On the eve of the Day of Atonement, the old ritual murder libel was raised against Jewish settlers, mountain Jews, in Larin, a village in Dagestan. A thirteen year old Christian boy, Vasia Gubarev, was found in the river in the neighboring village, Serebriakovo. The boy had been choked to death. Immediately the rumor spread that he had been killed by the Jewish colonists for ritual purposes for the high holidays.
Twelve Jewish colonists who arrived at Serebriakovo with their grain to be ground at the government mill, were surrounded by an enraged group which began shouting, “Here are the murderers of Vasia” and began to attack them. The crowd grew wilder and wilder with the cry, “Kill the Jews!” Although the situation was extremely serious, the Chairman of the village Soviet, Zabelin, refused to interfere. The militia, with the assistance of the Comsomol, Communist youth organization, succeeded, after adopting extraordinary measures, in quieting the enraged crowd.
An investigation which was started immediately, disclosed that the boy had been choked and thrown into the river by Pavel Melnikov, in revenge for fighting Melnikov’s small brother who was Vasia Gubarev’s chum.
Melnikov was immediately arrested as were the attackers of the colonists and the Soviet Chairman, Zabelin.
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.
