The Baylis case: the Kyiv dimension

The collection is dedicated to the Beilis case, one of the last trials related to the so-called “bloody slander” (unfounded accusations of Jews in ritual murders). It took place in Kyiv in September–October 1913 and gained extraordinary publicity throughout the world. The accused Jew Mendel Beilis was acquitted, the right-wing anti-Semitic forces of the Russian Empire were defeated, and the trial itself exposed the terrible state of the political and judicial system on the eve of World War I. The diverse materials presented in the book (excerpts from the contemporary press, a stenographic report of the court session, excerpts from memoirs, modern scientific and popular science articles) recreate the political and social atmosphere of the time; special emphasis is placed on the Kyiv and Ukrainian dimensions of this history.