The Butcher's Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town

In this chapter, Smith discusses various denunciations that fall upon the Jews of Konitz, and analyzes psychological and social aspects of the case.

As investigations continue, the police receive an overwhelming number of depositions from people who believe they saw or heard something relevant to Ernst Winter’s murder (135). In Smith’s analysis, these depositions are a way for “individuals in the community to exercise power over the Jews, and more specifically over the Jews they knew” (136).

The testimonies also reveal the fault lines of social class in Konitz. The townspeople are predominantly poor and live in cramped surroundings. Those who accuse the Jews generally come from the lower classes and are poorly educated; some have criminal records. In some cases, female Christian servants accuse their Jewish employers as a way of settling scores and reversing the social balance. Sexual intimacy across “forbidden boundaries of class and religion” (142) provides the context for some accusations, since marriage and sexual relations between Christians and Jews were considered taboo. In other cases, Christians denounced Jews who were seen as weak and powerless—for example, Wolf Israelski, who after a trial for complicity in the murder is found innocent and set free.