(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Life imprisonment to be spent in penal servitude was the sentence imposed by the Chinese court on Ruskin, a Russian who murdered Levi Isaac Vilensky, a Jewish refugee from Russia, and seriously injured his brother-in-law M. Bichowsky, at the railway station Chailar because they spoke Yiddish to each other.
Ruskin confessed in court that he never saw Vilensky or Bichowsky before and that he killed them just because they were Jews. Great interest was displayed on the part of the Jewish community of Harbin in the trial and by the Russian colony consisting chiefly of former officers of the White Army who exercised their influence in an attempt to secure an acquittal for Ruskin, formerly a member of the monarchist army.
The attack on Vilensky and his brother-in-law, who was associated with him in his railway contracting work, was made at the railway station of Chailar, where there is a Jewish community of about 100 families. Chailar is a center where many former monarchist officers of the armies of Attaman Semionow Kalmikow and Anenkow have found refuge and where they continue their pogrom agitation.
Ruskin, who was employed as an electrician was on a telephone pole repairing wires near the Chailar railway station. He overheard a conversation in Yiddish between Vilensky and Bichevsky, who were waiting below for a trair Ruskin came down from the pole and asked the two: “Are you Jews?” When Bichowsky replied. “Yes, and if so, what of it?” Ruskin took out his knife and attacked them. Vilensky died within two hours.
When Ruskin was arrested several of the station officials attempted to establish that he was drunk, but the murderer was indignant at this and stated. “No. I was sober and I killed these Jews consciously. My only regret is that they were two instead of ten.”
The death of Vilensky, who was a scion of the family of the famous Perditcheif Rabbi, Levi Itzchok, caused wide mourning in the Far Eastern Jewish community. The Chailar Jewish community sent the body of the victim to Harbin where the funeral was held on July 14. General mourning was proclaimed by the community and all Jewish stores and shops were closed for the day.
Leaders of the Jewish community in Harbin submitted a memorandum to the Chinese Governor General concerning the increased anti-Semitic propaganda of the Russian monarchists. The murder was traced to the anti-Semitic propaganda conducted by the Russian monarchist press. Four Russian monarchist dailies, which are distinctly anti-Semitic, appear in Harbin.
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.
