The special court here imposed a nine months’ imprisonment term upon Herman Beer, a Polish Jew, on the charge that he had informed friends that the bodies of three mutilated Jews had been found in the streets of Berlin, and that, in Dresden, twenty-eight Jews were dragged out of a synagogue and beaten until blood flowed. He is accused of having disseminated a report that a Jewish professor had disappeared leaving not a trace behind.
The court in imposing sentence did not take into consideration whether Beer’s information was accurate or not. It did, however, consider that since Beer communicated only what he had heard, the sentence should be nine months instead of the usual year, as in similar cases.
This unexpected “mercy”, however, was shown to a Russian peddler woman named Schumilkin, who was sentenced to only nine months, although she was accused of having asserted that she herself saw the eyes of a Jew gouged out.
In announcing the verdicts, the president of the court appealed to the press to print precisely the reasons for these verdicts because he wishes it to be known that although “this special court is strict, it is not cruel”.
As the Year Turns, Support the Journalism You Trust. JTA covers the stories shaping Jewish life around the world — with the depth this moment calls for. As you reflect on the year ahead, consider a gift that keeps independent Jewish journalism strong.
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.
