Nazi Germany blamed the Jews for all the world’s problems, leading to the Holocaust. History makes it seem like only Germans were anti-Jewish. The truth is anti-Jewish sentiment was common and widespread in Europe before the war.
This article examines the unfairness of the Hilsner affair in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Crime
On Wednesday 29 March 18991, 19-year-old Anežka Hrůzová didn’t return home from work2 3. She lived in the village of Malá Věžnice, 3 kilometres away from the town of Polná where she worked as a seamstress1. On Saturday 1 April1, a search party found her half-naked body in the Březina forest2 3. She had severe head wounds, and her murderer – or murderers – had slit her throat from ear to ear2. There was little blood at the scene1 3, suggesting the crime took place elsewhere.
This murder, gruesome as it was, was not remarkable for its time.
People believed that Jews needed the blood of Christian virgins to make the traditional matza for Passover3 4. This myth started during a time of religious intolerance during the Crusades3. The first recorded blood libel case was in Fulda, Germany, in 12353. These superstitions led to many such cases of expulsion, torture and murder of Jews in Europe3.
Rumours spread like wildfire, especially in a small town like Polná. It didn’t take long before rumours spread of a ritual murder. Since Sunday 2 April was Passover1 3, they connected the lack of blood at the scene with this superstition and looked for likely – Jewish – culprits1 .
Locals accused a local Jewish cobbler4, Leopold Hilsner3, of the ritual murder of Hrůzová1. Hilsner was poor, unintelligent3 and had a reputation for being a troublemaker1. Upon his arrest, inflamed by the rumours, several hundred people ran to the Jewish quarter of Polná to stone people and destroy property1. Investigators focused on the ritual aspect of the story and made no attempt to look into other possibilities1.
Media influence
It is interesting to note the role the media played in this situation. The Hilsner affair was the first affair to receive such wide coverage in Czech media.
Following the 1848 revolutions around Europe, mass media took off with alacrity2. The newspaper became a central part of life which led to healthy competition between numerous titles. As always, scandalous and attention-grabbing headlines were part and parcel of the media. Leveraging customers’ natural anti-Jewish bias meant stories linking Jews and crimes was normal2. In busy months, more than 30 articles linked Jews or Jewishness to crimes2. With such constant media bombardment, is it any wonder society thought it was normal to be anti-Jewish?
It’s interesting to see how the advent of mass media led to this anti-Jewish sentiment. (Compare this with the advent of social media in today’s world.)
Trial
The trial is similar to the French Dreyfus affair, even if Dreyfus was accused of treason, not murder; both are about the system persecuting a Jewish man for being Jewish3.
The trial took place in the city of Kutna Hora on 12 September 1899. Czech nationalist Dr. Karel Baxa prosecuted Hilsner3. The Court found Hilsner guilty on 16 September 18991 and sentenced him to death1 4.
Kutna Hora has a morbid church of its own – unconnected to this story – the Cathedral of Bones.
Professor Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk rejected the claim of a ritual murder as medieval superstition, and was called the Czech Zola because of his defence of Hilsner1, mirroring the Dreyfus affair. Masaryk’s protests led to a new trial, this time in Písek3.
Retrial
The retrial took place between 25 October and 14 November 18993. This time, the prosecutor added another accusation of murder1.
In 1898, 23-year-old Marie Klímová from Horní Věžnice went missing1. They found a skeleton on 27 October 1899 and immediately declared it to be hers1 even if it was impossible to identify the body. The prosecutor linked Klímová to the same kind of ritual murders, and therefore to Hilsner1.
The court sentenced him to death on 14 November 19001.
Imprisonment and release
The Emperor issued an imperial pardon on 11 June 1901 and Hilsner received a life sentence instead1 3 4. He was in prison till 24 March 1918 when Emperor Karel I pardoned him completely1 3 4. He went back home, then moved to Prague and finally Vienna where died on 9 January 1928, at the age of 511 3.
Effects
The place where Hrůzová’s body was found is known to this day as U Anežky (By Anežka)1. The place is used as a meeting point for extreme right-wing radicals and their anti-Semitic manifestations1.
Polná is a toponym still remembered for this murder, much to the annoyance of the locals1.
Masaryk cemented his reputation as a defender of people’s rights. He shaped the debate on Czech nationalism which in turn influenced the creation of Czechoslovakia. Masaryk became its first President.
Hrůzová’s real murderer was never found.
- Polná – a toponym that has become a symbol; Žaneta Dvořáková; Acta Onomastica; 2019-01[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- Crime, Jews and News: Vienna 1890-1914; Daniel M. Vyleta; Berghahn Books; 2012[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- Murder in Polná; Jewish Museum in Prague; 1999[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- Schenker Documents Online; (Retrieved 2023-07-04) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]