912, p. 4; 2 Oct. 1912, p. 3.
99 Jüdische Zeitung, 1 Dec. 1911, p. 1.
100 Jüdische Zeitung, 23 June 1911, pp. 1–4; 30 June 1911, pp. 1–3; 7 July 1911, pp. 2–4; 14 July 1911, pp. 4–5; and others. Outside Austria, see Jüdische Rundschau, 23 June 1911, p. 1; and 30 June 1911, p. 1, which focused on Löwenstein and described the victims as “Jewish martyrs.” The Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt (30 June 1911, p. 2) likewise described all victims as Jewish, their persecutors (Feuerstein and Löwenstein) allowing “their own people's blood to flow.”
101 Wiener Sonn- und Montags-Zeitung, 26 June 1911, p. 2; and Neue National Zeitung, 30 June 1911, p. 2. Hatzfira (26 June 1911, p. 3) similarly described the crowd as mostly Jewish.
102 Drohobyczer Zeitung, 23 June 1911, p. 1.
103 Jüdische Zeitung, 5 Apr. 1912, p. 5. Diamand and other Social Democrats had in fact protested vociferously against the massacre, albeit with their own spin.
104 Jüdische Volksstimme, 21 June 1911, p. 1; 28 June 1911, p. 1. Note the Zionists’ use of a Christian, arguably even antisemitic metaphor to attack assimilationism.
105 HaMitspeh, 23 June 1911, pp. 1–2; 30 June 1911, p. 3.
106 HaMitspeh, 7 July 1911, pp. 2–3.
107 Dilo, 22 June 1911, pp. 1, 4; 24 June 1911, p. 7; 27 June 1911, p. 5. My thanks to Anastasiia Simferovska for translating these texts.
108 Jüdische Zeitung, 23 June 1911, pp. 1–2.
109 Hapoel Hatzair, 28 Aug. 1911, p. 9; cited in David Assaf's blog post, “The Reincarnations of a Melody: The Ballad of Hannah's Death,” Oneg Shabbat, 4 Oct. 2013, http://onegshabbat.blogspot.com/2013/10/blog-post_4.html.
110 A socialist correspondent described Steinhauser as a known provocateur terrorizing the city on Feuerstein's behalf. Arbeiter Zeitung, 24 June 1911, p. 3. See also Togblatt, 21 May 1911, p. 1; and Bolesławski, Feliks, W Obronie Prawdy Tragedja Drohobyczka W Świetne Faktów (Lwow, 1911), 9Google Scholar.
111 Jüdische Zeitung, 13 June 1912, p. 1 and 20 June 1913, p. 1. Polish and Ukrainian students at the University of Vienna also sent letters of support to a Jewish nationalist student rally against the massacre on 23 June. Arbeiter Zeitung, 24 June 1911, p. 4.
112 Di Varhayt, 21 June 1911, p. 1.
113 Der Tog, 21 June 1911, p. 1; 22 June 1911, p. 2; 29 June 1911, p. 1.
114 Jüdische Zeitung, 21 June 1912, p. 1.
115 Polyakov, “Inter-ethnic relations,” 132–33. Drohobyczer Zeitung (26 June 1912, p. 5) reported the memorials in each house of worship but not the joint march afterward.
116 Jüdische Zeitung, 14 July 1911, p. 5; Die Volkswehr, 29 June 1911, p. 2; Dilo (23 June 1911, pp. 2–3).
117 Hirshaut, Yidishe naft-magnatn, 373–81. He does name one Ukrainian victim (Tatarski), who dramatically rebuked the soldiers as murderers just before one pierced a bayonet through his heart. This name—and his death by bayonet—appears on the official list of victims published at the time.
118 Gelber, “History of the Jews in Drohobycz,” 40–41.
119 Kaufman, “Torn out memories,” 91, 93. A Russian Zionist calls Drohobycz a “little Kishinev,” referring to the famous 1903 pogrom, in a public letter suggesting Galician Zionists retreat from domestic politics. Der Tog, 11 July 1911, p. 1.
120 Memoirs recall many such songs. Laizer Walder quotes a variant he sung in Kolomea, as does Nachman Blumenthal from his “childhood years” in Borszczów (255 km away), although he admits not knowing who Feuerstein was or what happened in Drohobycz. Shlomo Bickel, ed., Pinkes Kolomey (New York, 1957), 234–35 and Blumenthal, Nachman, ed., Sefer Borszczow (Tel Aviv, 1960), 61Google Scholar; Hirshaut, Yidishe naft-magnatn, 382.
