The Jew Accused: Three Anti-Semitic Affairs (Dreyfus, Beilis, Frank) 1894-1915

Albert S. Lindemann

Cambridge University Press, 1991 - History - 301 pages

Three Jews--Alfred Dreyfus, Mendel Beilis, and Leo Frank--were charged with heinous crimes in the generation before World War I--Dreyfus of treason in France, Beilis of ritual murder in Russia, and Frank of the murder of a young girl in the United States. The affairs that developed out of their trials pulled hundreds of thousands of people into passionate confrontation. Quite aside from the lurid details and sensational charges, larger issues emerged, among them the power of modern anti-Semitism, the sometimes tragic conflict between the freedom of the press and the protection of individual rights, the unpredictable reactions of individuals when subjected to extreme situations, and the inevitable ambiguities of campaigns for truth and justice when political advantage is to be gained from them. This study explores the nature of modern anti-Semitism and the ways that politicians in the generation before World War I attempted to use hatred of Jews as a political device to mobilize the masses. The anti-Semitism surrounding the affairs is presented as an elusive intermingling of real conflict between Jews and non-Jews, on the one hand, and, on the other, fantasies about Jews derived from powerful myths deeply rooted in Western civilization. In attempting to untangle myth and reality and to offer a fresh look at the main personalities in the affairs many surprises emerge; heroes appear less heroic and villains less villainous, while real factors appear more important than most accounts of the affairs have recognized.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• What is an antiSemitic affair?: 4
• Themes interpretations goals: 6
• The historical setting in Europe and America: 10
• Modern antiSemitism and modern mass politics: 15
• The lowermiddle class and antiSemitic ideology the 1880s: 21
• Eastern Jews and western Jews: 26
• The shift of the FindeSiecle 18901914: 29
• Earlier antiSemitic affairs: 34
• The Damascus Affair and the power of international Jewry: 35
• The Jews in Hungary: 40
• The charge of ritual murder: 50
• France before the Dreyfus Affair: 57
• The Third Republic and the Jews: 63
• The rise of the Jews and the dilemmas of modernism: 64
• The political crises and scandals of the 1880s: 67
• the Boulangists: 71
• The Assumptionists: 76
• Toussenel Barres Drumont: 79
• A gathering storm of antiSemitism?: 88
• The Dreyfus Affair more than a trial: 94
• The background to Dreyfuss arrest: 95
• Reactions to the arrest of Dreyfus: 103
• The trial: 104
• The smoldering Dreyfus case: 107
• The role of Georges Picquart: 110
• Zolas JAccuse: 113
• The triumph of the Dreyfusards: 120
• A Dreyfusian revolution?: 124
• Beyond the Pale Russia and the Jews 18901914: 129
• The crisis of late nineteenthcentury Russia: 139
• Russian antiSemitism and the counteroffensive of the Jews: 147
• The paradoxes of modernization in Russia the Kishinev pogrom: 153
• Modern antiSemitism in Russia: 165
• Nicholas II and the power of international Jewry: 167
• Blood libel the Beilis Affair: 174
• Origins of the ritual murder charge in Kiev: 177
• The goals of the prosecution and the government: 180
• Reactions to Beiliss trial: 183
• The case for the prosecution: 184
• The case for the defense: 188
• The verdict and reactions to it: 190
• America the exception: 194
• the structures of the relationship: 199
• The perceived kinship of Americans and Jews: 204
• Racism and social conflict: 209
• The shift at the turn of the century: 212
• Potential areas of conflict American antiSemitic ideology: 219
• The South and the Jews: 223
• JewishGentile Relations in Atlanta Georgia: 229
• The Leo Frank Affair: 235
• respected businessman or vulnerable Jew?: 237
• The murder of Mary Phagan and the arrest of Leo Frank: 240
• the popular press: 246
• The role of antiSemitism in the trial: 249
• Conley or Frank?: 254
• The guilty verdict: 257
• the opposing forces: 259
• The role of Governor Slaton: 268
• The lynching: 271
• Epilogue and conclusion: 273
• Bibliography: 283
• Index: 293

Popular passages

Page 291 - Stephen Steinberg, The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989); F.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Jew Accused: Three Anti-Semitic Affairs (Dreyfus, Beilis, Frank) 1894-1915; Three Anti-Semitic Affairs (Dreyfus, Beilis, Frank) 1894-191
• Author: Albert S. Lindemann
• Edition: illustrated, revised
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1991
• ISBN: 0521447615, 9780521447614
• Length: 301 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / France; History / Europe / General; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social