|
K o n i t z 1 9 0 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 1
(p.291)
At the end of April 1900 -- therefore still in the year of the Hilsner trial --
the following public notice appeared:
"Murder in Konitz. Twenty thousand Marks reward is promised by the Herr Minister of
the Interior to any private person who gives crucial information for the investigation of
the murderer or murderers of the upper fourth-former Ernst Winter. The decision
concerning the payment of the reward is reserved to the Herr Minister. -- Marienwerder,
27 April 1900. The President of the
government."
Since the murderers were Jews, the Herr Minister did not need to worry about the paying out
of this prize!
In midsummer of the same year, one Jewish-liberal paper wrote that the Chinese disorder was
very inconvenient for the anti-Semites, because the Konitz murder story would be
pushed into the background by it and gradually would fall into "forgetfulness." At any rate,
a fading away of the public discussion had to be very much opportune for Jewry.
Since the investigation process had degenerated into a public scandal, at the end of
November 1900 an "Alliance for the clearing up of the Konitz murder" was formed in
Konitz, subscribed to by the Catholic and Evangelical [i.e., Lutheran] clergy and the city
councilors of the region, as well as several Landstag and Reichstag
deputies(1). In an appeal by this alliance, it says that it
"appears ever more possible that the mysterious murder will find a solution and punishment."
-- For the time being self-help was asked for: ". . .and since it is feared that for now the
bureaucracy in Germany will be filled increasingly with Jewish and Jewish-legal viewpoints and
ideas, thus self-help must be recommended. The Konitz murder puts anxiety for
the well-being of our children first and foremost in our hearts. Are Christian children still
safe from the slaughter? Where the power (292) of the state fails,
help must be formed from out of the womb of the family. We also turn to the clergy, the
teachers, and the father of the family."
The following advice was given in connection with this: "Parents might want to make known to
their children, at the right time for it, the fate of the high school student Winter.
Our children will then, on their own, be careful not to make friendships with Jewish children
and enter Jewish houses alone. The clergy and the teachers might want to warn the populace in
the country, in particular young farmhands and milk maids. In the environs of Konitz,
cases have still occurred in the last decades, where serving girls who were in service with
Jewish families suddenly vanished without a trace. At the close of business, when entering
Jewish houses is unavoidable, a man should take a companion with him. . ." "Should a murder
similar to those in Konitz and Xanten happen, the Christian inhabitants of the
place should immediately meet in a union for legal protection, which entirely openly works
toward the prosecution of the murderers, collects money, and if possible prevents [the
outcome] that 'again, nothing comes out of it [the investigation].' The union for
legal protection has both to keep in touch with the press as well as to warn the populace of
the area urgently against banding together [i.e., vigilantism] and committing violence; the
latter is if use only to the murderers and their accomplices."
The power of the Jew was complete: the judicial authorities fail to act, the press clearly
serves Jewish interests or at least behaves with indifference -- so courageous men with a
sense of responsibility got together, issued a summons, and had to ask for private financial
support in order to bring about proceedings against Jewish murderers -- German men knew no
other way to help themselves, other than to resort to self-help!
A member of the German Reichstag, the German-Social anti-Semitic Deputy Liebermann
von Sonnenberg, arranged for a collection of authentic material by an experienced
criminalist. At the beginning of the year 1901, the result of these examinations
could be presented to the public, which must have been all the more full of significance,
when "the Jewish (293) confusion-committee is also recently
again busily working" -- as Liebermann von Sonnenberg meaningfully stressed at the
start. The Deputy advised arranging meetings of the people in all Gauen, with the
theme Konitz, and that petitions be sent from those meetings to the Chancellor of
the Reich, the Reichstag, the Prussian Minister of Justice, and the Kaiser.
The conscience of the German people should not be permitted to have peace until the
Konitz blood-murder was atoned for!
