The Limerick Pogrom was an anti-Jewish boycott and persecution that took place in 1904 in the Irish city of Limerick.
While the town had only one Jewish resident in 1861, its Jewish population rose to 130 by 1896, comprised primarily of Jews who had fled Lithuanian persecutions and pogroms. Once settling in Limerick, the Jews quickly built a synagogue and cemetery for the small community. By 1904, the Jewish population of Limerick stood at about 150.
In the same year, influential Catholic priest John Creagh gave an emotional sermon condemning the Jews, charging them with rejecting and killing Jesus Christ, being usurpers, controlling the local economy, oppressing French Catholics and exploiting the local population.
Calling the Jews “leeches,” Creagh charged the small community with blood libel, stating, “Nowadays they dare not kidnap and slay Christian children, but they will not hesitate to expose them to a longer and even more cruel martyrdom, by taking their clothes off their backs and the bite out of their mouths. They came to our land to fasten themselves like leeches and to draw our blood when they have been forced away from other countries.”
He added that his followers should boycott the Jews by not deal with them in either social or economic situations.
Later that year, echoing Creagh’s anti-Semitism, an angry mob marched down the tiny Jewish quarter, pelting Jewish home and business with stones and mud. Jewish-owned property was severely damaged leaving the streets covered with shattered glass. Eventually, local police stopped the mob from continuing what would have ended as a pogrom.
The anti-Semitic boycott continued for four months, during which Creagh continued his incitement against the Jews. Excluded from much of city life and unable to make a living, the Jewish population ultimately left the city, may to the United States.
While the Jews came to Limerick to escape violent oppression, they were greeted with persecution and discrimination.
