Sholom Schwartzbard, who in 1936 assassinated in Paris Semion Petlura, Ukrainian Nationalist leader whom he held responsible for the anti-Jewish massacres of 1918 and 1919 in the Ukraine, was found dead in his room here early this morning. He was 52 years old.
Schwartzbard, found not guilty by a Parisian jury after a sensational trial in 1927, was in South Africa on a mission in behalf of the Universal Yiddish Encyclopedia.
A watchmaker by trade, and poet by avocation, Schwartzbard was a French citizen and had served with distinction in the World War. At his trial, he readily admitted shooting Petlura. Declaring he had planned and executed the assassination alone and was not the representative of any group, organization or party, Schwartzbard expressed satisfaction with his deed and affirmed his belief that Petlura bore the responsibility for the massacres in which many of his relatives had perished.
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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.
