The Roumanian Government has confirmed the fact that the Jew, Samson Bronstein, was tortured by officials in Jedenitz, Bessarabia, in a communication addressed to the Roumanian Legation in the United States by the Under-Secretary of State, M. Tillea, after the Embassy had at first denied the report circulated by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about the occurrence.
The Under-Secretary expresses regret in his letter that such brutalities should have been instituted against the Jewish inhabitants of Bessarabia, and announces that a vigorous investigation is in progress.
The officials in the village of Chotin, who were responsible for torturing Bronstein have been punished, the letter declares. The captain of gendarmerie, Panisoara, has been transferred as a disciplinary measure, and the chief of the gendarmerie post has been suspended, subject to a judicial enquiry, following which he will be put on trial.
The Government, it is added, will endeavour to prevent any recurrence of these outrages.
The denial by the Roumanian Legation in the United States was sent to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in New York at the beginning of this month by its Technical Counsellor, Mr. J. Rosenthal.
Upon reading this incredible report, I cabled to our Government, Mr. Rosenthal wrote, from which I have just received by cable the following answer:
The news is completely invented. The authorities have no knowledge of such an incident having occurred in Yedenitz. It would be impossible that such barbarity could be perpetrated and remain unnoticed by the authorities and unpunished.
In view of the very bad impression this sort of news can create in the minds of the public, Mr. Rosenthal added, I hope that you will see the urgency of publishing the official denial as quoted above.
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.
