the Jewish anarchists of Whitechapel spied by the French secret police

[mariab]

Hello all.
I've just finished going through the French Secret Police reports on the Whitechapel Jewish anarchists having survived in Paris (at the Archives Nationales and at the Archives of the Paris Police Museum), and I've got some interesting information pertaining to a Jewish/Polish/Hungarian anarchist named Schwartz, connected to William Wess in 1902-1905. The Schwartz connection requires additional research and will be discussed in a future publication, but here is a representative sample of a French spy report from May 1903:

Paris, 22 May 1903

from London

The Anarchist Jewish Federation:

The Anarchist Jewish Federation definitely operates under the name “The worker's friend“ in Great Britain and in Paris.
Communications pertaining to this group are obligatorily addressed to R. ROCKER and G. DAVID, who both reside at Nr. 58, Dunsten Houses, Stepney Green, East London.
The origins of this group is a weekly newspaper called “The worker's friend“, published in Hebrew.
Pertaining to the Jewish anarchists I'm drawing attention to a handwritten poster hanging in the Russian library at Church Street, conceived as such: “All Jewish revolutionaries can come to Butles Street, Spitalfields, and eat for free.“
In the library in question there has also been a new message board erected in favor of the Russian strikers.

The original document will be posted when I get the photo cleaned up.

[Garza]

Congrats Maria, I guess who are not a newbie anymore, but a ripperologist , god help you .

[lynn cates]

nice

Hello Maria. Good work.

Yes, as long as there were Anarchists, just that long there were coppers keeping an eagle eye out.

All that leads me to believe that Wess and the lads were quite eager to deflect suspicion from their club. Can anyone blame them?

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

God help me indeed. :-)
Hello Lynn and Garza. By the by, you'de be schocked and disgusted by the vehemence and pure unadulterated hate against Jews expressed by the spies and in French parliament reports in 1903. There are also tons of references to Alfred Dreyfus having been found innocent, while Émile Zola and his wife were still under secret police surveillance in 1903. Plus there are fictitious reports of Jews allegedly having “killed women and babies“ in Russia, while truly the opposite was true, with still pogroms against the Jews having occurred on Russian soil in 1903, these pogroms even aknowledged in the spy reports.

Pertaining to “unstable-first-name“ Schwartz', can I email you in a couple days, Lynn? I'm working on this, have an idea to perhaps research it (apart from further censuses searches) also in Berlin, and naturally I've set my hopes in the AF translations for 1902-1903. Schwartz is also affiliated with Rudolph Rocker and the AF in the French secret police reports.

[Garza]

What are the Hungarian census records like? Or Austro-Hungarian should I say.

[mariab]

the ever eluding Schwartz

Hi Garza. Thanks for being helpful.
It would be Austrian census reports (Hungarian I can't read to save my life, plus I doubt that the Hungarians have any census reports posted online, and if so it would be from the late 19th century on). I haven't looked yet in German speaking censuses, and I'm currently not a subscriber at www.ancestry.de, but later on at some point. The monthly subscription is actually not cheap!

In British censuses there's a Polish Israel Schwartz frequently changing addresses, located at 22 Samuel Street (a couple hundred yards from the murder site) at the date of the 1891 census with a wife and 2 kids, non English speaking. There's a marriage certificate for an Israel Schwartz in 1893 (which is too late, since he already was married in 1888, unless he re-married in 1893), and a naturalization for an Austrian (=Hungarian) Israel Schwartz in 1911. The anarchist Schwartz I'm frequently encountering in French police reports changes his first name often, but it's crystal clear it's the same guy, as the reports are from the same years (1902-1903) and he's frequenting the same clubs and fellow anarchists, participating in the exact same meetings. There are promising finds in English censuses for Schwartzes under the different first names this anarchist orator uses, but it's still a mess and needs to be sorted out.
One additional problem is that the Paris Archives Nationales have LOST the one document which stated that the anarchist in question spoke both Polish and Hungarian. It appears that this file (along some other files) got misplaced during the process of the Archives Nationales making copies for me a few months ago (an incident which has happened before with other sources in Paris, I must add). I've gone through the relevant 2 boxes of reports thrice and was unable to re-locate the document in question. Very unfortunately I haven't shot pics of these early spy reports, as at the time my (shitty) camera was at the repairs shop.
At any rate, since I've just found out that the anarchist Schwartz was acquainted with Rudolph Rocker and the AF, we have leverage to look in AF issues for the documented dates in which Schwartz spoke in 1902 and 1903. Thus I'd propose that we get the AF issues in question translated, and I'll discuss this with Lynn soon. It can also be that the ads in the AF from 1902-1903 are in English.
I'm also going to see if there are any secret police reports about the Whitechapel anarchists in Germany.

