Of 90 citizens of the USSR sentenced to death for “economic crimes” since the death penalty for such offenses was reintroduced by the Soviet Government a year and a half ago, 50 were Jews, the Sunday Telegraph stated here today in a summary of recent anti-Jewish actions in Russia.
Characterizing the number of Jews executed during the Soviet campaign against “economic criminals” a point of “significance,” the newspaper called the facts a reflection of “a deliberate policy of making the Jews the scapegoats for widespread embezzlement and profiteering.”
Recent examples of the manner in which Jews are chosen for treatment much harsher than that accorded other Soviet citizens were cited by the Sunday Telegraph in connection with trials held at Kishinev and Chernovits, where 10 persons were executed all of them Jews. Another instance noted by the newspaper was the case of a man named Tespuro, a non-Jewish director of a state farm at Irkutsk, who was tried and convicted for “numerous offenses.” Tespuro was given a 10-year prison sentence, but his subordinate, a Jew named Yudin, was sentenced to death.
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.