Ernst Winter
The murdered boy, the eighteen year-old high school student Ernst Winter (born on 27
September 1881 in the Church city of Prechlau near Konitz, west Prussia) was
attending the gymnasium [= high school] at Konitz since 1894 and lived here
as a lodger. His father was a building contractor in Prechlau. Ernst Winter
was popular everywhere and of a clean, life-loving disposition and was very imposing and
powerfully built. He was considered the best gymnast of the high school and also had
maintained a very good record in the sciences. In the dance class Ernst Winter
had become acquainted with the daughters of the Jews Tuchler and Caspary in
Konitz. These appear to have had the task of holding the high schooler Winter
in Konitz. Moreover, the circumstance that Winter did not come from the
city himself made him especially suitable as a victim, since the inquiries about a non-native
student who disappeared were expected to first begin two or three days afterward, as in fact
actually occurred. In any case, Winter was shadowed for a long time, according to plan,
[as he went about] his daily routines. On Sunday, 11 March 1900, the day of the
murder, Winter attended church in the morning. From there, he made his way to the
cigar store of Fischer; (294) for some time he chatted
with the proprietor, then he strolled along the market toward his apartment at the house of
the master baker Lange for lunch. For about an hour he went to his room, which he
shared with two other high school students; he casually mentioned to them that in the
afternoon he was invited to a birthday celebration. An hour later he left the house, never
to return. Witnesses saw him for the last time still in front of the house of the Jewish
merchant Caspary -- since then he has not been seen alive again.
In the afternoon of Monday, 12 March, the builder Winter in Prechlau
received the news that his son Ernst was missing since Sunday afternoon. He
immediately went to Konitz and reported to the head mayor Deditius as the
police chief in charge. However, the police took no action. Therefore, the father had
to himself proceed to search for his son, vanished without a trace! With the support of
the master baker Lange, even the shores of the Mönchsee [= Monk Lake], which bordered
the city, were searched. On the afternoon of 13 March the searchers noticed that the
ice covering the city basin, in whose direct vicinity the synagogue stood, was
conspicuously smashed in one place. A stick was poked under the ice and a large parcel tied
up with brown paper was produced. After removal of the paper, an object carefully sewed in
with canvas was found. The seams were undone, and into sight came the torso of a young man,
without head and neck, without arms, only the upper body down to the end of the ribs, and
the spine was sawed through. The father Winter recognized the upper body of his son
by certain features. Finally the police cordoned off the area. As the first [on the scene],
the court physician, the medical advisor Dr. Müller, state's attorney Settegast,
and mayor Deditius examined the gruesome discovery. Witnesses noticed that a Jew had
been closely observing the incident the whole time from the synagogue lying directly across the
way, and disappeared just when attention was directed toward him.
The interest of the police became more lively from now on -- after two valuable days had
passed! They even fished both of the lower parts of the upper body from out of the lake.
The body parts were (295) delivered to the city hospital. On
Thursday, 15 March -- therefore four days after the murder -- the right arm was
discovered on the gate of the Evangelical churchyard. Some private individuals offered the
police their good hunting dogs to search for the parts of the body which were still missing.
Police chief Deditius declined. The gentlemen thereupon took up the search alone with
their dogs. In fact, in another section of the Mönchsee the right thigh, from which
the lower leg had been skillfully detached at the knee, was found in this way.
Four weeks later, on 15 April 1900, on the first day of the Easter holiday, at
the other end of the city in the meadow by the city woods, the still recognizable head
of the high schooler, with part of the neck, was discovered by children playing.
Excitement in the city was growing -- from the known facts of the case, people drew
conclusions about the place of the crime and the perpetrators; only the authorities still
noticed nothing. The populace expressed their convictions without concealment: nothing
should come of it!
At the end of March, two and a half weeks after the crime, the Police Commissar
Wehn appeared from Berlin, to put the Konitz police on the right track. He
had brought along the conviction that the murderers in no way were to be sought
among the Jews. He questioned witnesses for months, in order to be able to
convict a non-Jewish resident of the murder. Witnesses who said anything against
Jews were badly treated without exception -- one need recall only Xanten and
Skurz -- were rudely spoken to, and cross-examined until Wehn believed that they had been caught in
contradictions; with that, the "case" involved was then dismissed! The non-Jewish population
of the region summarized their personal opinion about the activity of this Commissar, by
saying that this official considered every non-Jew to be a priori extremely
untrustworthy, while on the other hand he held every Jew to be a truth-loving and
reasonably thinking man! Consequently, his procedures aroused enormous animosity in the
populace. At their first conference, Commissar Wehn asked a Konitz resident who
was a former policeman, (296) and who was still was
consulted due to his great experience in criminal investigations -- for this [incident] the
witness concerned was available -- : "Herr Colleague, what do you think about this affair?"
