Modern Era Blood Libels: The 1883 Tiszaeszlár Trial

November 28, 6:30 pm: The social and legal history aspects of the Tiszaeszlár trial - Modern era blood libels

Participants: Tamás Kende, György Kövér, István Stipta

The Tiszaeszlár trial was the first of a series of trials between 1883 and 1913 in (Eastern) Europe in which the charge was ritual murder. It was the first trial in which the court had to pass a verdict within the framework of a modern legal system, and on a charge based on religious, anti-Jewish beliefs of the middle ages. To what extent was the Tiszaeszlár trial modern, and to what extent was it the result of surviving medieval beliefs and belated modernization? Why, in terms of social and legal history, did nineteenth and early twentieth-century blood libel cases take place in Eastern Europe in particular?

This talk is part of a discussion series that accompanies the exhibition False Testimony by Hajnal Németh and Zoltán Kékesi.