Berditchev, once almost a hundred percent Jewish city, is now completely Russified, the Charkov Yiddish Communist daily, Shtern, complains today. The paper discloses that the Berditchev Soviet has ceased to publish its orders in Yiddish as hitherto, the Jewish court which handled 200 cases a month in Yiddish is now practically dissolved because the judge says he understands no Yiddish and conducts the sessions through an interpreter.
The Shtern points out that the Jewish state attorney has been replaced by a non-Jew and the militia which formerly conducted its activities chiefly in Yiddish now uses Russian. Even the factories, with ninety percent Jewish workers, are managed in Russian instead of in Yiddish.
Voicing concern at this assimilationist policy, the Shtern blames the Jewish Communists for it, saying that Berditchev has of late been managed by Jewish Communists from Moscow and Charkov who are ashamed of Yiddish. To overcome the effects of this Russification policy the Shtern has sent a special representative to Berditchev to stimulate the local Communist party to adopt a resolution instructing the officials to return to the use of Yiddish in administrative matters on pain of trial by the party and in the courts.
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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.
