The chief Rabbi of Kishineff, fearing from past experiences the results of these ferocious appeals, hastened to the Greek bishop, and implored him to calm the popular mind by giving an episcopal assurance that no such ritual was practised, and no such crimes committed, by the Jews. The bishop’s reply was that he feared there was some Semitic sect which really did indulge in the use of Christian blood in the Paschal ceremonies, and he refused to intervene.
Ten days before the riots broke out a body of representative Jews visited the Governor and warned him that Kroushevan’s incitations would lead to murder, unless restrained. General Von Raaben assured the deputation that all necessary precautions would be taken, but no attempt was made by him to stop the appeals of the Bessarabetz to the popular anti-Semitic hatred.
Chief of Police Tchemzenkov was also requested to act in the interest of peace, and curb the diatribes of the Bessarabetz. He replied that it would “serve the Jews right if they were driven from the city for encouraging the propaganda of Socialism.”
Having by the blood accusation articles, and through the circulation of a Roumanian anti-Semitic pamphlet purporting to give instances of numerous murders of Christian children by Jews, roused the Kishineff populace to a state of savage fury, Kroushevan’s local accomplices planned an attack for the Easter holidays. Kishineff Jews declare that Kroushevan came to the city, in disguise, from St. Petersburg, on the eve of the outbreak, to plan the riots. This statement I could not get verified. A meeting was held and a plan of attack decided on. A few days previously a band of strangers arrived at Kishineff, comprising thirty Albanians and some Macedonians, believed to be brigands brought especially for an attack on the Jews.
The chief instigators of the riots were Kroushevan and the staff of the Bessarabetz; a doctor who is of Greek origin; a Moldavian doctor; a Moldavian engineer; a notary; two sons of a prominent merchant; two students, sons of prominent citizens; two Odessa students; two minor officers, and several well-known citizens.
The actual leaders of the riots were students and Seminarists from the Royal School and the city religious colleges.
All the statements made to me agree that the Seminarists directed the movements of the mob on both days, disguised as labourers and strangers. The rioters comprised thirty bands, averaging fifty each, with a Seminarist on a bicycle directing the attack. Some of the bands were composed of the lower employés of the various departments of the municipality—the telegraph, post office, and other municipal offices, but artisans and labourers, and Moldavians from the suburbs, formed the greater body of the rioters, with the Albanian strangers above mentioned.
These bands, with sticks and stones, but no firearms, attacked the Jewish quarters at thirty different points simultaneously, thus proving a deliberate plan of operation.
All the evidence that I have gathered during eight days of searching inquiry in Kishineff convinces me that the riots were not a casual or accidental uprising of a mob against the Jews, but formed a carefully planned attack by the local anti-Semitic leaders, with the passive connivance of the Chief of Police and the active encouragement of some of his officers. Von Raaben’s deplorable weakness in not employing his military force to quell the riots during the first day is responsible for the horrors of that and the massacres and the violations of women and girls of the second day.
The majority of the rioters were of Moldavian origin. These Moldavians are as numerous as the Jews in Kishineff and constitute the most ignorant and brutal element of the populace.