When Fear Turned to Hatred: The Plague Pogroms

In the mid-14th century, a mysterious and deadly plague began to spread from Asia. It claimed countless lives along the way, with estimates suggesting that around 35 million people perished in China alone, before the disease reached Europe. As the epidemic advanced, entire populations were gripped with terror.

The outbreak became known as the Black Death, and it devastated Europe on an unprecedented scale. Between a quarter and half of the continent’s population is believed to have died, making it one of the greatest demographic disasters in human history. The disease that caused such destruction is generally identified by historians as the bubonic plague.

Searching for Someone to Blame

Faced with a calamity they could not understand or stop, the masses began searching for scapegoats. Tragically, their hatred was soon directed toward the Jews.

Jews were accused of participating in a global conspiracy and of deliberately spreading the plague. One of the twisted “proofs” offered was that Jews seemed to suffer less from the disease than others, likely because of better hygiene and communal practices, though such explanations were unknown to the general population at the time.

Pogroms Across Europe

Despite pleas from both the king and the pope not to harm the Jews, mobs launched violent attacks on Jewish communities throughout Europe. These events marked one of the darkest chapters in Jewish history. Ancient and flourishing communities were destroyed, and thousands of Jews were brutally murdered.

The violence reached a horrific peak on the 9th of Elul 5109 (1349), when riots erupted in Mainz, Germany. Although the Jewish community attempted to defend itself, they were overwhelmed. Around 6,000 Jews were killed in the massacre, and those who survived fled eastward, many eventually finding refuge in the plains of Poland.