White Terror (Russia)

The White Terror in Russia refers to the organized violence carried out by the White Army during the Russian Civil War (1917–23). It began after the Bolsheviks seized power in November 1917, and continued until the defeat of the White Army at the hands of the Red Army. The White Army had support from the Triple Entente and fought the Red Army for power, which engaged in its own Red Terror. According to some Russian historians, the White Terror was a series of premeditated actions directed by their leaders, although this view is contested by others.

An important member of the White Terror was Lavr Kornilov. During the Ice March in the south of Russia, Kornilov said: "I give you a very cruel order: do not take prisoners! I accept responsibility for this order before God and the Russian people." He promised, "The greater the terror, the greater our victories." He vowed that the goals of his forces must be fulfilled even if it was necessary "to set fire to half the country and shed the blood of three-fourths of all Russians." On another occasion, however, Kornilov said that prisoners should be taken care of, saying, "We do not make war against the wounded."

According to N. Bogdanov, a participant in the Ice March,

After receiving information about the Bolsheviks, the commander of the captured detachment was shot. Under Colonel Corwin Krukovsky, there was some especially painful cruelty. I know of many cases when under the influence of hatred for the Bolsheviks, the officers assumed the duties of shooting the captured volunteers. The executions were necessary because under the conditions in which the Volunteer Army had to move, prisoners could not be taken.

Bogdanov cited another occasion, however, where Red Officers were tried and cleared as having acted under duress.

After Kornilov was killed in April 1918, the leadership of the Volunteer Army passed to Anton Denikin. During the Denikin regime, the press regularly urged violence against Jews. For example, a proclamation by one of Denikin's generals incited people to "arm themselves" in order to extirpate "the evil force which lives in the hearts of Jew-communists." In the small town of Fastov alone, Denikin's Volunteer Army murdered over 1,500 Jews, mostly the elderly, women, and children. An estimated 100,000 to 150,000 Jews in Ukraine and southern Russia were killed in pogroms perpetrated by Denikin's forces as well as Petlyura's nationalist-separatists. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were left homeless and tens of thousands became victims of serious illness.

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