Transcriptions from the Beilis Trial (Vol. I-III)

Book Description

The Russian Dreyfus Case(RUSSIAN ANTI-SEMITISM/BEILIS TRIAL) Transcriptions from the Beilis Trial. Volumes I-III. Kiev: 1913. Text in Russian. Original green cloth with black spines. Handwritten titles affixed to covers. Good condition.FIRST EDITION Printed in the year and place of the trial. Known more familiarly as the Russian Dreyfus Case, the injustices visited upon Menahem Mendel Beilis (1874-1934) were even more ghastly. When the mutilated body of a 12 year old boy was discovered in a Kiev cave in 1911, the monarchist rightist press seized the chance to launch a vicious anti-Jewish campaign accusing the Jews of using human (Christian) blood for ritual purposes. These accusations of Blood Libel were virtually guaranteed to blind the masses to the facts of the case, i.e. early police investigations had already traced the murder to a gang of thieves. The reactionary members of the “Black Hundred” (Union of Russian People) organization pressured the anti-Semitic Minister of Justice, Shcheglovitov to proceed with an investigation based on this ritual murder charge. A witness (who later confessed to having been threatened by the Secret Police) came forward to say that he saw Beilis kidnap the youngster at the brickyards where Beilis was superintendent.The case attracted universal attention with protests registered by scientists, public and political leaders, artists, writers, clergymen and other liberal-minded men throughout Europe and the United States. The trial of Beilis took place in Kiev from September 25 through October 28, 1913. Jewish leaders and Talmudic scholars gave testimony refuting the very existence of ritual murder against an “expert” Catholic priest with a criminal record. The jury, composed of simple Russian peasants, deliberated for several hours before unanimously declaring Beilis “not guilty”.Menahem Beilis still remained in grave danger of repercussions from The Black Hundred and left Russia soon after the trial with his family for Palestine. He settled in the United States in 1920. Bernard Malamud’s novel The Fixer is based on the Beilis case. These very scarce, primary source books detail one of modern history’s most notorious examples of anti-Semitic injustice. Like the infamous trial of Alfred Dreyfus, fifteen years earlier, this event was seminal for the awakening of the world to the horrors of anti-Jewish hatred.Volume I (695 pp.): Investigation of the Court. The first 16 days consisting of depositions of witnesses.Volume II (440 pp.): Investigation of the Court. Days 17-28 consisting of depositions of witness and the reports of experts.Volume III (300 pp.): Transcript of Discussions including the Speeches of the Prosecutor, Defenses, Civil Prosecutors and the Resumé of the Chairman.

Not sure what some of these terms mean? Look it up in our glossary.