(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Semion Petlura, leader of the separatist Ukrainian movement and Attaman of the pogrom bands at whose hands tens of thousands of Jewish men, women and children were massacred in the Ukraine in 1918-1919. was fatally shot by Samuel Schwartzbard, a Russian Jew, in the Boulevard Saint Michel at 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon.
“Dirty dog, killer of my people, defend yourself!” was the cry of Samuel Schwartzbard as he faced Petlura. Schwartzbard then drew his revolver and fired six shots. Petlura was taken to a hospital where he died shortly afterward, the bullets having entered his brain.
Samuel Schwartzbard have himself up to the police declaring: “I have killed Petlura to avenge the death of the thousands of pogrom victims in the Ukraine who were massacred by Petlura’s forces without his taking any steps to prevent these massacres.”
The large crowd that witnessed the shooting attempted to lynch Schwartzbard but the police protected him and took him to the police station.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