When the latter responded to this by speaking of leads which pointed to the Jews,
Wehn declared: "You believe that the Jews could be the murderers? Then we cannot work
together." The police officer was, in fact, no longer consulted!
The following course of a witness interrogation of this Commissar may be put forward as
being typical: A Frau Borchardt wanted to make a statement before Wehn
about a conversation she heard of the Jewish family Meyer of Konitz, which
concerned the young Winter. At the end of the protocol, Wehn wrote in his own hand
that the witness finally retracted her entire statement which she had just made. But this
witness was heard again later, in the jury-court proceedings against the worker
Masloff(2). She declared with great astonishment
that it had not occurred to her at all at that time to retract her statement. Herr
Wehn, she said, merely asked her whether she was able to tell him exactly the
day of the overheard conversation. This she answered in the negative, but immediately
wished to add "I cannot give [you] the day." But already, at the word "no," Herr
Wehn (she said) jumped up and screamed at her: "Then if you know nothing, see to
it that you leave." -- In spite of these practices, he didn't get anywhere; Wehn
wanted to achieve something positive -- for the exoneration of the Konitz Jews.
Thus he suddenly came around to the opinion that only homosexuals could have committed
the murder. Cunningly, the Jews knew how to steer suspicion onto a young master tailor
whose father, having died a year previously, had been the single open anti-Semite in
Konitz -- reason enough to impute all sorts of shameful things to his son now. Thus
wrote the Jew Klausner in his paper, the Israelitische Wochenschrift [Israelite
Weekly Letter] (Nr. 27, 1900) explicitly: "In Konitz things are even worse for the
anti-Semites. Here the suspicion is legitimate that the murder was planned in advance and
was performed with the intention of putting the blame for it on the Jews. The entire
behavior of the anti-Semitic spokesmen and of the (297)
anti-Semitic press compels [us] to accept this. . .anti-Semitism and criminality are
identical concepts, insofar as there may well be criminals who are not anti-Semites -- but
there cannot be anti-Semites who are not criminals. Up until now, the state has not yet
reached the realization that it has reason to give special attention to this special
criminality. Instead, it grants it seemingly inexhaustible forbearance."
But the young tailor soon dealt with his visible and invisible opponents. He was able to
prove that he had made a pleasure trip out of the area with several gentlemen on the day of
the murder until the nighttime. By his proposal, all these witnesses were questioned under
oath by the investigating magistrate of the district court at Konitz, and he was
left in peace from further defamation.
The burial of the murdered gymnasium student took place during the period of activity of this
extremely unusual Criminal Commissar. On 22 May, the State Attorney's Office had released
the body parts which had been found. On Sunday, 27 May 1900, an aroused crowd of
people numbering many thousands accompanied the remains to the grave at the Evangelical
cemetery at Konitz. The burial of Winter was described by the Jews as an
"animal show"! (According to the Germania, Nr. 127, 6 June 1900.)
At around this time appeared the police Inspector Braun, likewise from Berlin, for
the further support of the police forces. He shared with Wehn the view of excluding
the Jews as perpetrators, but exceeded by far the ruthlessness of his Berlin colleague.
For his part, Braun wrote: "I refrain as a matter of course from [considering] as
the motive, the blood-accusation of ritual-murder, raised during the investigations by
fanatics or the ignorant, which shames all of Christendom -- since such [an accusation]
can originate only from malice or dark superstition." -- In line with this principle, he
conducted his activities, which belong to the most wretched of Jew-friendly maneuvers.
After a zealous study of the documents, Braun put together a formal bill of indictment
against the German head master butcher and Konitz town councilman Hoffmann
and his fourteen-year-old (!) daughter, and handed them over to the State Attorney's Office
in Konitz. The (298) Chief State's Attorney
Settegast proposed the opening of the prelimninary investigation against Hoffmann
and his arrest! The investigating judge, Dr. Zimmerman, opened the preliminary
investigation, after the previously long-standing examining judge, Councilor Schulze,
apparently deemed not entirely "reliable," had suddenly been sent to Danzig. Inspector
Braun declared that he would very soon bring the master butcher Hoffmann and
his daughter to confess the murder, and there began the shameful doings against an old
established and respected citizen and councilor of Konitz, which evoked the greatest
outrage in all of Germany.
