Criminals Flee to Biro-bidjan, Emess Asserts

The class of people now flocking to Biro-Bidjan and the mode of travel is deplored here by the Jewish press.

It is the belief of the press that criminal elements and persons who have reason to avoid the authorities are taking advantage of the movement to recruit migrants for the Jewish autonomous region in Siberia.

Among the people in the last contingent to arrive in Biro-Bidjan were several with long criminal records. One man who gave his name as Mazur was reported to have forged his papers and to have given a false name. This “Jewish migrant” was discovered to be a Petlurist who had taken part in pogroms against the Jews.

Two brothers named Ret, notorious thieves, also arrived. They had hoped to smuggle their way across the eastern frontier of Siberia and flee the Soviet Union.

The paper Emes publishes a letter describing conditions under which fifteen families and fourteen individuals—sixty-eight persons in all—who left Moscow last month, were sent to Biro-Bidjan.

All sixty-eight, the letter says, were packed into six carriages, eleven in a carriage which has seating accommodations for six and sleeping accommodations for four. No arrangements were made for the children. Most of the migrants had to sleep on the floor, while others had to stand for days. There were no arrangements for clean and proper food.

The journey took a fortnight. All luggage was packed into one compartment. The congestion and the unhygienic condition resulted in illness among many. On had to be taken to a hospital at Kras Noyarsk, Siberia.

Such traveling conditions are intolerable, Emess writes, and those who are responsible should be severely punished. The migrants must be sent on under better conditions, even though it means increased cost.