1915 Persecution Of Six Million Jews Charged Against Russia

June 6, 1915 newspaper article by Herman Bernstein detailing charges that 6 million Jews are being persecuted in Russia.

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NEW YORK, SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 1915. Copyright,
1916. by the Sun Printing

Horrors Worse Than Kishineff Charged Against
Russia To-day

Unparalleled Conspiracy to Crush the Jews
Alleged to Be Organized to Cover up Defeats of Czar s Troops--- Torture and
Massacre Declared to Be Rife in Hundreds of Towns

Photos of: M. Maklakoff, Minister of the Interior, M.
Sazonov, Foreign Minister, and Prime Minister Goremykin

By: HERMAN BERNSTEIN, Editor of
"The Day"

SINCE the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem the Jewish
people have had no darker page In their history than that which the Russian
Government Is writing to-day. Six million Jews, one-half of the Jewish
people throughout the world, are being persecuted, hounded, humiliated,
tortured, starved. Thousands of them have been slaughtered. Hundreds of
thousands of Jews, old men, women and children, are being driven mercilessly
from town to town driven by the Government, attacked by the troops of their'
own country, plundered' and outraged.

Upward of 400,000 Jews are fighting for Russia In the
armies, fighting bravely and loyally. The list of Jewish heroes is so large
that the Russian censor has commenced to suppress their Jewish names.

The horrors of Kishineff and Homel and the pogroms that
were organized in hundreds of Russian towns on the same day attracted universal
attention and were condemned by the entire civilized world because those
pogroms were made In times of peace.

The. situation of the Jews In Russia is far graver today The
wholesale expulsions, the executions of Jews without trial, now- occur when
their brethren are giving their lives for their country. An unparalleled conspiracy
against the entire Jewish population of Russia is at this time being organized
In order to cover and excuse the demoralization and defeats of the Russian
troops and to make It impossible for the Jews to get recognition In the form of
equal rights after the war is ended.


The Belgians were ruined, massacred. The whole world was shocked. Universal
sympathy was aroused. The world was most generous in its respond. It has
given bread to the starving and hope to the ruined nation.

The Polish people, too, are ruined. Their fields, drenched
with blood, are desolate. Their towns are destroyed, their women and children
are starving. But they have promises that give them hope for a rejuvenated,
united and autonomous Poland.

On January 2-, I received a cable from the Russian Prime
Minister M. Goremykin, which read as follows:

\u201cReports Jewish pogroms in Polish towns nonsense.\u201d

The Russian Premier\u2019s cablegram was an answer to my inquiry
as to whether there was truth in the reports of pograms contained in thousands
of letters that reached America from Russian Poland\u2014letters from eye-witnesses
and relatives of victims of the pogroms.
Georg Brandes, the great Danish author, had already written his masterly
essay on the Jewish pogroms in the Polish provinces.

On February 9, 1915, M. Sazonov, the Russian Minister of
Foreighn Affairs declared in the Duma:

\u201cAmong the malevolent inventions ____reports of Jewish
pogroms which Russian tropps are alleged to have organized. I seize this opportunity of speaking in the
parliamentary tribune to deny this calumny categorically, for if the Jewish
population in the theatre of war is suffering, that is an inevitable evil,
since the inhabitants of the regions where the hostilities are proceeding alwys
have been severely tried.\u201d

Now we have in the country a ____Russina Dr. Dernburg, M.____Syromyotnikoff,
editor of the now defuncty Rossiya, the Russian semi-offical organ, which was
know for ))reactionary and anti-Jewish policies. M. Syromyatnikoff seems to hav realized that
the tactics employed by thi newspaper in Russia would not do in the
country: that the must conduct of his
campaign here upon different lines if he would win the sympathy of the American
people for Russia. So he flatters the
American people and denies the atrocities that are committed by the Russian Government
against the Jews.

I met M. Syromyatnlkoff In Washington last January. I asked
him about the reported atrocities against the Jews in Russia and about the
prospects of the Jewish people securing human rights In Russia at the close of
the war. I asked him whether he thought the Russian Government would permit a
commission to investigate the reported outrages in the Polish provinces and I
expressed the opinion that since Prime Minister Goremykin was so sure that the
pogrom reports were "nonsense," the Russian Government should welcome
such an investigation.

