Etymology
The word pogrom originally derives from the Russian verb громи́ть, meaning "to destroy, to wreak havoc, to demolish violently," and its "international currency dates back to the anti-Semitic excesses in Tsarist Russia during the years 1881–1883." The word may have come into English and European languages from the Yiddish word פאָגראָם as a loanword from Russian. It gained widespread currency through the writings of Irish journalist Michael Davitt in his coverage of the Kishinev pogrom.
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