What is the definition of a pogrom?

Answer 1

Pogroms were violent riots and massacres launched against Jews and frequently encouraged by government authorities.

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It was, above all, Tsarist Russia that was associated with pogroms. In Russia the whole period from about 1881-1917 was charcterized by pogroms.

Nazi Germany staged the Night of the Broken Glass, but on the whole preferred to avoid public disturbances when implementing its anti-Jewish policies.

In 1941 there were pogroms in Romania, especially Bucharest and Iasi, with Jews being beaten up and killed in the street.

One of the best know pogroms was that at Kishinev in 1903. See the link.

See also the second link, which has a map of some of the places where pogroms occurred in the Russian Empire.

Answer 2

An organized (often officially sanctioned) murder of a minority group, usually Jews. It is a Russian word that came into the English lexicon through Yiddush. There were numerous pogroms in Russia where the Jews of the town would be rounded up and physically assaulted and murdered. One of the more well-known and deadly of the pogroms is the Kishinev pogrom of 1903 (in modern-day Chisinau, Moldova) where 47-49 Jews were killed, 92 severely wounded, 500 slightly wounded and over 700 houses and many businesses looted and destroyed.