M. Syromyatnikoff replied:

\u201cA russian Primer Minsiter always tells the truth. I travelled through the Polish provinces
recently. I is tru that jews are
executed there. The Poles denounce the
Jews as spies to the Russian authorities and the Russian troops, having no time
to investigate matters, simply shoot them down or hang them.\u201d

Concerning the prospects for the Jews of Russia after the
war, he said:

\u201cthe Jews are on trial now.
They are acquitting themselves splendidly. They are loyal and they are brave. Although the Czar has made no promises to improve
their condition after the ware he will probably do something for them in
recognition of their services in the war.
I have no authority to say anything definite on this subject. At any rate, I believe that the Czar will
leave the question on Jewish rights for the Imperial Duma to decide.\u201d

M. Syromyatnikoff thus treats the accounts of the Russian pogroms
in a signed statement published in American newspapers:

\u201cMy American friends ask me: "My American friends ask
me: 'Is It true that the Russian Government Is as cruel and oppressive as it is
represented to be by certain American papers? Is It true that the victory of
Russia in this war would mean the growth of aggressive Pan-Slavism and a menace
to Western civilization? Is It true that the Russian soldiers indulge
themselves in hanging Jews by the hundreds and In violating their wives and
daughters? Is It true that the Russian people are but a host of barbarians?'
These questions prove to me how much American public opinion is interested in
all things Russian and how scarce are the sources from which Americans can get
trustworthy Information about real Russia.

"I know that the horrible stories of the alleged
atrocities of the Russian soldiers and officers against Jews in Poland come
here from Berlin, but to believe in them I would like to have some verified
material from the other side too, so as to judge each separate case. I was on
the Polish front during the months of September and October and I visited a lot
of towns and villages between the old Austrian frontier and Warsaw.

"The Polish peasants used to tell me stories of Jews
who spied for Germans and served them as guides. But the only reason which they
could give me for their accusations was that they had seen and heard the Jews
talking German with the German soldiers and officers. That is true, inasmuch as
every Jew speaking Yiddish, a corrupted German of the seventeenth century, can
be understood by a German and can understand a German speaking modern German.

"I do not know how many Jews were court-martialed by the
Russian military authorities, but I know that very many of them were shot and
cruelly treated by Germans."

Prime Minister Goremykin called the pogrom reports
"nonsense"; Minister of Foreign Affairs Sazonov branded such reports
as "malevolent Inventions," and M. Syromyatnlkoff Is trying to
minimize these atrocities by declaring: "1 do not know how many Jews were
court-martialed by the Russian military authorities, but I know that very many
of them were shot and cruelly treated by Germans."

These statements are made by Russian statesmen for the
purpose of Influencing public opinion outside of Russia. The speeches made by
two members of the Duma, Kerensky and Ohkeldze, in answer to M, Sazonov
enumerating the pogroms and atrocities against the Jews were suppressed. Not a
line was published In the Russian or the foreign press about the statements of
these courageous members of the Duma.

In the course of his speech In the Imperial Duma In answer
to M, Sazonov Deputy flikeldzp said:

"The right of nationalities to develop freely Is
proclaimed here; we hear of the liberation and unification of Poland, of the
liberation of the southern Slavonians and so forth; the same time the old
policies of oppressing nationalities and of Inciting nationalist passions are
pushed to unprecedented extremes

"This crying contrast between "words and deeds
stands out In boldest relief especially with regard to the Jewish nation.
Hundreds of thousands of Russian Jewish subjects together with others are on the
battlefield, and yet the yoke of their rightlessness Is not relieved for a
moment, even In cases of Jewish soldiers who are wounded.

"Not satisfied with this, the servants of the reaction
nor persistently and systematically spreading wild rumors and libels against
the Jewish people, These policies have already led, In regions nearest the
theatre of war, to the shedding of u sea of blood and to the destruction of the
entire property of the peaceful Jewish population."

This Is what a Russian member of Though the Duma said in answer
to M. Sazonov\u2019s sweeping denial made in the Duma.

Thou the Russian censorship Is stricter than ever before,
there arrive here from time to time letters containing descriptions of the
horrors experienced 'by the Jews of Russia during this war. Recently I received
a striking note bearing; the postmark of Minsk, Russia, and the stamp of the censor
who apparently approved It. In it was the following tragic plea:

"Dear Mr. Bernstein: We have read In the
newspapers that you heard about the Jewish massacres In Poland. You cannot
Imagine how the Cossacks are plundering our brethren. They are ruining us. I
come from Poland, where I was plundered by our troops, the Cossacks. The
authorities are sending Innocent old Jows men and women to Siberia. We have
written you many letters from Poland about our troubles, but you are not
getting them.

"Dear brethren, have mercy on the six
million Jews In Russia and take our part! Ask the Russian Ministers why we are being
tortured so mercilessly. Our children are slaughtered In the Russian army. We
are contributing large sums of money too. But we are attacked from all sides.
We have no rights. We are driven from the villages. Wherever they can find
filth they cast It upon us.

"O Lord, make an end to our sufferings!
We have no strength to endure them any longer. This letter was written with tears
and blood. I wanted to write much more, but I am sure that such a letter would
not reach you.

