Illustrated leaf from the french Le Monde Illustre – “The illustrated world” in the midst of the “Tiszaeszlár blood libel”, depicting for the public how Jews look. Described: LE PROCES DE TISZA ESLAR – Vue de la place du village – Vue de la synagogue – types juifs et de jeunes fills du pays – TISZA ESLAR TRIAL – Village Square View – Synagogue View – Jewish guys and local girls. Design: Paul Merwart. Paris, 1882.
The well known blood libel known as the “Tiszaeszlár Affair” spread in the Hungarian town of Tiszaeszlár after a Christian girl named Eszter Solymosi who worked as a maid in a Jewish family’s house disappeared from her home and did not return on Saturday, April 1, 1882, four days before Passover. When all efforts to locate her failed, a rumor spread in the town that the Jews had ritually murdered her and used her blood to bake matzah for Passover. That same day, the community Shamash Yosef Sharf and his wife, along with Schwartz the Butcher, were arrested, and an investigation began. Over the next two months, fifteen Jews were arrested as allegedly involved in the case and imprisoned in the district city of Nyrágyháza awaiting trial. False testimonies were collected, and a long, incitement-filled legal process began aimed at proving their guilt. The Jewish community turned to defender attorney and Hungarian parliamentary member Károly Eötvös, who took on the defense. During the trial, 33 court sessions were held in which all the defendants and dozens of additional witnesses related to the event were interrogated. In these debates, Eötvös managed to prove the testimonies were false, protested the torture methods used on interrogated suspects, and after over a year of the trial, on August 3, 1883, all defendants were acquitted “for lack of evidence”.
The affair was publicized throughout Europe and sparked sharp anti-Semitic reactions. The French magazine presents “how Jews look” and the synagogue. In the upper left, a couple of Jews can be seen in shackles during the trial.
[1] leaf. 35×27 cm. Glued to hard substrate for display and preservation: 37×30 cm. Very good condition.
