Liev Kliatchko, Russian Jewish journalist, and for thirty years before the War known as the “king of reporters of the Russian press”, died here today. He was sixty years old.
His revelations, particularly when he was the diplomatic correspondent of the newspaper, Recht, organ of the leader of the Kadets (Constitutional Democrats),. Professor Paul Miliukov, frequently resulted in the resignation of cabinet ministers.
For twenty-five years the Czarist secret police watched his every step, repeatedly attempting to expel him from Petrograd, on the ground that he was a Jew. Under the Czarist regime, Jews were forbidden to live in large cities, unless they had special permission. But Kliatchko, on the strength of his influential connections, always ignored the expulsion orders. He even ignored the order of expulsion issued by the commander of the Petrograd military district in 1916.
After the Revolution and the subsequent seizure of power by the Bolsheviki, Kliatchko published two volumes of reminiscences and of episodes in Czarist history which had never been revealed. Included in the volumes were stories of various anti-Jewish incidents in the time of the Czar.
When the Bolshevik government proclaimed the NEP, the new economic policy, which removed many of the restrictions previously imposed on all trade, Kliatchko became a publisher and conducted a successful business. Later the Russian government once more tightened its hold on Russian industry, liquidating private trade. Kliatchko died in great need after a prolonged illness.
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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.
