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For nearly a century, it has been a commonplace of Central European history that there were no Jews in medieval Prussia—the result, supposedly, of the ruling Teutonic Order’s attempts to create a purely Christian crusader’s state. In this groundbreaking historical investigation, however, medievalist Cordelia Hess demonstrates the very weak foundations upon which that assumption rests. In exacting detail, she traces this narrative to the work of a single, minor Nazi-era historian, revealing it to be ideologically compromised work that badly mishandles its evidence. By combining new medieval scholarship with a biographical and historiographical exploration grounded in the 20th century, The Absent Jews spans remote eras while offering a fascinating account of the construction of historical knowledge.
“Based on a meticulous analysis of various primary sources, she questions the existence of an anti-Jewish policy and concludes that the low profile of Jews in official documents may not in fact point to their physical absence but rather the absence of conflict between Gentiles and Jews, as peaceful relations were less likely to be recorded than blood libel cases and pogroms… Hess’s attempt to recover Jewish experiences in light of the surviving evidence offers a useful introduction for English-speaking readers who are unfamiliar with the complexities of Prussian medieval history.” • Journal of Modern Jewish Studies
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Chapter 1. Absent Jews: The Rise of a Truism and the Loss of Some Forefathers
Chapter 2. On the Frontier
Chapter 3. Archives at War
Chapter 4. A Ban on Jewish Settlement?
Chapter 5. Absent from Akko to the Baltic
Chapter 6. Absent Victims, Absent Violence: Persecutions and Blood Libel
Chapter 7. Beyond the Bulwark: Traces of Jewish Life in Medieval Prussia
Conclusion: The Wreckage of History
Bibliography
Index