Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-03-12
Wars Greatest Sufferers.

Wars Greatest Sufferers.
"Prophesy in 1914. at the outset of the
war. that Belgium with it's population
of 100000. and the Jews of Russia,
over 100000 in number, would be the
greatest sufferers of the war would
have been deemed preposterous
Far worse. if possible. is the plight
of the fleeing Jews of Russia, who, I'M
like the Belgians. have no friendly
country to take them in. nothing be-
lore them but the great snow-covered
plains of Russia.
The American Jewish committee has
published a detailed and comprehensive
report of the Jews in the eastern war
zone. The report, in book FORM is the
result of a careful investigation of au-
thentic information. It states that the
Jews now bearing the brunt of this
war constitute one-half of the Jewish
population of the world
I'm normal times the Jews of Rus
STA are in a deplorable condition for
hidden to live outside of the enlarged
Ghetto known as the Pale of Settle
ment. burdened with special taxes.
denied even the scant educational
populace: in brief. economically de-
graded and politically outlawed\
Russia has virtually converted the
pale into penal settlement, where six
N1lillOn human guilty. only or au-
herring to the Jewish faith, live in con-
slant terror of massacres and without
legal rights or social status.
Loyal When Test Came.
Upon this background of ever-spread-
ing persecution the great war broke upon
the Jews. They accepted it as loyal Rus
sian citizens. the few rich Jews donating
reya he tolc
wounded of all creeds. They held pa
triotc meetings in the synagogues. the
rabbis urging the Jewish youths to enlist.
The Russian press commented that the
Jews set an example of readiness to sac
rifice everything for the army More
today. More than 1000 have received the
Medal or Cross of st. George
by their unfortunate geographic posi-
ton the Jews were foredoomed. The
Poles have always been bitter enemies of
the Jews. With the invasion of Poland
by the Germans the Poles denounced the
Jews as spies, first to the Russians, then
to the Germans. In one instance twelve
Jews were sentenced to death upon false
testimony given by their enemies, In
stances of Polish Islander are many and
served their fell purpose of branding the
Jews as spies.
Not one story of treachery on the
part of the Jews was ever substa inflated
Yet the summary expulsion Of the Jews
from their native towns followed.
AS reported by the Russian Jewish
rehef committee, the atrocities of this
expulsion are unbelievable even in this
day of wholesale slaughter on the bat.
tlefields.
Suffering Beyond Description.
Terrible disaster has befallen the
Jewish population of the Pale of Set
Element and of Poland. Hunger and
thirst and disease and death and moral
sufferings beyond the power of human
pen to describe are the lot of hundreds
of thousands of Jewish old men. women
and children driven from their homes
whose houses and hearths have been
plundered and destroyed. Hundreds of
thousands of our unfortunate brethren
are staring in hopeless despair into a
future that spells nothing but new
tears and suffering. Forced to leave
their homes and belongings, the fruit
of years of hard toll. the unfortunate
exiles wend their weary way on foot
to towns thirty miles distant-old men.
sick women clasping their little chill
dren in their arms fill the silent roads
with the sound of their means and
sobs. Here an old man breaks down,
breathing his last. There a woman
kneels by the roadside. staring in
despair too deep for tears at the child
that lies dead in her arms. Many are
those VINO Succumb on their way; I'M
are the sufferings of those
who survive.
Mothers were separated from their
entire families were dis
persed and separated all over Russia. |
The liberal Russian press has a long
list of victims trying to find their rela-
lives Children were born on the roads. |
MANY public-spirited Russians are
deploring this terrible treatment of an i
people.
"E.ptrance of the Russian So1dior into 1
ialicia has added to the terrible list of |
crimes perpetrated upon Jewish wom-
en- and old men.
Destitution in Palestine.
1.-The Jews of Palestine are also desti- |
tute. The relief food ship Vulcan. how
ever sent by the Jews of America. and
A monthly allowance also sent from
here has helped to ease the situation
A..s.