Show I S SOVIET S SEEKS S TO m SH SHOW W pp 1 TO M Holds olds Object Trial Joi fot Group Accused of Torturing Torturing Tor- Tor turing Girl BY EUGENE LYONS United Press St Stiff ff Correspondent MINSK SK Soviet Republic of White 9 United press Press-A highly dramatic trial of a a. group ot of workers accused of torturIng a a. Jewish Jewish Jew Jew- ish girl sirl in a glass factory near here has been carried tl through rough amidst a. a blaze ot of nationwide publicity Not since 1912 when the famous Mendal 1 Baylis trIal took place has the Ci country been so deeply deep deep- l ly stirred by a court action Ing the perennIal problem of anti anti- Semitism Three oung workmen and one woman were accused ot of having persecuted persecuted per per- Druz Di e Barsh a 20 old yer e old tr-old Jewish gIrl working in the same tac- tac tOI torI- torI over a a. period of months Th climax of a series serles of petty pett annoyances annoyances annoy annoy- ances was an obscene piece of torture Two policemen and nd a factor factory official w were re included among the for having failed to Interfere with the torture although the they knew abut about It The case itself was thus rather trivIal More serious Sei anU-Sei Semitic anti Incidents are recorded in the press here constantly But the very pettiness pettiness pet pet- of the persecution and the obscurity ot of the victim made a a. a powerful sentimental appeal The Tha Barshal affair once uncovered by byan byan an energetic young Jewish journal journal- 1st in Minsk flared into headlines aU all over the Soviet So UnIon It became became be- be came a kind of at banner In the cam against anti antl AN N EXHIBITION TRIAL Taking advantage of the popular Interest the authorities proceeded to lIft the case Into an even brighter light What would normally have am amounted to a charge of hooliganism was turned Into an accusation of ot revolution counter for tor which the penalty to be evoked but Its th the village where It orIginated the ease case was transferred to the capital of White Russia and an exhibition trial as s ordered o one seriously expected the extreme ox- ox penalty to be evoked but nas shadow heightened the effect of the th proceedings In the end all the defendants cia de- were found guilty guilt and amid given ghen sentences ranging from siX months to three years The trial aimed primarily to p present pre pre- sent as forcIbly as possible an oh ob object leSSon Jesson that the Soviets will not tolerate anti Semitism The tria was steered b by judges and law lawyers ers to prove to the public that behind such seemingly unimportant were the enemIes of tIme Soviet state that hind behind eve every maui maui- of at Semitic anti feelings were we-re the rich peasants and th the Net men The contrast between thIs trial and the Baylis affair 17 years ears ago aso asoR R talked about everywhere It was clear cut and a good test of the changed conditions The Ing fact is that in 1912 the government govern govern- ment with the support of the official press was as pro prosecuting the Jew In 1929 1921 the government and the press press' were were prosecuting the anti Semites The Situation had been rev reversed Quite as startling was as the contrast contrast con con- lit in the external eternal as aspects ts ot of the two trials Ba falsely ot at killing a Christian child to obtain blood for an imaginary rite vas sas tried for tor Isis his life In a t Czar Czar- 1st court that was formal for for- mal bristling wIth bayonets and amid glittering with gold braided officials Time The trial was d in inthe time the auditorium ot of the transport workers workers' club her here The jud judges ee in business cloths ot of p peasant blouses sat behind a a. table roughly draped In iii red The crowd which jammed the hall made themselves noIsily nt at home they munched apples and amid sandwiches laughEd in amusement or and kept the Commandant Commandant Comman- Comman dant bus bus- shouting Quiet corn com rades quiet The whole atmosphere was informal free and easy I INFORMAL LEGAL PROCEDURE Time The informality of course was ws carried into the legal procedure In Inthe the way a that w would ud have shocked an any lawyer lawer unaccustomed to the methods ot revolutionary tribunals Attorneys Attorneys' end and judges kept askIng flagrantly leading questions and made remarks which were too o oo intended to enlighten the public rather than advance sd the cast case on hand But in the these exhibition trIals no clams claim is made of legalistic correctness As the trial proceeded l it unfolded a tragic picture ot of ignorance cultural cultural cul- cul tural backwardness back and race lint lint- reds The persons were Wr half peasants recently were drawn into factory life It seemed to them so natural to bait a meek homely JewIsh gIrl that the they were bewIldered by the fuss fuse made OWl It their actions Thou Though h on trial for Semitism anti the they kept pt usIng Insulting In- In suiting names nunes for as the tea tea- apparently the they knew no other words They The had only the va vaguest notion of what the SovIet regime stood for tor |