In his defense statement(3), Hoffmann described in
detail how the Jews and their helpers wanted to stamp him as a murderer by means of
artificial agitation. The Braun indictment was also, of course, actually only an expression
of that which the Jews had already contrived and been disseminating against the Hoffmann
family long before: that Hoffmann had threatened Winter with killing him! The basis
for this claim was the following insignificant incident: On an evening of the winter of
1899/1900, his daughter Anna was standing with two young people in front of the door
of her father's place of business, which was located in the busiest part of the city. This
did not please Hoffmann, and he called his daughter inside. Both young men were
supposed to have been called louts by Hoffmann -- in any event they immediately
removed themselves -- one of them was supposed to have been the young Winter.
A teacher of Winter's, a gymnasium professor, stated that on the evening of the
11th of March, thus on the day of the murder, he had heard the frightful scream of
a human being from the synagogue toward half past seven. From this Braun drew
the following astute conclusions: Next to the synagogue was located the wagon shed of
Hoffmann; in this shed, between seven and eight o'clock in the evening, Winter and the
fourteen-year-old Anna Hoffmann had immoral relations, her father, Hoffmann
had surprised them, drawn a large butcher knife and had cut off Winter's
head!
(299) Now the meticulous Hoffmann had no reason at all
to search for his daughter, since at the time in question she was to be found in the
parental apartment!
In his defense statement, Hoffmann said in the
crucial passage: ".. .my daughter was still taking a walk in the city, but was already
back home again before seven o'clock, in order to prepare supper. . .We -- that
is, I, my daughter, and the other family members, ate supper together toward
seven-thirty. My daughter set supper before the apprentices after eight o'clock. After
that we all remained at home without interruption and went to sleep. I might
remark that I myself did not stir outside of my apartment." Although witnesses were able
to confirm these statements, the charge of homicide was lodged by the State
Attorney's Office against Hoffmann and the judicial preliminary investigation and
immediate arrest were arranged.
Whatever intrigues besides went on behind the scenes to bring about the proceedings against
Hoffmann, have never come completely to light. Only this became known, that
Braun was continually in contact with a Jewish agent in Konitz by the name of
Rauch.
In any case, the German sector of the populace, for their part, came to the
conviction that "the non-Jews in Prussia are still regarded only as second-class citizens"
(Liebermann von Sonnenberg).
The great animosity against the authorities, which finally took on riotous form, was
explainable in no small part by the fact that nearly all statements made by non-Jews were
looked upon as not credible, while Jewish statements were constantly viewed as flawless and
as a consequence made use of!
But how did the arrest of Hoffmann occur?
He himself wrote about this: "On Tuesday, 29 May 1900, both police commissars from
Berlin, Braun and Wehn, after they had previously carried out a very thorough
house search at my [home], brought me and my fourteen year-old daughter to the police
office and charged us both with having committed the murder of the gymnasium student
Winter. Both the Commissars thereby put forth the claim that I had, on 11 March,
(300) toward seven o'clock in the evening, missed my daughter,
had searched for her, and came upon her in the wagon shed situated near my icehouse on the
Mönchsee [Monk Lake], how she was in intercourse with the high school student
Winter. Out of rage over this [I was supposed to have] throttled Winter and
stabbed him. This monstrous accusation was put before me. These officials presented
this same fairy tale to my daughter and even wanted to persuade my daughter that all had
been discovered already, she should only confess it, then a more lenient punishment would
be given me, her father."
The daughter, still a child, was supposed to be pressed into [making] an untrue accusation
of her own father!
In reality, the goings-on were much more scandalous yet:
Hoffmann and his daughter were treated like criminals! The daughter was
separated from her father in a police guard room from eight until one o'clock, held in
custody under the supervision of a police officer and was twice fetched out for interrogation.
But there was nothing further to be gotten out of her other than: "But my God! I know nothing
of this, I can say nothing!" -- Meanwhile, Hoffmann was again led back into his
apartment in order to be present at a new, thorough search. From here, he had to
follow the officials to the shed, lying about 200 steps distant from their synagogue. Then
Hoffmann, surrounded by a police team, was again transported to the police station,
right through the midst of a large crowd of people, to be subjected to a cross-examination
there!
