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Ritual Murder Scare Stirs Pogrom Fears in Lithuanian Towns

March 4, 1936
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The Jews of two towns were in a state of panic today with the threat of pogroms hanging over them as result of the disappearance of a Christian girl and a peasant boy.

Following the disappearance, the age-old cry of ritual murder was raised by the Lithuanian populace, which accused a Jew named Samson of killing the girl, a resident of Neustadt, for ritual purposes.

Although it was later established that the girl had been abducted by a white-slaver, the Lithuanians forced Christian servant girls to leave Jewish houses and attacked Jews walking in the streets and in the surrounding country. Police arrested several hooligans.

In the town of Poniewiz, the as yet unexplained disappearance of a peasant boy has precipitated a tense situation.

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