US President Woodrow Wilson appointed a commission, led by Henry Morgenthau, Sr., to investigate violence against the Jewish population in Poland.

[12] Before withdrawing from Lwów, the retreating Austrian forces let the criminals out of the prisons,[13] some of whom volunteered to join the Polish militia and fight against the Ukrainians.

[3][7] On the morning of 22 November, after taking the city the night before, amidst rumors that Lwów's Jews would be made to pay for their "neutrality" in the Polish-Ukrainian conflict, Polish forces interned and disarmed the Jewish militia.

"[3] According to historian Carole Fink, Mączyński delayed the implementation of a 22 November order for martial law from Brigadier General Bolesław Roja for a day and a half.

In the interim, Mączyński issued inflammatory proclamations of supposed acts of Jewish treachery against Polish troops using what has been described as "medieval terminology".

Several Polish officers, according to the report, took part in the killings and pillaging, which they said continued for a week afterward under the guise of searching for weapons.

[3] Hagen also states that according to Jewish witnesses, Polish civilians, including members of the intelligentsia, took part in murdering and robbing Jews.

[3][7] During the pogrom, according to a report by the Polish foreign ministry, over 50 two and three-story apartment buildings were destroyed as were 500 Jewish businesses.

[7][8] For several months after the pogrom, Jews in Lviv were subjected to ongoing robberies, searches, and arrests at the hands of Polish forces.

As a result of Jewish protests in January 1919, several Polish units, including the local military commander's security service, were disbanded.

[30] The Council of Ministers of the West Ukrainian People's Republic also provided financial assistance to Jewish victims of the pogrom[31] During the spring offensive of the Polish army, in 1919, there were further pogroms with fatalities organized by the Polish population of Galicia with the participation of soldiers, including the Pinsk Massacre.

[11] All those pogroms meant that Galicia (where Lwów was located) and the Polish state as a whole, became an inhospitable, dangerous place for Jews, with no intention of accepting them as fellow citizens.

[11] International outrage at a series of similar acts of violence committed by the Polish military (Pinsk massacre) and the civilian population against the Jews (Kielce pogrom) led to the appointment of an investigation commission by the United States President Woodrow Wilson in June 1919.

[8] At the same time, the Morgenthau Report cleared the Polish government of responsibility for the events and attributed the casualties to "the chaotic and unnatural state of affairs".

[36] Independent investigations by the British and American missions in Poland stated that there were no clear conclusions and that foreign press reports were exaggerated.

A report prepared on 17 December 1918 for the Foreign Ministry of Poland emphasized the role played by criminals released during the struggle over the city and recruited by the Polish Armed Forces.

According to the report, this resulted in a "tragic and vicious circle" when a soldier fighting for the Polish cause "robbed at every opportunity and wherever he could."

The report noted that as of December, sentences had not been passed for 40 soldiers, along with one thousand civilians identified as "criminals" who had been jailed for robbery and murder.

Prusin notes that Jewish news agencies covering the pogrom in USA and Europe had "widely publicized and highly exaggerated its scope".

[40] More accurate estimates from reliable sources, such as the Morgenthau report or American diplomats in the Polish capital, emerged only later.

According to William W. Hagen, citing a report prepared for the Polish Foreign Ministry, approximately 150 Jews were murdered and 500 Jewish shops and their businesses were ransacked.

A simultaneous British government investigation led by Sir Stuart Samuel reported that 52 Jews were killed, 463 injured and a large amount of Jewish property was stolen.

[42] It was immediately after regarded as a pogrom per reports, including such as in The Nation[45] and author Franciszek Salezy Krysiak who published his book in 1919.

[46] Though the Morgenthau Report raised a question as to whether the label pogrom is technically applicable to such riots in the times of war,[5] the report submitted to Polish Foreign Ministry cited by Hagen characterized the incident as a pogrom, and it criticized the inaction of Polish officials in failing to halt the violence, while accusing the officials of publicizing inflammatory charges against Lwów's Jews.