Irrational Streams of Blood

One Saturday morning in March 1911, thirteen-year old Andrei Yuschinsky disappeared on his way to school from his home in a decrepit Kiev suburb. Eight days later, on Sunday, March 20, he was found, “a ghastly sight,” in a cave not far from the brick factory built by Jonah Zaitsev, a wealthy and pious Jew, to help subsidize a hospital for the poor he had erected to commemorate the accession to the throne of Czar Nicholas II. On March 25 the medical examiner’s report appeared in the local papers, announcing that the boy had been slain with a sharp cutting instrument and that forty-seven wounds were inflicted on his body. Sunday, March 27, was the day set for the funeral. Neither mother, stepfather nor grandmother was at the funeral since they were being held for questioning by the police. But one Nicolai Pavlovich was there handing out leaflets to the mourners, the idle, and the curious: “The Yids have tortured Andrusha Yuschinsky to death! Every year, before their Pass- over, they torture to death several dozens of Christian children in order to get their blood to mix with their matzos.” And so on.

Blood Accusation, by Maurice Samuel. Knopf, $5.95

MG

About the Author

Max Geltman

One Saturday morning in March 1911, thirteen-year old Andrei Yuschinsky disappeared on his way to school from his home in a decrepit Kiev suburb. Eight days later, on Sunday, March 20, he was found, “a ghastly sight,” in a cave not far from the brick factory built by Jonah Zaitsev, a wealthy and pious Jew, to help subsidize a hospital for the poor he had erected to commemorate the accession to the throne of Czar Nicholas II. On March 25 the medical examiner’s report appeared in the local papers, announcing that the boy had been slain with a sharp cutting instrument and that forty-seven wounds were inflicted on his body. Sunday, March 27, was the day set for the funeral. Neither mother, stepfather nor grandmother was at the funeral since they were being held for questioning by the police. But one Nicolai Pavlovich was there handing out leaflets to the mourners, the idle, and the curious: “The Yids have tortured Andrusha Yuschinsky to death! Every year, before their Pass- over, they torture to death several dozens of Christian children in order to get their blood to mix with their matzos.” And so on.

Blood Accusation, by Maurice Samuel. Knopf, $5.95