Pińsk, Saturday 5 April, 1919
This chapter recounts a drama which took place in Pińsk, a small town in Polesie, on the evening of April 5, 1919: 34 Jews were shot dead by the order of the commander of the local Polish military garrison. The event took place when a number of strangers were present in the town, so that the news arrived in Warsaw as early as April 6 and on April 7, a member of the Food Distributing Commission sent a report to the Jewish Parliamentary Club. On April 8, Jewish deputies submitted a question in Parliament, based partly on this report. On April 9, Warsaw newspapers brought out more or less comprehensive accounts, including information contained in the parliamentary question and an announcement of the official Polish Telegraphic Agency (PAT). The executions in Pińsk, which, as further investigations have shown, were a glaring example of lawlessness and abuse of authority committed by the military, had wide international repercussions.