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What Jewish Students Did in Vilna Streets Last November Can Only Be Described As Pogrom Says Judgmen

April 20, 1932
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The Jews are animated by a great and profound enmity against Christians in general, and especially against Poles, since the days of the Inquisition when Jews were burnt at the stake, is the amazing allegation contained in the judgment handed down by the law court here, in pronouncing sentence of two years’ imprisonment upon the Jewish student Wulfin on the charge of having taken part in the Vilna disturbances at the time that the Christian student Stanislaw Waclawski was killed.

Basing the sentence on Article 122 of the Russian Penal Code, under which Wulfin was charged, the judgment points out that originally this Article was brought into existence in order to protect Jews, but this time, it says, it must be applied against, Jews.

The excesses were extended from the University into the streets by the action of the Jewish students, the judgment asserts, and what the Jewish students did in the streets of Vilna, it says, can only be described as a pogrom.

M. Smiarowski, the leading counsel for the defence, who is a former Minister of Justice, argued during the hearing that Article 122, which deals with race enmity, could not be applied against Wulfin because all that had happened was that people who had been attacked had defended themselves against their aggressors. Those who had spread race hatred were the aggressors, he said, so how could Article 122 be applied against Wulfin, against the side that had defended itself?

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