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi all,

Good work, Maria, but the Worker's Friend group of 1903 was nothing like that of 1888. Completely different leaders and idealism. The club was primarily socialist in nature when started in 1884, and in 1888 was just beginning to take on some members who were more radical Anarchists. Within a few years, the club was split between socialists and anarchists. It's no secret that from 1888 on the club was investigated. Come December, 1888, the club still was under watch by plainclothed detectives hoping to catch a tip on the Whitechapel murderer. As time went on, they were investigated in connection with bombs and terrorist activity.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[lynn cates]

Anti-Semitism

Hello Maria. No, NOT surprised. I've studied this fairly closely and know the contumely directed towards the Jews.

Sure, send me an email.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Elp

Hello Tom. Yes, if not for Rudolph Rocker, the AF would have stayed dead. But Rocker was a Gentile and not a Jew. Whole different game.

You're right again that 1888 was the pivotal year for Anarchism's supplanting of Socialism. And that is why I have always raised my eyebrows at Elp's story
about Stammer--Elp was INTIMATELY VERSED on the current state of affairs in the Anarcho-Socialistic ranks.

Cheers.
LC

[Garza]

Maria, I could pull a few searches for you, I have access to SOME European records. No promises that I would find anything though lol. I would need some info though.

[mariab]

Hello Maria. No, NOT surprised. I've studied this fairly closely and know the contumely directed towards the Jews.

I too am fairly versed in anti-semitism, after all I work for the critical edition of the works of Giacomo Meyerbeer and I've written articles on Fromental Halévy and these two were hated and envied BIG TIME, both secretly and openly, yet again, if one reads the unedited secret police reports where they don't censor themselves for pretenses' sake, it's WOW.

Yes, if not for Rudolph Rocker, the AF would have stayed dead. But Rocker was a Gentile and not a Jew. Whole different game.

Lynn, have you yet looked inside of any of the AFs from the 1900s, and do you reckon that perhaps their percentage of English vs. Yiddish text might be a bit bigger than in the 1880s/early 1890s? That would speed up the translation process and keep the costs a bit down – hopefully.
If you don't mind, who's Elp and what's his story about Stammer? Also, do you know anything about Louis Guérin? He was under relentless surveillance in Brussels for 24/7, the spy reports mention in great detail even when he opened his window shades and took a smoke.
Lynn, I have your Rocker here with me, hopefully I can manage reading it cover to cover one of these days.

Maria, I could pull a few searches for you, I have access to SOME European records. No promises that I would find anything though lol. I would need some info though.

Wow, Garza, this is SO cool! What kind of records? I can't subscribe to Ancestry or www.newspaperarchives.com (which is currently malfunctioning badly from what I hear) in October/November cuz I'm a bit too mobile and for some short periods possibly even without internet access. I might subscribe in December, from Berlin. I can give you all the relevant info (which is not much, no worries) in a couple of days, I just need to go through it again and sort it out, plus re-read the Gavin Bromley Ms. Kür article, which contains an addendum with research on Schwartz.
Thank you so much for being so helpful. And I hope your Master's exam went fine.

[lynn cates]

varia

Hello Maria.

"Lynn, have you yet looked inside of any of the AFs from the 1900s [?]"

Regretfully, I have no access to them. Were it not for Chris Phillips' dogged pursuit, I'd be up a certain creek, likely not listed on Google maps. (heh-heh)

"If you don't mind, who's Elp and what's his story about Stammer?"

