The Butcher's Tale - Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town PDF
Preview The Butcher's Tale - Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town
THE BUTCHER’S TALE For Meike “Not until the hills are all flat …” Contents Acknowledgments Prologue 1. MURDER AND RETRIBUTION 2. THE BUTCHER’S TALE AND OTHER STORIES 3. HISTORY 4. ACCUSATIONS 5. PERFORMING RITUAL MURDER 6. THE KILLER Epilogue Notes Bibliography Illustrations Index More Praise for The Butcher’s Tale Copyright Acknowledgments W hen you write, it’s a good idea to have a map of where you’re going. When I started this project, I had such a map. But somewhere along the line its bearings and markers ceased to make sense; that’s when the fun began, and that’s when I came to depend, more than ever, on the advice, help, and counsel of friends and colleagues. Christhard Hoffmann first suggested that I pursue the story and convinced me to stay with it when prudence would have suggested otherwise. If it were not for him, this story would still be in my desk drawer. Christoph Nonn, who has written an important article on the Konitz case, offered valuable criticism at an early stage as well as insight and encouragement. Christoph is also writing a larger work on Konitz, and readers who are interested in how differently two historians can approach the same topic should consult his work as well. In the initial stages of writing, the searching questions and criticisms of three friends—Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Michael Bess, and James Epstein—forced me to reconsider my assumptions and, in a sense, to start all over again, for which I am grateful. In the course of subsequent writing, I benefited enormously from the discussions about the case with friends and colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic, including Werner Bergmann, Chris Clark, Paul Freedman, Peter and Ruth Gay, Ulrich and Eva Herrmann, Pieter Judson (and his wonderful students at Swarthmore), Christian Jansen (who organized a forum at the Deutsche Historikertag in Aachen to present the work), Thomas Mergel, Jim Retallack, Marianne Sedlmeier (who more than feigned interest), Henry A. Turner, Siegfried Weichlein (who explained to me why Aristotle is important to the story), and Mieczyslaw Wojciechowski. Discussions with friends at Vanderbilt, including Frank Wicslo, Margo Todd, Matt Ramsey, Rebecca Plant, José Medina (who saved me from a philosophical blunder), Jane Landers, Adrienne Lerner, Cheryl Hudson, Joel Harrington, Ed Harcourt, Katie Crawford, Beth Conklin, and Tycho de Boer, also shaped the manuscript. Bill Caffero, our medieval historian, patiently read, and reread, the chapter on the historical origins of ritual murder. Collectively, their suggestions have helped me a great deal. I shamelessly assigned an early draft of this book to my undergraduate students in a class on the Holocaust and to my graduate students in a class on historical methods. Fortunately, my students did not shy from suggesting to their professor how he ought to improve his manuscript; one of them, Emily White, even took a red pen to my stylistic infelicities. At Vanderbilt, I have also received help in other ways. Mona Frederick, the executive director of the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, and her assistant, Sherry Willis, got me through the tribulations of a different book, thus allowing me time to work on this one. Lori Cohen, our administrative assistant in the history department, read chapters, charted graphs, and helped me in many other ways; as always, she has been wonderful to work with. In the course of my research, I have also come to depend on the generosity of friends. In Berlin, Ulrike Baureithel and Christian Jansen have always helped me find a roof for short stays, and I am grateful to them for this and for our wonderful conversations. In the Polish city of Torun, Natalia Mielczarek, Lydia Smentek, and Andy Hess opened their home to me, and with their effusive hospitality helped me through the logistical difficulties of my research stay in Poland. In Chojnice (Konitz) itself, I was fortunate to have met Tomasz Myszka, who talked with me about the history of his hometown, showed me around, and eagerly read early drafts of the manuscript. I am also grateful for the help of archivists and librarians in the United States, Germany, and Poland. The main holdings concerning the case are in the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin-Dahlem, and I would like to thank Peter Letkemann and the staff of that archive for their help. I also found valuable documents in the Archiv Panstwowe in Bydgoszcz, in the Museum of Local History and Ethnography in Chojnice, the Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv in Potsdam, and in the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The staffs of a number of libraries, including the University Library of NCU (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun), the Staatsbibliothek Berlin, the Klau Library of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and the Jean and Alexander Heard Library at Vanderbilt, were immensely helpful. Special thanks to Jim Toplon and Marilyn Pilley, of Vanderbilt’s interlibrary loan office, who went out of their way to track down obscure pamphlets for me. I am also happy to thank my friends at the Kim Dayani Center at Vanderbilt. Writing in the tenth century, the scribe Brother Leo of Novara complained that while three fingers write, the back is bent, the ribs sink into the stomach, and the whole body suffers. These days we have it easier, but the business of writing still requires long hours, in my case standing, before our keyboards. Moreover, poor brother Leo did not have Carmen Arab, Cassaundra Huskey, and Karen Dyer (and Karen’s smiling seniors and hugely funny Tuesday afternoon sculpting class), who watched out for me, joked with me, listened to my odd stories, endured my music, and in the course of things kept me, and my back, from coming further undone. The book underwent significant transformations in the hands of Bob Weil and his assistant, Jason Baskin, two wonderful editors at W. W. Norton. Bob suggested substantial revisions, the kind that change the whole tone of books, while Jason poured his prodigious intelligence into my sentences and taught me, all over again, a lot about writing. Finally, I thank my wife, Meike Werner, partner in all things that matter. For the past three years, she has listened to the stories of The Butcher’s Tale and read drafts of chapters; she has told me when it was not good enough and when it was, and she has shared her life, patience, and love with me. THE BUTCHER’S TALE
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