Voznitsyn, Alexander Artemyevich

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VOZNITSYN, ALEXANDER ARTEMYEVICH

VOZNITSYN, ALEXANDER ARTEMYEVICH (d. 1738), a proselyte officer in the Russian navy. The Russian authorities accused Voznitsyn of having converted to Judaism under the influence of the Jew Baruch b. Lev of Dubrovno, who had already been suspected of proselytizing. Both Voznitsyn and Baruch were brought before the "Bureau of Secret Investigations" of St. Petersburg, which made extensive use of torture in interrogating persons suspected of plotting against the state. The matter was made known to Czarina Anna, who ordered that the bill of indictment be transferred to the senate. Under the pressure of the czarina and despite the opinion of the ministry of justice that evidence to condemn the two men was insufficient, both were burnt at the stake. The entire episode only served to intensify the already hostile Russian policy toward Jews. The legal dossier, taken from the archives of the Holy Synod of Russia, was published by I. Markon as a supplement to the collection Perezhitoye (with vols. 2–4, 1910–13).

bibliography:

Dubnow, Divrei, 7 (1958), 147–8.

[Abraham N. Poliak]