Past Event

Jeffrey Kopstein
University of Toronto

Why do pogroms occur in some localities but not in others? This question has long puzzled scholars.  With a focus on the wave of pogroms in Eastern Poland and Western Ukraine that occurred in the first weeks after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Professor Kopstein shows that pogroms are only weakly correlated with Polish and Ukrainian nationalism and Jewish support for communism.   Instead what matters most  for the occurrence of pogroms are pre-existing political and demographic tensions, especially Jewish support for ethnic parties.  After discussing these conditions, Professor Kopstein will note what this conclusion means for Polish and Ukrainian wartime culpability and the broader conditions under which pogroms are likely to occur.

Jeffrey Kopstein is Professor of Political Science and Acting Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto.  He has published three books and more than forty peer reviewed articles on comparative and European politics and history.  His forthcoming book is Intimate Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms as Prelude to the Holocaust. 

Metered public parking is available in Parking Garage P9, adjacent to Robertson Hall.

Light sandwich lunch will be provided.
Registration is requested by Monday, 16 January 2012
or go to csds1112kopstein.eventbrite.com

The CSDS Speaker Series events are free and open to the public.
For more information visit carleton.ca/csds
or call 613.520.2600 ext 6671