In the meantime, the populace of Konitz had banded together at the market in front of
the police office and assumed a threatening attitude. Under these circumstances, it seemed
advisable to Inspector Braun to no longer keep up the arrest, and he released father and
daughter.
Concerning the further course of the day, which signified a disgrace for imperial justice,
Hoffmann wrote in his quoted letter: "On the evening of the same day, the Jews and
friends of the Jews spread throughout the whole population [the rumor] that I was supposed
to be arrested in the night. It was clear to me and my friends that it was desired to
intentionally provoke unrest in the night thereby, (301) which
they succeeded in doing. Up until then, only a few immature fellows had been calling out
"Hepp, Hepp" in the streets in the darkness till ten o'clock, and now and then furtively
broken a window pane. At the news of my arrest, however, several thousand adult and
mostly married men assembled on their own in order to prevent the blow intended against
all Christians by means of the arrest of my person. Each one of the thousands of serious men
who filled the streets and squares, was aware that he, just as well as I today, could
be made to appear as a murderer tomorrow before Herr Braun. They called out openly to
the gendarmes: 'The Jews slaughter our children, the Jews profane our graves, and
now even more Christians are supposed to be killed!' The married men placed themselves in
front of the gendarmes and invited them to strike out at them. Only a people which
has the profoundest conviction of my innocence, and which deeply feels the monstrosity of
my being made to appear as a murderer, can behave in such a way."
In these critical days, the municipal head authority found it advisable to go out of town.
Under the date 5 June 1900, the report appears in the paper: "The mayor has gone on
vacation." Just a full month later, on 30 June, the examining judge concluded the
preliminary investigation. The charges of Braun collapsed. On 19 July 1900, the
cessation of the proceedings was officially communicated to the master butcher Hoffmann.
The grounds for the decision of cessation laid down by the Konitz court should be
rendered in their essential points due to their importance:
"According to the medical expert opinion of the district physician Dr. Müller and of
the general practitioner Dr. Bleske of 29 June 1900, the murder of the
gymnasium student Winter occurred between three and four o'clock and at the latest
four-thirty in the afternoon. Accordingly it appears, however, entirely out of the
question that the accused was the perpetrator, because on the afternoon of Sunday 11
March 1900, the accused first stopped in church, and then stopped with his daughter
Anna in the house of the master butcher Ziebarth and his wife until after six
o'clock.
(302) Moreover, according to the opinion of the experts Drs.
Müller and Bleske, it is fully out of the question that the perpetrator committed the crime
without deliberation, rather the condition of the body, the manner of dismemberment and
manner of the dispersal of the bodily parts indicate that the crime was performed by
more than two persons and according to a well thought-out plan. The accused Hoffmann
can thus also for this reason not come into consideration as the perpetrator
. . ."
The Hoffmann episode in the Winter murder tragedy had reached its end. The
actual victors here were also the Jews: if they did not succeed, as in the year
1884 in Skurz, in bringing a likewise innocent, non-Jewish butcher to the
dock, they could still say: the judicial investigation due to the murder of Winter
was not opened against any "of our people," but against a non-Jew, the authorities must
think, therefore, the perpetrator or perpetrators are to be found only among non-Jews.
And the actual Jewish and Jewish-slave papers and weeklies wrote in this vein -- but more
than anything else, Jewry had achieved one essential result: suspicion had been
diverted from the actual murderers for a sufficiently long time, to be able to
thoroughly erase the traces of a blood-murder!
The Murderers
The court decision of 19 July 1900 assumed [the existence of] several murderers --
which doubtless was correct. In order to tie up and gag the young, exceptionally powerful
Winter in such a manner, in order to be able to cut through the throat of his living
body, a larger number of men was required. The murderers had to have found a suitable
space with suitable facilities, which could be brightly illuminated. Instruments and a table
had to be prepared in order to dismember the body of the victim. Moreover, packing
material for the body parts had to be gotten. -- The murderers also had accomplices
in the city of Konitz. This is proved by the subsequent carrying
(303) of the arm to the Evangelical churchyard and of the head into the marshy field
at the other side of the city.
