Andrei Yushchinsky
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Andrei Yushchinsky (1898-March 12? 1911 O.S.), alternatively: Yustshinsky, Yuschinski, etc. (Russian: Андрей Ющинский) was a Ukrainian boy whose death set off ritual murder accusations against Menahem Mendel Beilis, followed by a trial (known as the "Beilis Trial" or "Beilis Affair") that sparked international criticism of the antisemitic policies of the Russian Empire.
On March 12, 1911, Yushchinsky disappeared on his way to school. Eight days later his mutilated body was discovered in a cave near a local brick factory.
A lamplighter testified that the boy had been kidnapped by a Jew and Beilis was arrested on July 21, 1911. A report submitted to the Tsar by the judiciary regarded Beilis as the murderer of Yushchinsky.
While Menahem Beilis spent more than two years in prison awaiting trial, a vicious antisemitic campaign was launched in the Russian press against the Jewish community, with accusations of the blood libel and ritual murder. During the trial in 1913, the lamplighter confessed that he had been confused by the secret police. Beilis was acquitted by the all-Christian jury.
A later investigation determined that on that tragic morning Andrei Yushchinsky decided to skip school and visit his friend, Zhenya Cheberyak.
Yushchinsky is regarded a saint by many Orthodox Christians.[1]
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, publications blaming Jews in Yushchinsky's death are abound in Ukraine and Russia.[2] On his grave, a new sign states: "Andrei Yushchinsky, ritually murdered by Jews in 1911."[3]
In the March 2006 issue (No. 9/160) of the Personnel Plus magazine by Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (commonly abbreviated MAUP), an article "Murder Is Unveiled, the Murderer Is Unknown?" [4] revives false accusations from the Beilis Trial. A week earlier, MAUP leaders visited the grave of Andrei Yushchinsky.
[edit] Notes
- ^ (Russian) Saints and martyrs. Andrei of Kiev (Yushchinsky) (pravoslavie.by)
- ^ (Russian) Boy-martyr. March 25 is 95th anniversary of Andrei Yushchinsky's martyrdom (kiev1.org)
- ^ (Russian) Antisemitism. History and Modernity Translated and adopted for Russian speakers by Alisa Nagrotsky, WCJCC. (2004 WUJS & WCJCC) pp.44-45
- ^ (Ukrainian) Murder Is Unveiled, the Murderer Is Unknown? by Yaroslav Oros. Personnel Plus
[edit] External links
- (Russian) Stenographic report from the trial. Volumes 1-3
- (Russian) Beilis affair: truth and myth by Feliks Levitas, Mikhail Frenkel (Jewish Observer, Jewish Confederation of Ukraine) April 12, 2006
