Blood in Jewish-Christian Relationships in the Smolensk Region in the 18th – Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

The article discusses the motif of “blood libel” in relation to the Jews of the Smolensk region in the 18th – early 20th centuries. Drawing on archival sources and literature, I examine the mechanism of actualization and functioning of ethnic stereotypes, particularly the myth about the ritual use of Christian blood by the Jews over a two-century period. I argue that the notion of blood libel had emerged in the region under consideration at least 80 years before the masses of Jewish population appeared in the Russian empire. The perceptions of Smolensk region dwellers about the blood libel, in my opinion, were akin to a formal reception of a widespread Catholic stereotype that could be borrowed from the neighboring Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita); they retained their appeal in the region throughout the entire period of imperial rule in Russia.