(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
The complaint that the interest of European Jewry in the forthcoming trial of Sholom Schwartzbard, slayer of Semion Petlura, has abated was voiced by Dr. Simon Dubnow, well known Russian Jewish historian in a statement he made public here. Dr. Dubnow urges in his statement that the Schwartzbard trial be regarded by Jews as an event of the gravest importance for disclosing to the world the full extent of the horrors committed against the Jewish population in the Ukraine in the period 1918 to 1920, not in an attempt to seek revenge, but to champion the truth.
“Jewish public opinion seems to have forgotten that there is in the Paris prison a man who has sacrificed himself for the honor of the Jewish people. The entire world must know the motive for this tragic act.”
Dr. Dubmow compares the Schwartzbard trial to the Beilis trial which stirred the entire Jewish world. Now we are on the eve of a trial which must be transformed into a court of the world’s conscience to judge those who committed the inhuman horrors against the Jewish population in the Ukraine. Ukrainian Chauvinists endeavor to depict Semion Petlura as a hero of their people and attempt to cover what we intend to reveal namely, the most horrible tragedy of Jewish history. The Jewish community should never allow this to happen. With thousands of documents and living witnesses, we must establish what happened between 1918 and 1930. We do not desire revenge, but we must insist on revealing the terrible truth. The entire Jewish people must now come to the aid of the Schwartzbard Defense Committee. Dr. Dubnow declared in his statement.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
