The Damascus Affair 'Ritual Murder', Politics, and the Jews in 1840

This book assesses the impact of the Damascus affair on European and Jewish politics, including the Holocaust and creation of modern Israel.

In February 1840, an Italian monk and his servant disappeared in Damascus. Many Jews in that city were charged with ritual murder and tortured until they confessed. The case turned into a cause célèbre across much of the western world, even becoming a factor in the major diplomatic conflicts of the period, and produced an explosion of polemics, fantastic theories, and strange projects. The religious revival and romanticism of the period provided fertile soil for every speculation. This 1997 book, the first since 1840 to analyse the affair, assesses the Damascus affair as a factor in European and Jewish politics of the time, as a chapter in Jewish history and historiography, and as the stuff of radically conflicting myths - myths which eventually fed into the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel.

Preface; 1. Introduction; Part I. The Dynamics of Ritual Murder: 2. Ritual murder: official documents; 3. The mechanics and motivations of the case; 4. Beyond Damascus: early reactions; 5. The consuls divide; Part II. In Search of Support: 6. The press, the politicians, and the Jews; 7. Restoring the balance: the Middle East; 8. Political polarization and the genesis of the mission to the East; Part III. 1840 - Perceptions, Polemics, Prophecies: 9. The crisis: Jewish perceptions; 10. The religious polemics; 11. Christian Millennialists, Jewish Messianists, and Lord Palmerston; 12. Jewish nationalism in embryo; Part IV. Last Things: 13. Alexandria on the eve of war; 14. The final lap: public opinion in Europe; 15. In the wake of the war: the return to routine; Part V. In Retrospect: 16. Between historiography and myth: the two primary versions of the affair; 17. Conclusion.

In February 1840, an Italian monk and his servant disappeared in Damascus. Jews there were charged with ritual murder and tortured until they confessed. This book assesses the impact of the affair on the European and Jewish politics of the time and as the stuff of radically conflicting myths which eventually led to the Holocaust and the establishment of the Israeli state.