On the basis of eyewitness statements, which will be yet more closely dealt with in a
special section, the murder of Winter can be reconstructed in the following manner:
On the days of the 14th, 15th, 20th and 21st of April 1900, the Jews
had their Easter festival, for which non-Jewish blood was needed. This time Konitz
was selected to furnish the slaughtered sacrifice and to provide the location for the ritual-
slaughter. The house and the cellar of the Jewish butcher Adolf Levy,
outfitted for the taking apart of animal carcasses and with its double entrances from two
streets, was determined as suitable location for this! As can be proved, collections of
money "for taking care of expenses" were organized among the Jews resident in
Konitz. . .
The murderers arrived in Konitz from every direction. One Jew came from out
of Russia across Strasburg (West Prussia). The itinerary of several other
Russian-Polish Jews was no longer able to be determined. In addition, a number of Jewish
ritual-slaughterers or religious officials arrived from various parts
of West Prussia and Posen. The Russian-Polish Jews were likewise ritual-slaughterers
or religious officials. In particular, one man was conspicuous, who limped and had
smallpox scars on his face(4). According to the honor
accorded to him by other Jews, he seemed to be a "light of Israel." Already from Saturday
evening on, some of the murderers arrived inconspicuously through both of the entrances in
the Levy house and lay in wait for the appearance of the victim. Three young non-Jews did
not walk into the trap; only the harmless and unsuspecting Winter, who already was
long since enmeshed, entered the Levy premises on Sunday at about six in the evening
and was overpowered! He was kept in a gagged condition up until the ritual
slaughtering, carried out at a somewhat later time, and at which all the murderers
appeared when darkness fell. With a knife the schächter cut through the neck and the
neck vessels directly to the trunk. After the blood had run completely out of the body, the
corpse was properly dismembered.
(304) At the same time, something was going on in the
synagogue. At night, from the 11th to the 12th of March, a light was
burning there between 11 and 12 o'clock and a tangle of voices was heard. -- The same thing
had been noticed in Tisza-Eszlár! -- The murderers themselves, in the course of the night
and of the following day, again departed from Konitz in all directions with their
booty, the blood of Winter.
The conformity of Winter's murder with the ritual-murder of the boy Cybulla in
Skurz which occurred in the year 1884 is striking: at both murders the
disarticulation of the thighs was performed with the greatest skill, and the opening of
the abdominal cavity was also carried out with the most exact concordance, and in particular
in both cases with one cut which passed along the right side of the navel; also, the absence
of individual parts of the body is characteristic -- these conformities, extending to
individual details, allow the presumption that both victims were dismembered by one
and the same person, who possessed great expertise and experience in the proper
dismemberment of the human body!
At the request of the prosecutor's office, the Berlin physicians Drs. Mittenzweig and
Störmer undertook in Konitz the post-autopsy examination of Winter's
body parts; both doctors totally agreed with the Konitz physicians, but expanded
upon their expert opinion in the most essential point: that the body parts were completely
empty of blood! The Berlin physicians determined:
1. that the killing of Winter took place by means of cutting into the neck and
cutting through the large vessels of the neck,
2. that Winter met his death through external bleeding from the incised neck
vessels,
3. that the cutting up of the body was effected by means of knife and saw by an
expert hand and
4. that the complete exsanguination of the parts of the body was already
done when the parts were wrapped up and sunk in the lake.
From these findings, the physicians further assumed that the death of Winter had been
brought about in such a manner that he initially was brought to the point of suffocation
in the first phase by means of the clasping shut of the nose and mouth, and that,
in the second phase, (305)his life was taken by the neck
cut and removal of blood.
In plain words, the gist of the experts' report read: Ernst Winter was expertly
ritually slaughtered!
