Case 1: Background: Life in Motherland > The Beilis Case
Arkadii Koshko. Poslednee slovo po Delu Beilisa. No place, undated
On March 20, 1911, the mutilated body of a twelve-year-old boy was discovered in a cave near Kiev, Ukraine. Although a police investigation pointed to a gang of thieves, pressure from anti-Semitic organizations led to the arrest of a Jewish scapegoat, Menahem Mendel Beilis. The Beilis trial attracted worldwide attention, inspiring protests and public outcries by political leaders, artists, clergymen, and many others. Beilis was imprisoned for more than two years, found not guilty, and with his family left Russia for the Land of Israel. In 1920 he settled in the United States. He died in 1934 in New York and was buried in the Bronx.
Arkadii Frantsevich Koshko (1867-1928 or 1929) was a chief of Moscow Criminal Investigation Department. This excerpt from his memoirs concerns the Beilis ritual murder case.
Koshko Family Memoirs
Bakhmeteff Archive
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