Whatever hopes Schiff entertained of Jewish liberation by the revolution-
ary upheaval of 1905 in Russia were dashed by the wave of reaction that
swept the country in the fall of that same year. From mid-October to the
end of November, 690 pogroms erupted, leaving close to 900 Jews killed,
between 7,000 and 8,000 injured, and property damage estimated in mil-
lions of rubles. “One must almost lose one’s faith in mankind,” Schiff wrote
to Cassel, “if such horrors, beside which even a Bartholomew’s night pales,
can be perpetrated at this day.” Since the outbreaks continued into 1906,
the number of casualties mounted even higher. Witte was then prime min-
ister, and Schiff accepted his explanation faulting local authorities for the
atrocities. The banker neither blamed Jews for siding with the revolution-
aries, nor did he believe that rights for Jews would spark new pogroms. At
the same time he sought comfort in a spiritual explanation. There was a
higher purpose to Jewish suffering, he said. Jews had been sacrificed
throughout the ages in order for mankind to enjoy better things, and “so it
is now in Russia where the Jew must die so that freedom and liberty may
become living facts.” The sorry events presaged Russia’s doom: “As sure as
there is a God who looks down on all mankind, bitter vengeance will some
day be wrought.”^40
The victims could not wait for divine retribution. Since the American
ambassador, like his predecessors, ignored the atrocities and since the Red
Cross erroneously claimed that it provided generous relief to the sufferers,
help lay only with fellow Jews. A flurry of cables between Schiff and lead-
ing European Jews greeted the news of the first pogroms. A few days later,
in tandem with European relief activities, the stewards established the first
national organization for the relief of foreign Jews, the National Commit-
tee for Relief of Sufferers by Russian Massacres (NCRSRM). Whereas re-
lief efforts for Kishinev in 1903 had been handled locally, the NCRSRM
was a centralized national body. At an emotional community-wide meeting
at Temple Emanu-El, Oscar Straus was elected chairman; Schiff, treasurer;
and Cyrus Sulzberger secretary. Although opinions clashed on whether re-
lief should go to Christians as well as Jews, the same downtowners who
were quick to find fault with aristocratic leadership readily yielded in the
emergency to the dictates of the stewards. Headed by a small executive
committee of ten (Abraham Cahan was the sole representative of the
downtown element), the NCRSRM immediately launched an ambitious
and highly successful campaign. If the Portsmouth meeting with Witte
epitomized elitist highhandedness, the relief committee proved the organ-
izational skills and tireless efforts of the same elite.^41
Over Schiff’s signature wires appealing for funds went out to Jewish
communities throughout the land. The committee enlisted the aid of rabbis
and congregations, social societies, fraternal orders and lodges; businesses
140 Jacob H. Schiff