The Witnesses
The plan for the slaughter of a young man in the city of Konitz and
especially in the house of the Jewish ritual-slaughterer Levy was doubtless prepared
months in advance according to definite directives. Besides Winter, three young people
(5) had been selected and already enmeshed -- but they
instinctively sensed danger and escaped slaughter. These were:
1. the farmer H. In January, the Jewish merchant C. said to the unmarried farmer H.,
a young man in the prime of health, after first inquiring as to whether H. truly was in
complete health: "You have good blood, you are good for it. . ."; after H. asked what that
was supposed to mean, C. replied: "The blood is costly this year, it's costing us a half
million Marks"(6);
2. the merchant S. in Zempelburg; Moritz Levy visited the young merchant S.,
from whom the Levys had purchased a bicycle, conspicuously often in the weeks before the
murder. At every opportunity, the Jew asked whether S. also was in the best of health,
forced himself in close proximity to him for the alleged purpose of comparing the size of
their bodies, and urgently requested him several times to come to Konitz, in order
to get the money for the bicycle. -- Downright creepy seemed
3. the case of the worker Laskowski of Frankenhagen; Eight days before the
murder of Winter, Moritz Levy had purchased a cow from the farmer Grabowicz
in Frankenhagen and thereupon demanded especially forcefully, that a young and strapping
farmhand, Tucchinski, should deliver the cow in Konitz on the Sunday, 11
March. On (306) the forenoon of the day of the murder, the
11th of March, when Winter still had not been lured into the trap, both young Levys
drove to farmer Grabowicz and heard that not Tucchinski, but rather the worker
Laskowski was given the task of getting the cow to Konitz. The Levys then made
the utmost effort to bring about a modification of this arrangement, which was, however,
no longer possible. Moritz Levy instructed the worker to tie the animal preferably
in the inn and then pick up his fee for driving [the cow]. But he was supposed to come
through the rear courtyard door. Since Laskowski was not familiar with the
location, he entered the Levy property through the front door by mistake, and thus escaped
the fate which a few hours later was intended for the gymnasium student Winter. The
worker Laskowski declared in his statement before the court: ". . . I had a great
feeling of anxiety at the time, it seemed so eerie to me, the entire bearing of
Levy imbued me with a horror, as if they wished to do me evil. In the room
(behind the store) I heard old man Levy murmuring in a conversation with the rest
of them. I heard the words: 'Is the matter arranged?. . .tie the legs. . .Monk Lake!' When
I heard these words, a mortal terror came over me. I was now asked whether I was married.
I said yes, I have five children. I then heard, still in the room there, the words: 'Catch
hold soon. . .wouldn't like to take long. . .'" -- That he got to the street again alive,
Laskowski owed only to the circumstance that a customer suddenly came in and so the
Jews were kept from their attack!
In October 1899, the raft master Steincke from Prechlau, the birthplace
of Winter, had a memorable conversation there with the Jewish ritual-slaughterer
Eisenstädt. He was buying meat at this butcher's place and came to speak of the
Winter family. When he offered the opinion that the gymnasium student Winter was a
nice fellow, Eisenstädt said: "Yes, he's good for slaughtering!" Steincke, laughing,
replied to this: "Now, he's too young for that, he has hardly any meat!" to which this
Eisenstädt responded: "That doesn't matter, for he's got blood to give! In
(307) itself, one could regard this expression merely as a bad
joke; an entirely different aspect is put on it, however, if one considers that Winter
was in fact ritually slaughtered some months later, and that Eisenstädt, on the day
of the slaughter, the 11th of March 1900, himself appeared in Konitz and
returned to Prechlau just on the Monday. He was bringing along a little box with very
nasty-smelling contents, a box which disappeared immediately when strangers began to take
notice of it!
On the basis of sworn statements by witnesses, it was further determined that, besides
Eisenstädt of Prechlau, the following foreign ritual-slaughterers participated
in the murder of Winter:
1. the brother of the Prechlau Eisenstädt, the Schlochau Eisenstädt,
left the Catholic hospital (Borromäus-Stift) at Konitz on the evening of 11 March,
and remained away the entire night, from the 11th to the 12th of March, as could be
proved on the basis of the entries in the institution's books! Some days later, he demanded
a certification from the sisters of the institution that he had spent the night in question
in the hospital (sworn statement of the sisters of the order who were involved);
2. the schächter [ritual-slaughterer] Hamburger from Schlochau
arrived in Konitz at noon of 11 March, returned to Schlochau at
8:40 P.M. in the evening on train 212, took a wagon there, drove back to
Konitz again, and at his return on 12 March had loaded a box, which he
dragged into the forest in the vicinity of the Schlochau Lake. After some time, he came
back without this box and climbed into his wagon [which moved off] in the direction of
Schlochau;
3. the schächter Haller of Tuchel arrived in Konitz with
the noon train from Tuchel on 11 March;
4. the schächter from Czersk likewise arrived in Konitz on 11
March;
5. the schächter from R. (The place name was not written out!). This man had a
full beard, but returned without the beard, and with a large bruise on his face;
A few days before the 11th of March, five foreign Jews alighted
(308) in Konitz from the noon train. They were received at the train station
with conspicuous respect by the synagogue servant Nosseck, and driven to the Jewish
Lewinski in Konitz. Futhermore, on the 10th and the 11th of March
respectively, more than ten foreign Jews, probably Jewish religious officials,
were noticed in front of and in the doorway of a Jewish inhabitant in Konitz!
