Five Soviet Jews were given prison sentences in Kiev ranging from two to six years, for alleged “economic crimes,” a dispatch from the Soviet Union reported here today.
All five, according to the report, had testified last year against a local Jew named Jacob Sheinkin, charged with amassing “several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of peoples property” through “speculation in gold. ” In December, the highest court in the Ukraine had confirmed a lower court’s death sentence against Sheinkin, ordering him to be shot.
Meanwhile, according to the Soviet newspaper Kiev Evening News, there had been “demands from readers that the witnesses who had appeared against Sheinkin be prosecuted and given due Justice. ” The witnesses included Sheinkin’s daughter and son-in-law, Dora and Moses Gittleman; a Dr. Steiman, a Mr. Braginski and a fifth Jew named B.L. Shenkino, All had presumably testified they knew that Sheinkin was hiding gold in boxes buried in a cemetery.
The Kiev newspaper reported they had been tried now to meet “public demand, ” convicted of complicity in Sheinkin’s “crimes,” and sent to prison. The newspaper mentioned another Sheinkin son-in-law, named Zaprudski, as having been accused of helping Sheinkin, but did not report whether he had been convicted or sentenced.
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.
