Five teen-age boys today faced court in nearby Newton on charges of beating up a 14 year-old boy, Stephen Berger, because he was Jewish.
The Berger boy said that the gang accosted him and asked; “Are you a Jew?” When he replied that he was, the five boys beat him with an army belt on the end of which was a heavy brass buckle. Four defendants are 14 years old and the fifth is 15.
Police report that two other Jewish boys who, like the Berger child, were returning from a young people’s party at Temple Emanuel in Newton last Saturday night, were also beat by a gang. The two were 12 and 13 years old.
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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.