Minsk rabbis had been executed, the newspaper, “Oktiabre,” the organ of the Jewish Communists in Minsk, declares that all rabbis in Russia play an important role in the present anti-Soviet crusade abroad and that they are all spies for foreign-counter-revolutionaries and that therefore “these holy damagers should be carefully watched.”
The entire Soviet press, from the “Isvestzia,” the official government paper, to the smallest sheet, today carries a furious official attack on the Jewish Telegraphic Agency because of the furor raised abroad over the danger of the Minsk rabbis. The attack is directly traceable to the promise made by Senator Borah to Congressman Dickstein to inquire from Moscow for official information as to the fate of the fourteen leaders of the Minsk Jewish community, allegedly sentenced to death.
In a denial circulated here today through Tass, the official government news agency, the story of the execution of the rabbis is termed a “deliberate lie” and “similar information emanating from Warsaw is false and part of the ring in the present anti-Soviet campaign abroad.”
Inquiry at the Russian foreign office by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s correspondent revealed that Senator Borah’s inquiry has not been received.
Anti-religious Jewish street demonstrations allegedly organized by the entire Jewish population are reported from a number of townships in the Minsk, Mozir, Bobroisk and Vitebsk regions. The Jews are said to be marching on the local soviets asking that the synagogues be converted. The last synagogue in Krupke has been converted while a red flag waves over the synagogue in a Vitebsk region township.
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.
