(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
The entire administration, including the chairman, of the Chalutz colony Mishmar, in the Jankoy region, were arrested by the Soviet secret police. They have been imprisoned at Simferopol.
Thirty colonists have been arrested during the past few weeks and exiled to Narym, Siberia. The secret police has been raiding the colony at least once every week during the night.
If the persecutions continue, the colony will probably dissolve during the summer. The authorities demand that the colony accept no new colonists without the sanction of the local Comzet, as a result of which the number of colonists has dwindled.
Mishmar is considered the best collective settlement in the entire Crimea, among both the Jewish and non-Jewish colonies. The government often sends farming students to the colony to study methods of agriculture. Mishmar is the only surviving Chalutzim colony in Crimea.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.