The station assistant from Konitz said later, likewise under oath, that not ever
before had so many Jews come into the place as on the day of the murder!
On Monday, the 12th of March, witnesses noticed how the Konitz Rabbi Kellermann
and the Konitz schächter, who a short time later fled to America, both with
top hats on their heads, were inspecting a piece of meat (liver?) in the Rabbi's room, made
incisions in it with a knife, and were making microscopic examinations of it. It must have
been a type of religious act, because otherwise the schächter would hardly have
kept the top hat on his head in the chamber of his 'superior' -- for the custom, to have the
head covered in a ritual space or at a ritual activity, is expressly Jewish"
(Schwartz-Bostunisch, Die Fraumauerei [Freemasonry], p. 137).
A woman tailor, K., revealed under oath that on Sunday evening, 17 March, she became
an unnoticed witness of a conversation between Rabbi Kellermann and another ,
probably foreign, Jew who was unknown to her. She clearly heard the following sentences:
"Have you kept something in mind?" -- "That so many devils are crawling around here?"
-- "That nothing gets out [about the murder]!"
In addition, the conversations of other Jews were heard, which allowed the conclusion to be
made [that there was] far-reaching complicity and knowledge [of the crime]!
As already mentioned, the right arm of the murder victim was discovered on 15 March
at the Evangelical churchyard, and the head on 15 April in the meadow at the city
woods. Now the Jewish merchant Israelski was seen: as, on the morning of 15
March, toward six fifteen, he was walking to the said churchyard with a sack in which
there was a longish object after the manner of [a loaf of] bread,
(309) and as he returned, around six forty-five, with the empty sack rolled up. --
On Good Friday, the 13th of April, the same Jew was seen, as he was walking in the
direction of the city woods with a sack in which a round object -- like a head of cabbage,
perhaps -- was lying, and as, after some time [had passed], he returned with dirty boots
and the empty sack under his arm.
Israelski was charged due to the latter occurrence, but was acquitted by the five
judges of the criminal court, among whom the Jewish district judge Bohm was
to be found! -- The wife of Israelski said to the bailiff: "The Russian Jews are
gone and my husband is now supposed to be the scapegoat!"
But the chief witness, the worker Masloff, found himself located at the hour of the
crime at the murder-cellar, and was able to observe the actions of the murderers outside of
the cellar from his own vantage point. His incriminating statements given on 8 June 1900
before the examining judge at the district court in Konitz, Dr. Zimmermann,
should be reproduced exactly. Masloff stated the following to the record: "On
Sunday, the 11th of March, toward ten o'clock in the evening, I was walking
home alone from the residence of my brother-in-law Berg. In Danzig Street, I lost
the stopper of my snuff glass. I stooped down, it was right in front of a cellar window
(of the Levy premises); I heard several voices in the cellar but was able to understand
nothing, or even see into the cellar, because it was totally dark and the window appeared
to me to be covered. I went to the next window of the same house, this was uncovered. A weak
glow of light penetrated through this. The conversation was being carried on in the cellar;
I thought perhaps to be able hear more from the street in the rear and went there. I turned
into the Mauerstraße at Hoffmann's(7) and eavesdropped
at the individual gate wings. There, where I was hearing voices behind the gate wing, I
knelt down on the ground and listened. I heard the voices of many people, and in between
(310) also a gasping sound. In any case, it was a
gurgling sound. After approximately five minutes a door was opened in the interior of
the courtyard, and out of the door opening a man stepped into the yard. I clearly recognized
this man as that person whom I later got to know as the old Levy. Levy remained
standing in the yard with his head stretched forward, in a listening posture. When Levy
had been standing there for about five minutes, two other men came through the door. While
old Levy and both of the others were standing there in the yard, there was still
further speaking from other people behind them. Also, I now was still hearing the
gurgling noise. . ."
Go to Konitz/Page 2
or
Back to Table of Contents
|