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EDITOR EMERITUS
ndlessly repeating
hatreds that stem from
ignorance that were in
evidence, not only
among backward nations of
the world, nearly always
helped spread the most
stupid canard of all — the
blood libel. In some in-
stances, the repeated
falsehood has needed atten-
tion to prevent its repetition,
especially when it is - sounded
in religious circles.
When scholarship is
assured to damn the lie, it
must be given special con-
sideration. This is now
available in one of the most
significant documentaries
that retains all of the facts
that shocked the conscience
of decency in mankind 79
years ago. It is related in an
assembling of data from the
czar's government involving
a simple Jewish laborer,
Mendel Beilis, who was the
target of the falsified accusa-
tion.
The history of the case, the
publication of which was
announced for next month
by Jason Aronson
publishers, was written by
Detroit scholar and linguist,
Ezekiel Leikin, under the
title The Beilis Transcripts:
the Anti-Semitic Trial That
Shook the World. This fac-
tually assembled history is
one of those records of a trial
that expose the manner in
which anti-Semitism was
fostered by a government of
a functioning nation. This
basic fact is emphasized by
the author declaring at the
outset that:
I have attempted to
show the sinister schemes
hatched behind the
scenes by ministers and
high officials of the czarist
government, with the tacit
approval of Czar Nicholas
II, to prove the veracity of
the blood libel accusation
and thus defame and
slander Jews and
Judaism.
Mr. Leikin not only at-
tempted but succeeded in his
task. His documentary con-
tains the testimony of the
anti-Semites in the case,
which turned into a judicial
comedy.
The reader of this reveal-
ing documentation can turn
to the text with an apprecia-
tion for the extent of resear-
ch accomplishments. Mr.
Leikin and his book must be
recognized as a rarity; the
author emerges as a scholar
The explanation of the his-
tory of blood libel fulmina-
tions is important for the
record. The following is from
the Leikin account of the
Beilis outrage:
Ezekiel Leikin
in research because of his
mastery of Russian, Yiddish
and Hebrew, the languages
in which his father retained
the records of the notorious
Russian "government spon-
sored" anti-Semitic
falsehoods.
Mr. Leikin's documentary
traces the beginnings of the
case against Mendel Beilis
as the Union of the Russian
People, the Double-Headed
Eagle and other anti-Semitic
groups sought to involve the
Jews in the murder of the 13
year old Andrey Yuschinsky.
The czarist anti-Semitic
guilt in the case is at once
traced to the blood libel and
support of its stupidities by
the official Russian govern-
ment and Cazar Nicholas II.
As the indictments in the
Leikin book state:
The Beilis trial, which
took place in the city of
Kiev, capital of the
Ukraine, in 1913, ranks —
along with the Dreyfus Af-
fair in France — as one of
the most notorious trials in
modern history.
The trial was, in fact, a
major conspiracy con-
ceived by high echelons of
the government of Czar
Nicholas II, fueled by the
reactionary, monarchist
elements in Russian socie-
ty and implemented by of-
ficials of the Ministry of
Justice with the tacit en-
couragement and approval
of the czar.
Following the revolution
of 1905, Russia was in the
grip of a chauvinistic coun-
terrevolution, of which the
Jews were the major
scapegoats and victims. A
rash of pogroms unleashed
by the rabidly anti-Semitic
Union of the Russian Peo-
ple and its shock troops,
the Black Hundred, was
symptomatic of this period.
In Russia, the idea of the
blood libel was widely pro-
moted and disseminated
among the benighted
masses as a basic Jewish
ritual linked to the Pass-
over holiday, because
Christian blood was osten-
sibly required for use in
the baking of matzos.
The czarist regime used
the blood-libel charge as a
convenient political wea-
pon to divert the attention
of the masses from the cor-
rupt and repressive poli-
cies of the government and
blame the Jews for all the
ills besetting the empire. In
its repeated attempts to
put a political gloss upon
the persecution of the
Jews, the government call-
ed public attention to the
"disproportionate" involve-
ment of Jews in revolu-
tionary movements, so as
to characterize the
Mendel Beilis was
the target of the
falsified
accusation.
pogroms as "outbursts of
popular indignation."
The revolutionary move-
ment, however, was grow-
ing in scope and intensity
and was becoming increas-
ingly unmanageable. The
reactionary monarchist
elements in the govern-
ment were on the lookout
for a new diversionary
ploy to offset the revolu-
tionary ferment agitating
Russian society. It is in this
context that the stage was
set for the Beilis trial.
The documentary is a
remarkable historiography
of an event dramatized
globally, which aroused con-
tempt of the leading news-
papers of the world. Readers
will be fascinated by the
defense which included not
only very prominent Jewish
attorneys under the leader-
ship of Oscar Gruzenberg
but also prominent Chris-
tian attorneys who joined in
exposing the fallacies and