He claimed that the killings were perpetrated by a socialist named Johann Stammer (AKA John Kelly). His tale is in "The Ultimate Companion."

"do you know anything about Louis Guérin?"

Can't say I do. Sounds vaguely familiar though.

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

AF translation project

Thank you so much for replying, Lynn. If I'm understanding it correctly, Chris Phillips shot a few AF issues from the fall of 1888 from the British Library, and Dr. Turtletaub is now working on the second October issue? I'm emailing you about this, but please allow me to summarize here too: We'll really need to acquire the relevant issues from when Schwartz spoke in conferences (normally at the Russian Library on Church Lane or at the Liberty Hall), which are:
- second half of June 1902, AKA June 15-30: 2 issues
- second week of December (7-21 December) 1902: 2 issues
- series of conferences 5-29 June 1903: 4 issues
- February 1905, but possibly also March/April due to a long series of conferences: 4 to eventually 12 issues (ouch)
- plus another one conference for which I have the secret police report as a printout in Berlin and can't consult it right now for the dates.
Which unfortunately amounts to 12-24 issues.
I'm working on contacting the Jewish Society for the possibility of assistance with the project, plus a few other people who might be interested in helping, including the possibility of a second translator (who would be less pricey).

Pertaining to the misplaced secret police report (from February 1905, see also my post #6 in this thread) mentioning Schwartz as fluent in both Polish and Hungarian, Michel Lesure mentions this report in his book, but unfortunately WITHOUT quoting the specific content. Thus I consider myself semi-covered for my article, in case the document in question doesn't get found.
More in my email.

Profound apologies, I just remembered Johann Stammer/John Kelly. Was Elp working together with Jenkinson? I don't have The Ultimate along here in Paris, only Sugden (and your Rocker).
The Guérin brothers were involved with the Russian socialists, but I have no time to research this further right now.

[Garza]

Wow, Garza, this is SO cool! What kind of records? I can't subscribe to Ancestry or www.newspaperarchives.com (which is currently malfunctioning badly from what I hear) in October/November cuz I'm a bit too mobile and for some short periods possibly even without internet access. I might subscribe in December, from Berlin. I can give you all the relevant info (which is not much, no worries) in a couple of days, I just need to go through it again and sort it out, plus re-read the Gavin Bromley Ms. Kür article, which contains an addendum with research on Schwartz.
Thank you so much for being so helpful. And I hope your Master's exam went fine.

Browsing through them, quite a lot of Jewish records in the Poland and Hungary region (although most are from WW2 era).

If he is changing his name though, might be quite difficult - so gonna need those names he used. I will use Bromley as a base though.

Masters went ok, get the result first week of November, so I'm unemployed at the minute, so got a bit of time for searches lol. Had a PhD interview on friday there, but didn't go so good .

[mariab]

WW2 is a teeny bit late. :-)
The Poland and Hungary/Austria region would only provide info on his early life pre-Whitechapel, which in this case isn't particularly helpful. By the by, Gareth Williams (Sam Flynn) is Ripperology's specialist for Poland/Russia.

The censuses search is not a problem even with the different first names (they're actually initials, not entire names), and Lynn and I have already found a couple interesting possibilities. The onus with Ancestry is the monthly fee, which quite honestly I'm not terribly keen on paying, and when I subscribe it will be only for a limited period (on and off).

Masters went ok, get the result first week of November, so I'm unemployed at the minute, so got a bit of time for searches lol. Had a PhD interview on friday there, but didn't go so good .

Good luck with your Master's result, job search, and PhD plans. Don't let any Profs give you sh*t. :-)
I've got 3 gigs (2 unpayed for the moment, but will be getting full salaries later) and one funding, and systematically looking for new jobs once a week. Next thing I'm applying for is a Mellon/Volkswagen Stiftung gig for the US (which sounds completely moronic as a combo).
I'm PMing you just the names, as I don't have time to sort out all the dates today, and you can certainly use Bromley as a base, if you wish to look already, but it's not time-sensitive at all (obviously). Schwartz was in his early to mid to late 20s in 1888, so probably born around 1860-65.
Thanx so much for being helpful, Garza.