The GSG. What Does It Mean??

[The Good Michael]

Ben,

With due respect, who are the contemporary police sources that say the writer was deflecting blame onto the Jews? I've only heard the vague statements that it was erased to prevent possible violence, but not any details as to why violence might occur. This leads me to my opinion about the GSG, which is clear, but the possibility of someone writing as they thought a disgruntled Jew might, is a distinct possibility. I still say that the GSG must have been written prior to the murders, so any deflection would have had to have been planned out in advance... in my scenario of course.

Cheers,

Mike

[Ben]

Hi Mike,

With due respect, who are the contemporary police sources that say the writer was deflecting blame onto the Jews?

Th bloke at the top for one; Charles Warren stated in an October report that the message "was evidently written with the intention of inflaming the public mind against the Jews". Donald Swanson, in direct charge of the ripper investigation, believed that it was written "to throw the blame upon the Jews", while Henry Smith opined that the intent of the message was to "throw the police off the scent, to divert suspicion from the Gentiles and throw it upon the Jews", a belief he enforces in his later attack on Anderson.

Hope this helps, and that all is well with you!

Ben

[Dan Norder]

If the message was ripper-authored, I share the contemporary police view (which, admittedly, was not unaminous) that it was done to deflect suspicion onto the Jewish population

Of course individual police views differed, but I don't think the police as any sort of group thought it was written to deflect suspicion onto the Jewish population, especially considering that widespread suspicion at the time was already centered on Jews. The line seems to be saying that the Jews aren't to blame, and Anderson, at least, thought it was written by a Jew trying to deflect suspicion away from the Jews.

Edit: OK, I see now where you name the officials you refer to... That's teach me to load threads up and try to reply to them later without checking for new posts.

[The Good Michael]

Ben,

Thanks. You see I have no books here and only the fading memory. The chaps you quoted point the GSG heavily in the direction of someone wanting to appear Jewish when they wrote it. This is, as I said, a distinct possibility if one doesn't like the Polish Jew theory. The point is, the only thing that could be seen as so inflammatory that it would piss off the Gentiles, is the writing of an angry Jew, absolving his people of blame... or someone pretending to be one.

Cheers,

Mike

[DVV]

The line seems to be saying that the Jews aren't to blame, and Anderson, at least, thought it was written by a Jew trying to deflect suspicion away from the Jews.

Hi Dan,
the apparent meaning seems rather antisemite (= the Juwes have to be blamed for something), the contrary being only a "second" possible interpretation.
As to Anderson, he came back from Switzerland having already formed his Jewish theory, and his personal interpretation of the GSG is certainly biased.

Amitiés,
David

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

The line seems to be saying that the Jews aren't to blame, and Anderson, at least, thought it was written by a Jew trying to deflect suspicion away from the Jews.

And Warren meant that it was written to cause antisemtic friction within the community. No doubt Warren regarded the message as antisemitic and directed towards the Jews in a negative way. And frankly, it's an interpretation I agree with. To me the line certainly doesn't seem to indicate that it was "written by a Jew trying to deflect suspicion away from the Jews".

All the best

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

Hi Dan,
the apparent meaning seems rather antisemite (= the Juwes have to be blamed for something), the contrary being only a "second" possible interpretation.
As to Anderson, he came back from Switzerland having already formed his Jewish theory, and his personal interpretation of the GSG is certainly biased.

Amitiés,
David

Indeed, David.
I agree with that.

All the best

[Sam Flynn]

During my research for a joint article with Howard Brown, Stewart Evans kindly sent me a picture of the entrance with a cross upon it where he felt the writing was located. I must say that I favour this spot too.

Ditto, Neil...



...we must be psychic

[Dan Norder]

the apparent meaning seems rather antisemite (= the Juwes have to be blamed for something), the contrary being only a "second" possible interpretation.

There are multiple possible interpretations, and there's no outside source has gone through and numbered them so that we can conclusively say which is secondary and which is primary. To me, the primary interpretation, if it was written by the killer, seems to be taking credit for the killing and saying that a Jew was not responsible.

As to Anderson, he came back from Switzerland having already formed his Jewish theory, and his personal interpretation of the GSG is certainly biased.

I'm certainly no supporter of Anderson's various bigotries, but the point is that he considered the meaning of the message to be contradictory to his bias would lead him to believe the killer would have said and then further assumed that it was written to be deceptive. If his interpretation was limited to only bias instead of what the words meant he could have just interpreted it to mean what he thought the killer would have said in the first place and skipped the extra step.

[DVV]

Hi Dan,

"The line seems to be saying that the Jews aren't to blame, and Anderson, at least, thought it was written by a Jew trying to deflect suspicion away from the Jews."
Dan Norder

What's contradictory to Anderson's theory in Anderson's interpretation of the GSG?

Amitiés,
David

[Dan Norder]

Anderson thought a Jew must have been responsible. He also thought the message was written by the murderer to say that he wasn't a Jew. Because of that contradiction he decided that it was left as a ruse to try to throw them off the scent instead of being accurate. Without a presupposition that the killer had to be a Jew the idea that it was written by a non-Jew to take credit for his murders instead of letting this "Leather Apron" the papers were talking about get the glory is just as likely.

[Stephen Thomas]

Anderson thought a Jew must have been responsible.

Hi Dan

Not quite.

Anderson said a Jew WAS responsible.

[Dan Norder]

Anderson said a Jew WAS responsible.

...because he thought a Jew must have been responsible.

[Stephen Thomas]

Hi Dan

I repeat, he didn't THINK a Jew MUST have been responsible, he SAID a Jew WAS responsible. If you want to think that the head of the British equivalent of the CIA de nos jours was a senile idiot then good for you. Sure he could have been lying, but for what purpose?

[Dan Norder]

I repeat, he didn't THINK a Jew MUST have been responsible, he SAID a Jew WAS responsible.

Anderson said a Jew was responsible based upon "moral evidence" and not actual evidence. That means he only thought he knew. Other police officials (who were in better positions to know and who don't have the same documented history of mistaken memories and prejudices) explicitly said he didn't know what he was talking about.

I never get why some people always want to declare Anderson's statements to be beyond question but feel no qualms about insinuating that all of the other police at the time were incompetent or liars. It's pretty hypocritical.

And, of course, all of that has already been covered on threads specifically about Anderson, so we don't need to rehash that all here. If you want to believe there's some magical difference between Anderson thinking something happened and saying something happened, either take it to a more appropriate thread or just accept that other people disagree and leave it at that.