In Ukraine between 1918 and 1921, more than 100,000 Jews were murdered in what came to be known as pogroms, or ethnic riots. These pogroms, historian Jeffrey Veidlinger posits, were a direct run-up to the Holocaust that was then 20 years in the future. Veidlinger draws on archival materials and thousands of newly discovered witness testimonies to understand how, and why, the seemingly aberrant pogroms were in fact a loud and clear alarm, warning that something terrible was ahead.