Kielce Pogrom
Even the Holocaust’s full revelation didn’t end European antisemitism. In July 1946, Polish townspeople killed 42 Jews in Kielce after blood libel rumors claimed Jews had kidnapped a Christian child. The violence occurred despite the presence of police and soldiers, showing official complicity. Coming after the Holocaust, this attack convinced many surviving Jews that Europe remained unsafe despite Nazi defeat. This pogrom accelerated Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe to Palestine and elsewhere.
