The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-01

My intention is rather to picture to
you as vividly as I can the inhuman
circumstances that attended the last.
the most horrible, expulsion of the
Jews from the provinces Of Kovnu
and kurland.
When the military authorities
issued their fictitious official report Of
the "kuzshl story" tho following sug-
acstion was offered AT the end Of the
printed statement: This terrible ~
ample Of d%cspicable Jewish ~trcachery
strengthens our conviction that when
eve a battle Is to he waged in a
locality where the enemy has already
set foot the entire region nus be
cleared of the Jewish population with
out delay"
This suggestion was so definite thai
no one could have any doubt Of the
new plans Of the military authorities.
And in fact a few days later a COM
mand MAS issued ordering the entire
provinces Of Kurland and Kovno to he
cleared OF the Jewish population in
three days. 4. day later 1t was learned
that only the Jews in Yakobstadt and
Friedrichstadt counties in Kurland.
that IL mainly In Riga. were permitted
to remain. The rest were TO be eN-
PEELED Immediately.
Three DAYS were allowed to 300. OO0
Jews to liquidatc thcir business and
prepare to leave their homes.
But not everywhere did the police
allow the fun period Of three days.
In those towns where the police
wished to ven their spite on the help
less Jews the command vas not made
pubic before the first two of the
three days had passed. In some
localities the police informed tho Jew
ish population OF the catastrophe that
had befallen them only five hours be
fore the three days had expired. In
several towns the Jews were allowed
only one hour to leave their homes.
In some villages the police arranged
the tine SO that the Jews had to leave
by nix,lt or at dawn.
The police. soldiers and Cossacks
stood an guard and hurried the eNiles.
They,did not permit a minute 10 he
wast0. and whips and knouts were
not oLred when a Jew n the I'M
pudeWce" TO tarry half an hour longer
IN order to taxi with him an extra
bundle " belongings. another pill
low. 80
The Jews ran about the streets as
II cra-cd. sent kilograms 10 the Gov.
ernors and the Ministers and to the
commanding Generals. They all made
the same reply:
Leave at the appointed time
OF course. any real l!quidation of
their affairs was impossible The Jews
were glad II they succeeded in saw
ing their lives and the lives Of their
families. They wanted to take some
Of their belongings with them, buf
their neighbors would not lend them
horses and wagons Only after great
pleading did the eXiles succeed in n
few instances in securing n wagon t.
carry the sick or the Sacred Scroll
from the synagogue. The Let's. with
whom the Jews had always lived on
the best of terms, suddenly became
SO demorallzed that they fell upon the
property Of the Jews. No sooner had
the Jews left their houses than the
Let's ran In to plumber. Crowds stood
on the streets waiting impatiently for
! a chance at the spoils. Neighbors and
friends all at once became highway
robbers. The whole atmosphere of
the region where the eXile~ had been
born and reared, where the graves of
Jews for many generations are
found, where the Jewish spirit haa
lowered. was suddenly poisoned. and
the entire settlement lost its reason
forever. The non-Jewtsh population
now understood that the jew was a
--L $1,000 l-Gl
and human rights. They realized that
their neighbors were no citizens, no
people. only Jews. ''
And do you know what effect this
terrible moral catastrophe had in sew
eral localities?
When the Jews realized that they
would not he able to take their be-
longings with them, that their life in
their native villages was hopelessly
ended and their relations to their
nefghbors wrecked forever, they be-
gan to perpetrate pogroms upon them
selves. Men and women, old ard
young. began to destroy their furni-
ture, to tear their clothes and linens,
to wrcak general havoc in their own
homes. What pitiful and heartrend-
ing scenes were enacted. 4 general
hysteria. a wild madness, an inhumau
rage ,enHulfed whole communities.
They made pogroms upon themselves.
With their own hands they wrecked
and ruined their own houses and
homes,
On the streets stood policemen. sol
diers and Cossacks'and drove the Jews
with whips.
Wherever the cities and touns uar,