"From a Polish Sufferer,

"CHAIM WOLINSKL\u201d

In 1912, while I was travelling In Europe as special
correspondent for The Sunday Sun, I visited the Russo-German frontier towns, Neustadt-Scherwindt,
my birthplace. The peaceful, prosperous little towns, picturesque and quaint,
bore a holiday aspect. The annual fair had brought out the population to the
squares, where the merchants and the farmers bargained and the youths and
maidens, attired In their Sunday clothes, spoke bashfully and playfully In
front of the cathedral In the center of the town, Their merry laughter, their
flashing eyes, the parti-colored dresses of the girls, and the 'carefree spirit
that seemed to permeate the atmosphere presented an Idyllic scene.

Now these two frontier towns are no more, having been
practically wiped off the face of the earth. Twice these towns were In Russian
hands, and twice they were recaptured by the Germans. The fields and the homes
were destroyed, the people were either killed or driven away or exiled to
Siberia,

The following extracts from a letter written recently by one
of tho Inhabitants of Neustadt to her brothers In South Carolina are
characteristic for their pathos and their simplicity and directness;

"You must have received the last Russian
postal I sent you by this time. For the past two weeks no mall has left our
town, but fortunately I had a chance to send them to Wilna,

"The German army is In our midst again.
You know the German soldiers were here once before, away back in the fall, for
several weeks, at that time, however, the Russians returned on their way to
Germany. Now the Germans have driven them back as far as Kovno.

"I could tell you much, my dear
brothers, very much, but I have lost my spirit. I have become almost hardened
to every form of misery. There have been times when I would have given a great
deal to be able to write you a few words. Then I was not allowed to do It and
now it seems to me that ou will never realize from mere lifeless words what Is
happening In Russia.

"I think the newspapers cannot begin to
know what we have endured, what we have seen and heard. No person can
appreciate what has been going on here. Streams ot Innocent blood have been
shed. No one can Imagine the agony that the Russians have Inflicted upon us.

"How can I begin to describe these
scenes as I should like to portray them to you? I have not the power. I wish
you could have our story published In the American newspapers (If It Is
permitted). We should write and write of our experiences and never cease. I
think In America they must know something of the Russian atrocities.

"Still In such an enlightened country as
America the people will scarcely believe that such things could happen In the
twentieth century. But It Is a great wonder too that such a world war Is
tolerated and no effort Is made to check It. From afar they watch so much
Innocent bloodshed, so many young lives shattered. They don't seem to mind.

"It appears that the world has grown accustomed to
horror and crime: that It does not understand, It does not realize how great
and heinous these outrages are that are being com. mittcd on the battlefields.
We have thrown all sense of shame to the winds nnd aro sinking deeper nnd
deeper Into mire and crime.

"If you could only see what has become of the
beautiful East Prussia, what the ruthless Russians have made of It Just ns If a
wild boar had been turned loose In a rich vineyard. What he can he devours and
the rest he must drag with him. And If he cannot do this he tramples unon all
the lovely vines and digs them tip by the 1 roots. When he Is done no one would
ever dream that a beautiful garden once grew them "No, even this Is not a
fair com parlson. It Is true tho Russians be haved like wild beasts. We had
enough outrages of our own to endure at their hands, but wo almost forgot , our
sorrows when, night after night, we saw hundreds of fires across the Prussian
border. Every evening the sky would bo turned Into a huge blazing sheet, Just
as If the whole j world were enveloped In flames. What , was not burned was
plundered. "They used to bring their booty over to Poland and sell It
here. The large, tine Prussian cows which cost at least 400 marks were sold for
IB rubles. Horses that surely were worth 1.000 marks the Cossacks nnd the
soldiers sold for 20 or 30 rubles. "Among the Russian soldiers there were
often good men who used to tell us, with tears In their eyes, of the ntrocltles
they had witnessed In East Prussia. They would say that what happened beggared
description. There, men were not going to war, but to plunder Many a poor woman
was robbed nnd left destitute with her little children. The unfortunate victims
were not allowed to leave the ruined cities. They could not even cross their
fields because the Russians would declare them spies and that meant they were
shot. "The results tf such accusations one con easily Imagine. Through the
c'ty of Neustadt droves of little children were driven In the most bitter
frosts. The soldiers beat with their guns those who were weak and could not
march quickly. Then, too, the soldiers are free to rob the property of the
Germans who are driven Into exile. Many of them even brag that they cut off the
fingers of German boys so that "they could not go to the front to help
their accursed Wllhelm.' One could soon grow mad from the stories the soldiers
told. Words fall me. The wounds are still unhealed. They wring my heart.
"A whole drove of soldiers and offi cers came, and filled our house and
our yard. They demanded ea;gs, butter, meat, &c. They won t take no'
for an answer. For them we nuif pro- vide everything. And when we place before
them on tbe table all the food that we can scrape together In the house we have
to taste e,erythlng first. "'You havent by any chance put poison In the
food, have you?' they cry. 'You false, treacherous spies! You are not above any
villainy. Just tasto It yourself first!' That Is thu thnnks we get for our
trouble. "When they slaughtered our sheep In the fall, nnd mother begged
them to leave a few, the soldier

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