A court in Czestochowa, western Poland, today sentenced Valenty Mlartsik, beadle of a Catholic church in the town of Truskolas, to thirty months’ imprisonment for the desecration of his church, which led to anti-Semitic disorders when the act was blamed on Jews.
After Mlartsik had stolen sacred objects from the church, a report was spread that the act had been committed by Jews as a reprisal for the bombing of a synagogue. The rumor resulted in serious anti-Jewish disturbances.
Mlartsik is the brother of the priest of the church.
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.