Cast of Characters
THE LEAD PLAYERS
Andrei Yushchinsky (yoosh-CHIN-skee), also known as “Andrusha” (an-DROO-shuh), a thirteen-year-old-boy murdered in Kiev in March 1911
Mendel Beilis, a clerk at a Kiev brick factory accused of Andrei’s murder
Vera Cheberyak (chih-burr-YAHK), the mother of Andrei’s best friend, Zhenya, and head of a den of thieves
THE SUSPECTS
Vera Cheberyak (see Lead Players, above)
Ivan “Red Vanya” Latyshev, a member of Vera Cheberyak’s gang
Boris “Borka” Rudzinsky, a member of Vera Cheberyak’s gang
Peter “Velveteen” Singaevsky, Vera Cheberyak’s half brother
THE MEN WHO FRAMED BEILIS
Ivan Shcheglovitov, the minister of justice
Nikolai Maklakov, the minister of the interior, brother of Beilis’s attorney Vasily Maklakov
Stepan Beletsky, the head of the national Department of Police
Grigory Chaplinsky (chap-LIN-skee), the chief prosecutor of the Kiev Judicial Chamber. His position is comparable to a state attorney general
Alexander Liadov, a top Justice Ministry official dispatched to Kiev in May 1911 to oversee the investigation
Vladimir Golubev, a Kiev university student and head of a right-wing youth group, Society of the Double Headed Eagle
A. A. Karbovsky, a senior prosecutor in Chaplinsky’s office
Nikolai Kuliabko (koo-lib-KAW), head of the Kiev division of the Okhrana, or secret police
Adam Polishchuk (pah-lish-CHOOK), a former police officer
BEILIS’S DEFENDERS: OFFICIALS, POLICE, AND JOURNALISTS
Detective Nikolai Krasovsky, a provincial police official and former Kiev police detective brought in to investigate the Yushchinsky murder
Detective Evgeny Mishchuk (mish-CHOOK), chief of Kiev’s investigative police, or chief detective
Vasily Fenenko, Kiev’s Investigating Magistrate for Especially Important Cases
Nikolai Brandorf, a prosecutor in the Kiev regional court, comparable to a district attorney (referred to as “the local prosecutor”), who tries to stop the Beilis prosecution
Stepan Brazul-Brushkovsky (brah-ZOOL broosh-KAWF-skee), an ambitious Kiev journalist
Arnold Margolin, a scion of one of Russia’s wealthiest families and Beilis’s first attorney
Vladimir D. Nabokov, a leading liberal jurist and journalist (and father of the novelist Vladimir V. Nabokov)
Vasily Shulgin, an anti-Semitic newspaper editor and politician
BEILIS’S ATTORNEYS
Oskar Gruzenberg, Russia’s most prominent Jewish attorney and head of the legal team
Nikolai Karabchevsky, one Russia’s most famous attorneys
Vasily Maklakov, brother of interior minister Nikolai Maklakov
Alexander Zarudny, well-known defender of revolutionaries
Dimitry Grigorovich-Barsky, a Kiev attorney
THE PROSECUTION
Oskar Vipper, the lead prosecutor
Alexei Shmakov, technically an attorney for Andrei’s mother (referred to as a “civil prosecutor”)
Georgy Zamyslovsky, a right-wing member of the State Duma, technically an attorney for Andrei’s mother (referred to as a “civil prosecutor”)
WITNESSES FOR THE DEFENSE
Amzor Karaev, a young revolutionary
Sergei Makhalin, a young revolutionary who teamed up with Amzor Karaev to help Beilis
Mikhail Nakonechny, a shoemaker and neighbor of Beilis’s
Evdokia [Dunya] Nakonechnaya, his daughter
Ekaterina Diakonova, an acquaintance of Vera Cheberyak’s
Zinaida Malitskaya, Vera Cheberyak’s downstairs neighbor
Professor P. K. Kokovtsov, one of Russia’s most distinguished Hebraists
Professor I. G. Troitsky, an expert on the Jewish religion at the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary
Rabbi Jacob Mazeh, the chief rabbi of Moscow
WITNESSES FOR THE PROSECUTION
Vera Cheberyak (see Lead Players, above)
Vasily Cheberyak, her husband
Ludmila Cheberyak, her daughter
Father Justin Pranaitis, a Catholic priest who testifies as an expert on Judaism
Dr. Ivan Sikorsky, a professor of psychiatry at a Kiev university
Dr. Dimitry Kosorotov, a forensic pathologist
Kazimir Shakhovsky and Ulyana Shakhovskaya (known as “the Lamplighters”), witnesses who saw Andrei on the morning he disappeared
Anna “the Wolf” Zakharova, an alcoholic derelict
ASSORTED RIFFRAFF
Pavel Mifle, Vera Cheberyak’s former lover
Ivan Kozachenko, a cellmate of Beilis’s
Anna Darofeyeva, a woman who murdered her husband
ASSORTED POLITICIANS AND OFFICIALS
Peter Stolypin, Russian prime minister and minister of the interior. Assassinated in September 1911.
Vladimir Kokovtsov, successor to Peter Stolypin as prime minister
General Pavel Kurlov (koor-LAWF), deputy minister of the interior and head of the Corps of Gendarmes
Colonel Alexander Shredel, head of the Kiev division of the Corps of Gendarmes
ANDREI YUSHCHINSKY’S FAMILY
Alexandra Prikhodko, Andrei’s mother
Luka Prikhodko, Andrei’s stepfather, Alexandra’s husband
Natalia Nezhinskaya, Andrei’s aunt, Alexandra Prikhodko’s sister
Fyodor Nezhinsky, Andrei’s uncle, Alexandra Prikhodko’s brother