Monday, October 14, 2013

Mendel Beilis -- The Letter

This is the summary of the 7th day of the Mendel Beilis trial, which occurred on 1 October, 1913 on the Julian calendar, 14 October, 1913 on the Gregorian calendar.

This day occupies pages 219 through 237 of Volume I of the transcript.

 See the transcript translation for the seventh day.

 
Today the defense carries on where Vipper stupidly left off on day 6, pursuing the relationship between Nikolay Andreevich Pavlovich and the flyers distributed at Andrey’s funeral.  When Prokofy Yashchenko brought this up on day 5, the judge and prosecution shut it down on the pretense that it wasn’t in the indictment.  It wasn’t in the indictment because it betrayed that ritual murder was part of the case from the beginning, even before Golubev suggested to the authorities that they go after Beilis.  Because Vipper brought it up yesterday, the defense can address it today.  This helps prove that Beilis was never suspected of the murder, he was a victim of rumor used to get the Black Hundreds their Jewish victim.

The deposition of Ivan Petrovich Kozachenko is read out in court.  The government has helped him avoid testifying because it knows the defense would rip him to shreds on the stand and expose that he forged a letter over Beilis’ signature.  Arsenicheslav Alexandrovich Pukhalsky also testifies only by deposition because he could discredit the letter, having written the actual letter that Beilis signed. Two prison officials manage to expose between them that the whole thing was a setup.  On day 19, Lt. Col. Ivanov of the secret police will testify that Kozachenko was a police agent and the same information came out after the Beilis trial when Kozachenko was on trial for slander.  The real letter from Beilis to his wife, after being read in court today, disappeared forever as far as I know.  Mr. Jay Beilis did not know the text of it and did not say he had a copy of the Russian or Yiddish original, when I emailed a translation to him.

But it’s Boldyrev’s fault that the jail officials have the opportunity to reveal the forgery; he asks two questions which both reveal that the second letter was a forgery never meant to be delivered.

Gulko’s testimony proves that the things that detective Mishchuk found on Yurkovsky Hill on August 25 were planted.  He left his shvaiki behind at the end of April and they were confiscated by Krasovsky on August 18 and given to Fenenko.  From Fenenko they got to people who planted them with suspenders and pants that did not belong to Andrey.  This was an excuse for cashiering Mishchuk, who did not support Beilis’ guilt, and Girs helped him avoid testifying at trial.  The next part of this story will be told on day 9.  For now, understand that a Jew who takes off work for Shabbat has no reason not to know who are Mordechai, Esther and Haman because the book of Esther is read at night on Purim and Gulko could go to work the next day if he was under pressure to be at work.  If he participated in the Ashkenazic custom of getting drunk, and was hungover the next day, he would be no different from other workers in Russia.  Also notice that Dubovik says Jews did not get Saturday off.  That contradicts Gulko but shows why Beilis had to work on Saturdays, like March 12.  I don’t believe Gulko was Jewish; his last name has a –ko ending typical of Ukrainians (Prikhodko, Yashchenko, Gorbatko, Pashchenko, etc.). 

Volkivna recants ever being on Kirillovskaya Street, from which, according to Mrs. Shakhovskaya, she said she saw a man with a black beard dragging Andrey. The problem is that Kirillovskaya is downhill from the kiln into which Andrey supposedly was thrown, and there are hangars between the Kirillovskaya gates and that kiln.  She also couldn’t have seen this from the gates on Upper Yurkovskaya Street.  In both cases she would have to go in through the gates and arrive at the kiln just in time to see Beilis dragging a kicking, screaming, 14 year old boy to it.

There’s a funny digression after Shneerson’s testimony.  Apparently bar-keeper Aleksandr Dobzhansky and two buddies were out on the Berner property tossing back a few and Golubev and a friend of his walked up, and they got into it and said all kinds of senseless things to each other.  But one thing was not so senseless; a claim that Andrey was murdered at Cheberyaks’ -- and the Cheberyaks are on deck to testify the day after this!

One of the issues in Shneerson’s testimony is the excruciating effect of the Jewish Pale of Settlement.  Here is a man who shed his blood for the empire, and he is supposed to have the right of residence -- which Christians don’t have to worry about -- in Kiev, but he has to roam around outside the city proper, in Slobodka, because the government mucks around with his papers just to torture him.  And now he is taunted on the stand because he tried not to violate the law, despite being pushed around by the government. 

Another example is the constant confusion of the term “Beilis’ apartment” with some rooms at the stables.  Beilis had the right of residence at the house near Upper Yurkovskaya.  When he was arrested, his wife and their five children had to pack up their things and move.  The Zaitsevs let them go to these rooms and live there, about 90 meters from their previous home.  Then in October 1911 when somebody set the stables on fire, the government tried to blame it on Mrs. Beilis.

Judge:  Fyodor Boldyrev

Prosecution:
            Criminal Prosecutor, Oscar Vipper
            Civil Prosecutor Georgy Zamyslovsky
            Private Civil Prosecutor Aleksey Shmakov

Defense:
            Oscar Gruzenberg
Nikolay Karabchevsky
Dmitry Grigorevich-Barsky
Alexandr Zarudny
Vasily Maklakov

To Day 8, "Vera"


 
 
Page
 
Witness
Notes
Transcript
Translation
Statement
Golubev
Black-Hundreds member
Called back to testify about Nikolay Pavlovich and flyers
219
467
7
Anna “Volkivna” Zakharova
Recanted falsified testimony pointing at Beilis
222
473
85
Merder
Grandstands about stopping building at the hospice which was complete before he got involved
223
476
176
Autonom, Archimandrite
Shmakov tries to sneak him in to give expert testimony
Boldyrev shuts him down
227
485
301
Panchuk
Zaitsev janitor
Confirms Beilis would have been caught if he did it
231
501
399
Berko Gulko
“harness maker” who left shvaiki where Krasovsky could confiscate them for planting on Yurkovsky Hill
237
516
723
Bykhovets
Zaitsev groom
Questioned about availability of horses and stable fire
243
532
1111
Emelyantsev
Zaitsev groom
Questioned about fire
246
540
1328
Maxim Alekseev
Zaitsev carpenter
Put up fence in 1910
Lived in basement apartment
247
543
1414
Zaslavsky
Zaitsev resident
249
546
1459
Faivel “Pavel” Shneerson
Registered at Zaitsev factory, not resident, not related to Lubavitcher rebbe
251
 
261
553
 
580
1628
 
2252
Aleksandr Dobzhansky
Back to explain about Antonov’s “Andrey rolled up in carpet at Vera’s 3 days”
256
567
1990
Mordko Dubovik
Brother of Zaitsev manager
Testifies to Beilis working on Saturday, etc.
258
560
2073
Barukh Zaitsev
Testifies about Ettinger and Landau, hospice
261
569
2263
Ivan Kozachenko
Police agent, forged letter over Beilis’ signature about poisoning; by deposition
264
578
2425
Arsenicheslav Pukhalsky
By deposition; reveals forged signature
268
595
2488
Krupsky
Helps prove letter forgery
269
597
2503
Omelyansky
Prison warden; helped with letter forgery
270
600
2576

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
 

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