(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Authentic information concerning the life story of Sholom Schwartzbard, who shot Petlura, was obtained by the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here.
It appears that Schwartzbard was born in a Ukrainian town. He later emigrated to France where he kept a small wathmaker’s shop in Paris. At the beginning of the war he volunteered for the French army where he received the Croix de Guerre. After the Bolshevik revolution he went to Russia where he joined the Red Army and became a commander of a regiment which fought against the pogrom bands of Petlura and Denikin. Witnessing many pogroms he swore vengeance against Petlura. Due to his dissatisfaction with the Communist regime he returned to France where he became active in the French and Jewish labor movement. He was formerly president of the Jewish Ex-Service Men of France and had intended to go to Palestine to become a land worker.
Schwartzbard was the author of three books of poetry and prose in Yiddish. One volume consists of Yiddish poems, called “Truman un Wirklichkeit,” an-other volume. “Milchome Bilder.” contains descriptions of his war experiences from 1914-1916 at the Somme and a diary, “Fun Tiefen Obgrund” where he describes his experiences in the Ukraine from 1917 to 1919.
He was also a contributor to the Yiddish weekly paper in New York. “Die Freie Arbeiter Stimme” where he published his impressions of the war and pogrom period under the nom de plume. “Baal Chalomoth” (the dreamer).
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.
