The Lithuanian Party in the Memel Landtag today interpellated the local government with regard to the affair in Punimum, a town located in the autonomous region of Memel, where 50 Lithuanian Jews were arrested and three litres of blood were extracted from each one.
In reply to the interpellation, the Memel directorate stated that the action was undertaken without their knowledge but upon instructions of the Landrat of Pogegen, because it was suspected that these Jews might be infected with typhus.
The interpellants, who remained unsatisfied with this reply, asked why only Jews were caught, and suggested that this action was undertaken by the police to frighten Jews away from trading in Punimum. They are therefore demanding a thorough inquiry into the affair.
The Jews whose blood was thus extracted arrived in Punimum on the 29th of November for business purposes. On their arrival they were taken into custody by a policeman and the blood extraction was then performed by a provincial doctor.
The Jewish community of Memel is greatly agitated over this deed and the opinion is expressed that this was done to frighten Jewish merchants away from trading in the villages of the Memel region.
One of the Jews arrested, Mordecai Lurie, managed after great hardships to return to Shavli, Lithuania, where he told what happened to him and his fellow travellers.
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.
