A memorandum of protest against the anti-Semitic occurrences in Baltzi, a Bessarabian town, was submitted today by a delegation from Baltzi to M. Angelescu, Roumanian under-secretary of the Interior. The delegation headed by Deputy Hoffman, consisted of Deputies Linko, Miza, Mayores, Pirogan and Dr. Kalik. The memorandum pointed out that the Jews and Christians of the town had always lived in peace, even during the Czarist pogroms of 1905 when none took place in Baltzi. The memo charged that anti-Semitism now was being sponsored by the Cuzists with the secret assistance of the local officials.
The delegation stated that gangs of hooligans with patriotism as the pretext are inciting and terrorizing the population, breaking windows and assaulting passersby before the eyes of the authorities who, it is charged, intervene when the trouble-makers meet with resistance. The memorandum recites that Jews were attacked in the municipal gardens which is but fifteen feet from the prosecutor’s office and fifty feet from the police office.
Protest is also made against the participation in the disturbances of students in government supported schools. The attacks are reported to be led by M. Novitzky, a former Russian secret police agent and M. Lucrezianu, and one of the teachers in the schools who conducts Cuzist propaganda and maltreats Jewish students.
The delegation also submitted a petition from the people of Baltzi testifying that the prosecutor personally horsewhipped a number of Jews and then went to the house of the anti-Semitic leader for a chat and sent a telegram to the minister of the interior that two Jews had beaten a peasant. M. Angelescu did not give the delegation a satisfactory reply, saying that the Jews started the trouble. Dissatisfied with his attitude, the deputation protested that the Jews who had been beaten were now accused of starting the trouble.
Deputy Miza told M. Angelescu that “either you protect the Jewish population or they are entitled to organize self-defence units against the Cuzists.” The delegation also visited M. Junian, minister of justice, who promised to investigate and punish the guilty.
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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.
