A new mass trial of persons charged with economic crimes, with most of the 40 defendants having Jewish names, is now taking place in Kishinev, capital of the Soviet Republic of Moldavia, according to reports received here today from Moscow. Some 20 percent of Kishinev’s population is Jewish.
The newspaper Sovetskaya Moldaviya reported that the defendants went on trial Friday on charges of embezzling 122,600 rubles ($135, 000) in textiles and shoe leather and with having sold these materials through government stores. Kishinev has been the scene of similar trials in which most of the defendants also were Jews.
Defendants in the current trial were reported to include 20 officials of garment and footwear factories and 17 salesmen employed by five government stores. The newspaper said D.S. Kreinetz had been named a ringleader and that he had used his alleged share in the embezzlement to buy his wife three fur coats and eight gold watches. He also was alleged to have given his wife 12,500 rubles worth of gold and to have secreted 18, 000 rubles.
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.
