The name of a Polish champion horse that surfaced in coverage of the Scottsdale, Arizona Arabian Horse Show has caused a dustup because his moniker is associated with attacks on Jewish people.
Arizona Jews Up in Arms over Horse Named ‘Pogrom’
The name of a Polish champion horse that surfaced in coverage of the Scottsdale, Arizona Arabian Horse Show has caused a dustup because his moniker is associated with attacks on Jewish people.
Pogrom, a 3-year-old colt on lease from the Polish government to Scottsdale’s Midwest Training Centre and Sloan Arabians, is an offensive name to those who associate it with anti-Jewish mob attacks.
Scottsdale resident Nettie Sacks, 79, read that Pogrom was an up-and-comer and already a Polish champion in a recent Scottsdale Republic article. The word was like a lightning strike.
“To me, the word means when the Polish peasants formed a group and they called it a pogrom and they went to all the little villages to find the Jews and kill them all,” Sacks said.
Her grandfather’s family, including her mother, then a teenager, left Poland in 1916 for America after a pogrom.
The stallion was named by staff at one of the stud farms owned by the Polish government, known for its top-notch breeding.
Pogrom holds the recent title of 2011 Polish National Champion.
“They did not intend to choose a name that would be offensive, especially to people with whom they share historic tragedies,” said Sue Adams, spokeswoman for Midwest Training Centre.
The name of the stallion, based on the Polish language interpretation of the word, was to mean “an invincible leader; one who fights and wins.”
“Polish and Russian are Slavic languages, but they have different alphabets. Russian is Cyrillic and Polish is Latin, as is English, and their words sound different,” Adams said.
“As Americans, we can all agree that it was a most unfortunate choice of names for a horse that has matured into a magnificent champion stallion with a promising future here.”
*Pogrom was optimistically entered in the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show, which continues at WestWorld through Sunday.
But since having arrived in December, his managers determined he is not yet ready to compete at the Scottsdale horse show.
crdym
they should make a policy that names cannot be offensive.
simple solution
Kill it with fire
reality checker
Sometimes, I think we can be a tad over reactionary. It’s a dumb HORSE, people! It will fall & get shot (appropriate, nu?) There are more things for Yidden to get worked up over.
qwer
Its a typo… they were trying to name the horse “Program”
Thinkster
Unfortunately for the owners, instead of completing the race, he would only chase Jews.
Should this name be allowed? Neigh, I say, Neigh.
poor taste
and poor explanation
CHT
Pogrom in Russian simply means destruction.
to all..
freedom of speech
Milhouse
I consulted a few Polish-English dictionaries online, and none of them gave “invincible hero” as a translation of “pogrom”. All said it meant “rout”, “slaughter”, “extermination”, or indeed “pogrom”.
Freak of Nature
hey the horse has a human leg coming out!
Don-t get it
Must be something we can learn from horses. Baal Shem Tov said we can learn from everything we see. What’s this??
Milhouse
#11 What we can learn is that when an Odom gives names to the animals he has an insight into the animal’s nature and “nefesh chayoh hu shemo”. But when “am hadomeh lachamor” presumes to name their fellow ferd, “iz a pogrom”.
Gedaliah Goodman
There are so many Jews who name their horses Jewish names, Torah names. For example: Purim, Esther HaMalkah, Rambam, Nuchamul, Tzadik, Megillah, Zeeskeit, Mezuzah, Mit Mazel, Miss una Numem, mamash hundreds of names. Yiddish, Hebrew, gemmorah, you name it, they give it to their horses. That is their connection with Yiddishkeit. I know you don’t understand, and you don’t need to, but that is the type of Yidden that I am in contact with and deal with at the racetrack. They don’t put up a Mezuzah, don’t hear the Megillah, but this gives them nachas & that’s the best they seem to be able to do, but they love these Jewish names for their horses. They think it is cute. The woman who got so upset about this horses name, I can readily assure you she would have loved this horse if he had a nice Jewish name. She would be rooting for him all the way, ‘come on Moshe’, come on ‘Oif en Pripichick’. And the racetracks are full of Yidden, that’s one reason why MHM sent me out there. I don’t like these cute little Jewish names, but then again that is their level of love for Yiddishkeit.
Kate
The best sprinter in the world, Black Caviar, has a full brother (one year younger) by the name of Moshe. He was named by the (Jewish) majority share owner after his father. So the crowds really have been cheering “Come on Moshe!!” already. :)