Samuel Schwartzbard who shot Petlura yesterday afternoon, told his story to the police authorities.
“I planned for many years to murder Petlura for his guilt in the massacre of many thousands of Jews in the Ukraine. I never met Petlura before, but I carried his picture in my pocket. I learned that he lunched every day in a restaurant in the Rue Racine. I then posted myself outside of the building. I saw him several times in the company of his wife and daughter when I restrained myself from shooting in fear that the bullets might harm his wife and daughter. Today, when I saw him leave the restaurant alone. I asked him: ‘Are you Petlura.’ When he answered ‘Yes,’ I exclaimed, ‘This will revenge my brothers,’ and I fired seven shot from my automatic.”
Petlura resided in Paris for the last year, where he published a Ukrainian weekly under the name, “Tryzub.” having left Poland, where Jewish leaders at one time demanded his expulsion for his guilt in the massacres in the Ukraine.
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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.
