Steven J. Zipperstein retells the shattering story of the Kishinev riot of 1903 in late-Tsarist Russia. It dominated the headlines in the western press for weeks, intruded on Russian-American relations and inspired endeavours as widely contradictory as the Hagannah, the precursor to the Israeli army, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, and the first version of ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.’

How did this incident come to define so much, and for so long? Using newly discovered material from Russia, Moldova, Israel and elsewhere, Zipperstein brings historical insight and clarity to an event that contributed to the transformation of 20th century Jewish life and beyond.

Introduced by Shirli Gilbert.

Steven J. Zipperstein is the Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History at Stanford University. He is a contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Jewish Review of Books and co-editor of the “Jewish Lives” series for Yale University Press.

Trudy Gold is director of Holocaust Studies at JW3 and former chief executive of the LJCC. She has worked in Holocaust Education in Britain, Eastern Europe and China. She is the author of a timeline of Jewish History, and editor in chief of Understanding the Holocaust.

Sponsored by the Sir Martin Gilbert Learning Centre.