Sensationalizing the Jewish Question

Barnet Hartston, Ph.D. (1999) in History, University of California at San Diego, is Associate Dean of General Education and Associate Professor of History at Eckerd College. His research focuses primarily on the topics of anti-Semitism, legal culture, and the political press in Imperial Germany.

The press about the hardback edition"[...] Barnet Hartston’s examination of antisemitic trials and the press in the early Imperial German context, Sensationalizing the Jewish Question [...] has much to offer scholars interested in a more sophisticated understanding of the complexities of the Non-Jewish Question." - Lars Fischer, in: The Journal of Modern History Vol. 82 (2011), pp. 887-888."Barnet Hartston contributes to a more nuanced interpretation of antisemitism during the Bismarck era by concentrating on the courtroom. [...] His presentation of the opposing [historiographical] views is fair and succinct; his own positions are always cautious and balanced. The thorough archival research makes new and underutilized sources available to other scholars. In summary, the book delivers on its promises and is a welcome addition to the literature." - Richard S. Levy, in: H-German, H-Net Reviews, June, 2006"Hartston has written a fine book. Graced with clear prose and balanced judgment, it guides the reader through a maze of cases that, if now forgotten, were very much a part of the public vocabulary of late nineteenth-century Germany. [...] And he has set his contribution in the context of the considerable new literature on anti-Semitism in the German Empire—a literature that has significantly broadened our sense that electoral politics hardly exhausted the byways of prejudice." - Helmut Walser Smith, in: Central European History Vol. 39, No. 4 (December 2006), pp. 712–714

• List of Illustrations ... ixAcknowledgments ... xiAbbreviations ... xiiiIntroduction ... 1Chapter One An Empire Transformed: Politics, Anti-Semitism, and the Law in the Time of Bismarck ... 9Chapter Two Fighting Words: Libel Trials, Jews, and the Cult of Honor ... 35Chapter Three Arson in Neustettin: The Limits of Anti-Jewish Violence in the New Reich ... 105Chapter Four Ritual Murder Trials: Ancient Prejudice and Modern Propaganda ...129Chapter Five A Matter of Debate: Scholars and Pseudo-Scholars Testify on the Nature of Judaism ... 189Chapter Six The New Demagogues: Hermann Ahlwardt and the Rise of Fanatical Anti-Semitism ... 219Conclusion .................................................................................. 261Appendix: An Overview of the German Press in the Bismarckzeit ... 287Bibliography ... 307Index ... 325