The Trial of Sholem Schwarzbard, the Avenger of Ukrainian Jewry – Paris, 1928 – Cover Designed by Marc Chagall

The Trial of Sholem Schwarzbard, the Avenger of Ukrainian Jewry – Paris, 1928 – Cover Designed by Marc Chagall
Schwarzbard. Paris: I. Grodzensky, [1928?]. Yiddish and French.
An album documenting the trial of Sholem Schwarzbard who assassinated Symon Petliura as revenge for the pogroms against the Jews of Ukraine. The album contains portraits of Sholem Schwarzbard, Symon Petliura, the defense lawyers and the prosecutors, the witnesses, the journalists and others, alongside photographs of the crime scene, Schwarzbard's shop, the court and trial, some of them captioned in Yiddish and French.
The album also contains short biographies of Schwarzbard and Petliura, a quote from Schwarzbard's lawyer, Henri Torrès, about the comradeship he feels for Schwarzbard, and quotes from journalist Bernard Lecache, writers Sholem Asch and Romain Rolland and socialist Jean Longuet about the guilt of the Ukrainians in general and Petliura specifically. Cover design by Marc Chagall; depicting an angel with its sword drawn hovering above a Torah Scroll.
Sholem Schwarzbard (1886-1938), "the avenger", a Serbian-born watchmaker, anarchist and Yiddish poet. He took part in revolutionary activity in his town and upon the outbreak of World War I, enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. Returning to Ukraine towards the end of the war, he organized Jewish militias for self-defense. In 1919, he returned to Paris, where he heard rumors about the Petliura pogroms, in which soldiers, most of them soldiers of the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, massacred tens of thousands, some would say hundreds of thousands, Jews, including Schwarzbard's family. Symon Petliura, who headed the Ukrainian People's Republic, was blamed for ignoring the army's actions. In response to a Jewish delegation which appealed to him with a request to restrain his army, he said "The riots strengthen discipline among my ranks…".
In May 1926, Schwarzbard assassinated Petliura, who was then in political exile in Paris. Schwarzbard stood trial for murder in October 1927; yet the court was persuaded that Petliura was indeed responsible for the pogroms and acquitted Schwarzbard, despite his unhesitatingly admitting his guilt.
[19] photographs (printed on paper) and [4] text leaves, tipped in to the album. Approx. 38 cm. Good-fair condition. Tears and open tears to cover and to the edges of the album's leaves. Most of the album's leaves are detached. Several photographs are detached or partly detached from the album's leaves (with small tears along their edges). Stains to cover.