Lithuanian Legation in Paris Denies Anti-jewish Excesses Occurred in Kovno

An attempt to deny the occurrence of serious anti-Jewish excesses in Slobodka, a suburb of the Lithuanian capital and to depict the event as a Communist disturbance was made by the Lithuanian legation here in a statement it gave to the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The assertions of the Lithuanian Legation is contrary to the proven facts.

According to the Lithuanian Legation the events on August 10th were caused by young Communists, the majority of whom were Jews, who attempted to disturb the work in the railway shop and force the workers to participate in a demonstration. A fight then developed in which a few Communist railway workers were slightly hurt. Later, the Legation asserts, Communists desiring to provoke anti-Semitic disorders threw stones at the windows of Jewish houses. “The provocation was, however, unsuccessful and we are happy to add that the events were not such as were reported,” the Legation stated.

Evidence which reached the office of the Jewish Daily Bulletin shows the events in a different light. It includes a list of 27 Jews who were injured during the Slobodka pogrom. The victims are in possession of certificates issued by local physicians testifying to their injuries. Among the 27 injured, there are old men, including a seventy-year-old synagogue sexton and an elderly member of the Slobdka Chevra Kadisha (Jewish burial society). A Communist demonstration took place on that day, not in Slobodka but in Schanz, another Kovno suburb. The (Continued on Page 4)

Another report from Lithuania states that the official denial issued by the Lithuanian government caused great amazement among Lithuanian Jewry, not being able to understand how the government can deny abroad facts so well known in the country, giving the impression that the Fascist pogrom is officially encouraged and covered up.