121 Assaf discovered an obituary for Malke Gretler, a twenty-year-old maid shot on her way to shop, and he assumed this was Chanala. Other sources list no such person but do list nineteen-year-old Chanala Bell (nee Diamandstein). Prawda, 35; and Drohobyczer Zeitung, 23 June 1911, p. 3. Neue National Zeitung (14 July 1911, p. 3) calls her Chanala Beck.
122 Cohen, Y. L., Shtudyes vegn Yidisher folksshafung (New York, 1952), 345–46Google Scholar. Itzik Gottesman summarizes the history of the poem's early incarnations in his blog post “‘Khavele iz fun der arbet gegangen’ performed by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman,” 12 May 2010, https://yiddishsong.wordpress.com/tag/drohobych. David Assaf's blog post “The Reincarnations of a Melody” traces its later Hebrew iterations. The Polish-Jewish author Julian Stryjkowski (1905–96), born and raised in nearby Stryj, referenced the song in his 1956 novel Głosy W Ciemnośsci, emphasizing its socioeconomic causes. “When Szlomcia sang a Jewish song about Chawale, who Lowenstein killed with his command, Psachie the baker raised the fight and shouted: ‘Yes, yes. I was in Drohobycz then.’ I also shouted: ‘Down with the manufacturers! Let them stop drinking our blood!’” Stryjkowski, Julian, Głosy W Ciemnośsci (Warsaw, 1956), 49Google Scholar.
123 Viktor Patslavs'kyi, “Pershyi lystopad u Drohobychi i Boryslavs'kyi front,” in Drohobychchyna—Zemlia Ivana Franka, ed. Luka Lutsiv (New York, 1973), 69. My thanks to Andriy Zayarnyuk for sharing this source.
124 Jaszi, Oscar, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (Chicago, 1929), 146Google Scholar.
125 Sukhyi, Oleksii, Halychyna: miz͡h Skhodom i Zakhodom: narysy istoriï, XIX-pochatku XX st. (Lviv, 1999). In 2011Google Scholar, the Czech News Service reported the story on its one hundredth anniversary, describing the battle as a “national dispute” between urban Jews supporting Feuerstein and rural peasants sent to oppose him! Ivan Motyl, “Early Elections Ended in Shooting. 26 People Died” (Czech), 22 June 2011. http://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/media/stolety-kuryr/predcasne-volby-skoncily-strelbou-zahynulo-26-lidi_205235.html.
126 Mściwujewski, “Krwawe wybory w Drohobyczu,” 10–13.
127 Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism, 51, 65–66ff.
128 Neue Freie Presse, 25 June 1911 (morn.), p. 6; Kurjer Lwowski, 19 July 1911 (eve.), p. 8. For a fuller list of donations, see Drohobyczer Zeitung, 30 June 1911, pp. 5–6; and Die Zeit, 12 Aug. 1911, p. 3.
129 Rothenberg, “Drohobycz in the Period between the Two Wars,” 97. The new orphanage, named after the emperor, prioritized orphans of the bloody election. Its inauguration celebrated Feuerstein as a beloved, humble, and generous member of the community. Lazorak, “Franz Joseph I Home,” 50; Neue Freie Presse, 19 Jan. 14 (morn.), p. 8.
130 Hatzfira, 22 June 1911, p. 2.
131 The Voralberger Volksblatt, for example, blamed the massacre on a Zionist mob threatening the soldiers defending the polling station, adding that the dead consisted almost exclusively of Zionists. It failed to note the Jewishness of Feuerstein or to explore the role of Jewish power in the city. Voralberger Volksblatt, 21 June 1911, p. 2.
132 Zahra, “Imagined Noncommunities,” 110–11.
133 Arbeiter Zeitung, 22 June 1911, pp. 1–3; 23 June 1911, p. 1. The Polish socialist Gazeta Robotnicza (24 June 1911, pp. 1–2) did not mention Zionists once, describing the massacre as the result of nobility “wanting to stay in power by rape and fraud and drowning in torrents of blood every move of desperate people.”
134 SPA, Session XXI (1911–14), 285.
135 On Funkenstein's “victories” in Kolomea, which nearly led to a similar massacre in 1907, see Levi Grebler, “Socialist Demonstration in Kolomea on the Eve of the 1907 Elections” (Yiddish) in Pinkas Kolomey, 182–89.
136 I thank Lada Moskalets for directing me to the plaque and discovering the date of its installation.
