Volume 4 No 2 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

672 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 4:671[T]his is the story that I heard from my father Rabbi Nata Shlomo Schlissel,who heard it from his father, Rabbi Leibush Schlissel [son of Chana,the daughter of] Rabbi Joske Skolnik.The details of the narrative, representing Jewish communal memory ofthe events and transmitted entirely by word of mouth for five generations,are as follows:Bartholomiej Kubacki, a 15 year-old boy employed as a Sabbath gentile,vanished around the time of Passover, and four Jews, Rabbi Skolnickbeing one of them, were accused of murdering him for ritual purposes.Eventually, a kangaroo court condemned 12 people to death on the basisof testimony from Countess Rosa Konstancja Tarnowska, who swore onher honor that the accusation was true, though how she would have beenable to be a reliable witness to an event that, we shall see, never occurredis difficult to understand.The accused were all found guilty and sentenced to death, though oneof them had already died during torture. Of the remaining eleven, twoaccepted conversion to Christianity in anticipation that this would save theirlives, but this concession allowed them only to be beheaded instead ofimmolated. The sentence for the remaining nine was carried out by nailingthem into individual wooden barrels containing axle grease—intended tostimulate an intense burning—and then rolled into a fire. Countess Tarnowskathen dispersed the ashes of the consumed in the waters of the Vistula,but wind blew ash particles into her eyes and she became blind.Some time later, the “murdered” Bartholomiej Kubacki returned toTarnobrzeg, having wearied of the circus that he ran away to join in 1757.In contrition, the Tarnowska family solemnly declared that, inperpetuity, they would provide timber over the winters and flour for matzosfor the needy Jews of Tarnobrzeg. The pledge was kept until the drought of1927 (other accounts say the frosts of 1928), at which time Count JanZdislaw Tarnowski declared that the Jews were responsible for the drought(or the frost). He then revoked the vow of contrition, asserting that the evilbehavior on the part of the Jews nullified his ancestor’s oath. The followingwinter, a fire broke out in the manor of the Tarnowski family and the count,interpreting the conflagration as a divine message, reversed his decision andreinstituted the promise made by his ancestor.Because no Jewish community record book exists to document theevents as they occurred, these word-of-mouth transmissions do not constituteevidence. On the other hand, the communal memory of Tarnobrzeg’sChristian citizens with respect to these occurrences is sustained by histori-