Language:
English
Year of publication:
2008
Titel der Quelle:
East European Jewish Affairs
Angaben zur Quelle:
38,2 (2008) 201-209
Keywords:
Blood accusation
;
Antisemitism
Abstract:
The blood libel became known in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the mid-16th century. It was imported from the Catholic West as a stage in the Christianization of Lithuania's population, and served to underpin a belief in general Jewish hatred toward Christians. In a new milieu, the myth of ritual murder acquired some peculiarities. First, Lithuanian society was multi-confessional, thus ritual murder was ascribed not only to Jews, but also to Karaites and Muslim Tatars. Second, the myth was adopted in Lithuania in a simplified form; only in the mid-18th century were the occult, esoteric elements of the libel popularized in Poland-Lithuania.
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