Language:
English
Year of publication:
1996
Titel der Quelle:
Jewish History
Angaben zur Quelle:
10,1 (1996) 75-91
Keywords:
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Jews History 1800-2000
;
Blood accusation
;
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy History
Abstract:
The myth of ritual murder assumed a specific place in Czech nationalist rhetoric between 1891-1902. It played an important role in the Czech-German national conflict in the Czech Lands. Ritual murder became a metaphor for the Jewish threat to the Czech people and the Czech national cause. The Viennese Catholic historian Josef Deckert, who published the brochure "Ein Ritualmord" in 1893, rendered credibility to the popular prejudice; several cases of young women's deaths under unclear circumstances were interpreted as cases of ritual murder. The press (e.g. "Polaban", "Kolinske Listy", and "Nove Zajmy") was active in supporting the myth. Ritual murder and the alleged sexual abuse of Czech women by Jews symbolized draining the Czech people of money by Jews, their economic aggressiveness, and their siding with the German masters of the country, in the rhetoric of the press. It was this kind of discourse, together with the people's collective memory, which helped to translate the ritual murder accusation from the realm of fantasy to that of the mundane.
Note:
Appeared also in "Allemands, Juifs et Tchèques à Prague" (1996) 83-99, and in his "Languages of Community" (2000) 181-197.
URL:
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