THE “BLOOD LIBEL” IN HISTORY, POLITICS, THEOLOGY, AND LITERATURE ON THE CENTENARY OF THE TRIAL OF MENDEL BEILIS (1913 – 2013)
Faculty Directors: Susannah Heschel and James B. Murphy
One of the great trials of the twentieth century was the 1913 blood-libel trial of Mendel Beilis in Czarist Russia. Beilis, a Jew, was arrested in 1911 by the Czarist secret police in Kiev and accused of ritually murdering a Christian boy to use his blood in baking matzah for Passover. Beilis was jailed for over two years, under horrible conditions, while awaiting trial. He resisted all pressure to implicate himself or other Jews. In 1913, after a dramatic trial that riveted the Jewish people and much of the rest of the world, Beilis was acquitted by an all-Christian jury.
We plan a 2013 conference to mark the 100th anniversary of the Beilis trial. Topics will include the Beilis Affair, a comparison with other anti-Semitic trials (Dreyfus in France, Leo Frank in America, and the Doctors’ Plot in the Soviet Union), the history of the blood libel and its uses in contemporary politics. Ironically, the blood libel was first used by ancient Greek and Roman pagans to persecute both Jews and Christians. Moreover, Mendel Beilis is the center of a fascinating conflict between historical and literary memory: what is the relationship between the historical Beilis and his fictional representation in Bernard Malamud’s novel, The Fixer? Malamud has been accused of plagiarizing Beilis’ memoir and of dishonoring his memory. What duties, if any, does a novelist have to the memory and reputation of the real person upon whom he has based his fictional character?
This conference will be held in the Summer of 2013 and integrated as a requirement in Professor Heschel’s course: History and Culture of the Jews II: The Modern Period (JWST 11/HIST 94.9).
Each Panel will feature one or two short presentations followed by a roundtable discussion and questions from the audience.
9:00 – 10: 30 am
Panel One: The Blood Libel in Christian and Islamic Anti-Semitism. The accusation of the ritual use of human blood goes back to ancient Greek and Roman polemics against the Jewish and Christian communities. Then, in the middle ages, Christians perversely turned this accusation against the Jewish community, despite several papal condemnations of the libel. Blood libel accusations continue to be made against Jews in the former Soviet Union and in Islamic countries.
Speakers:
Francois Guesnet, Sidney and Elizabeth Corob Reader in Modern Jewish History, University College, London
Mark R. Cohen, Profesor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
Respondent:
10:30-11:00 am Break
11:00-12:30 pm
Panel Two: The Beilis Trial at 100. What cultural and political circumstances led to the Beilis trial? What meaning did it have in its immediate Slavic context? What lessons does it hold for us today?
Speakers:
Edmund Levin, Writer & Producer, ABC News
Robert Weinberg, Professor of History, Swarthmore College
Respondent: Lynn Patyk, Assistant Professor of Russian, Dartmouth College
12:30-1:30 pm Break for Lunch
1:30-3:00 pm
Panel Three: The Beilis Trial in the Context of Contemporary Anti-Jewish Trials. At roughly the same time as the Beilis trial in Russia, Alfred Dreyfus was on trial in France and Leo Frank in America, and then the Jewish Doctors were on Trial in Moscow. What do these three trials tell us about the nature of anti-Semitism in the 20th century?
Speakers:
Albert Lindemann, Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Santa Barbara
Jonathan Brent, Director, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Respondent: Udi Greenberg, Assistant Professor of History, Dartmouth College
3:00-3:30 pm Break
3:30-5:00 pm
Panel Four: The Beilis-Malamud Connection. The most famous depiction of Mendel Beilis and his trial is in the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, The Fixer, by Bernard Malamud. Descendants of Beilis have long charged that in The Fixer, Malamud debased the characters of Beilis and his wife by making his protagonist, Yakov Bok, “an angry, foul-mouthed, cuckolded, friendless, childless blasphemer.” What is the responsibility of a novelist to the truth and to the reputations of the real historical persons and events that inspire his fiction?
Speakers:
Mark Stein, Attorney, Chicago, Illinois
Michael Tritt, Professor Emeritus of English and Jewish Studies, Marianopolis College
Jay Beilis. Grandson of Mendel Beilis
Respondent: Barry Scherr, Mandel Family Professor of Russian, Dartmouth College.