The Blood libel in Nineteenth-century Lithuania: a comparison of two cases
ENThis chapter analyzes two blood libel cases that occurred in two different locations in the Lithuanian countryside: in Zdoniškė Manor (Kovno province) in 1827 and in Šalnaičiai (Vil’na province) in 1908.1 By “Lithuania,” I refer to the ethnic Lithuanian lands, which in the nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth were part of the Russian Empire. Some parts belonged to the Pale of Jewish Settlement, others to the Kingdom of Poland (Augustów and later Suwałki province). Although both accusations produced ethnic tensions, the 1827 case involved only minor skirmishes, Christians throwing rocks at Jews, while the events in 1908 turned into a full-fledged pogrom. In the first part of the chapter I describe the events, and in the second half I consider why a ritual murder accusation resulted in mass anti- Jewish violence. This question has broader implications for understanding the changing dynamics of ChristianJewish relations in the long nineteenth century. A comparison of two cases separated by eighty years not only reveals the persistence of beliefs in Jewish ritual murder, but also highlights the larger social, cultural, and political changes that took place in the Russian Empire. Beginning in the 1880s, blood libel accusations turned into pogroms both in Lithuania and in other parts of the Pale of Settlement. The emergence and development of nationalist ideologies and modern antisemitism indirectly influenced mass anti-Jewish violence. However, other factors were more important, namely the wave of 96 | Ritual Murder in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Beyond pogroms that broke out in the Pale of Settlement beginning in the 1880s and the changing attitudes of local officials toward blood libel accusations.
