Antisemitism as a diversionary tactic

[Sam Flynn]

Right after the murder of Nichols, you had a suspect called 'Leather Apron' who happened to also be Jewish.

Yes, and Mrs Long labelled her suspect as foreign-looking in the Chapman case, but neither of these were the result of a deliberate strategy by JTR; it is more indicative of the extent to which incomers are treated with suspicion by the indigenous population. That's kind of what people do.

If JTR really wanted to milk this phenomenon to his advantage, then why do we only see apparent antisemitic clues (if Jack so intended them to be) in only two of the murders, and those both on the same night? Even there, the Jewish/anti-Jewish connections may be tenuous at best, given that (a) the murders happened in a part of London with a high Jewish/immigrant population; and (b) the degree of antisemitic/anti-immigrant feeling amongst the "natives" was likely to be correspondingly high.

In any case, whilst there were large numbers of Jews living in the area, there were still vastly more who weren't. I hardly think that JTR thought he'd be singled out of hundreds of thousands of gentiles unless he took pains to deflect the blame elsewhere. On the contrary, he could have saved himself a fair bit of hassle by simply hiding in the crowd.

Against that backdrop, I don't find the idea that the Ripper exploited antisemitism particularly compelling at all.

[Jon Guy]

Yes, and Mrs Long labelled her suspect as foreign-looking in the Chapman case, but neither of these were the result of a deliberate strategy by JTR; it is more indicative of the extent to which incomers are treated with suspicion by the indigenous population. That's kind of what people do.

If JTR really wanted to milk this phenomenon to his advantage, then why do we only see apparent antisemitic clues (if Jack so intended them to be) in only two of the murders, and those both on the same night? Even there, the Jewish/anti-Jewish connections may be tenuous at best, given that (a) the murders happened in a part of London with a high Jewish/immigrant population; and (b) the degree of antisemitic/anti-immigrant feeling amongst the "natives" was likely to be correspondingly high.

In any case, whilst there were large numbers of Jews living in the area, there were still vastly more who weren't. I hardly think that JTR thought he'd be singled out of hundreds of thousands of gentiles unless he took pains to deflect the blame elsewhere. On the contrary, he could have saved himself a fair bit of hassle by simply hiding in the crowd.

Against that backdrop, I don't find the idea that the Ripper exploited antisemitism particularly compelling at all.

Hi Gareth

The Double Event may have been an anti-semitic Ripper`s first chance at some anti-semitism.

As you say, nothing with Nichols and Chapman, although these two were within a week of another, and after the Chapman murder there was a lot of unrest amongst the locals, so the Double Event may have been the first instance for an antisemitic Ripper to build on the atmosphere.

[Sam Flynn]

Thanks, Jon

My issue with that is that there are little, or no, Jewish connections adhering to the next murder after the Double Event. Did he abandon this putative antisemitism-deflection ploy after Mitre Square, or was it never really there in the first place?

Personally, I see the DE as the only time where the killer himself could be conjectured to have demonstrated a wilful attempt to implicate the Jews - and, given the demographics, I'd even question that.

[Jon Guy]

My issue with that is that there are little, or no, Jewish connections adhering to the next murder after the Double Event. Did he abandon this putative antisemitism-deflection ploy after Mitre Square, or was it never really there in the first place?

I do think there`s a good argument to be made for a Ripper taking advantage of the climate.

After Nichols the press were all about Leather Apron
After Chapman there was some unrest amongst the locals
After DE the Ripper writes GSG
After Kelly, Hutchinson see`s man of Jewish appearance

But yes, I agree that the DE is the only time the Ripper himself may have shown anti-semitism.

Personally, I see the DE as the only time where the killer himself could be conjectured to have demonstrated a wilful attempt to implicate the Jews - and, given the demographics, I'd even question that.

We have Hutchinson`s sighting of man with Jewish appearance ?

[Sam Flynn]

We have Hutchinson`s sighting of man with Jewish appearance ?

Indeed, but what a witness says about a suspect is hardly within the latter's gift; likewise with Mrs Long and her "foreigner".

[Jon Guy]

Indeed, but what a witness says about a suspect is hardly within the latter's gift; likewise with Mrs Long and her "foreigner".

Unless, Hutchinson`s man with Jewish Appearance was the Ripper.

[Sam Flynn]

Unless, Hutchinson`s man with Jewish Appearance was the Ripper.

Quite so, but then we have a killer with a Jewish appearance, not a gentile Ripper deliberately deflecting blame onto the Jews.

[Darryl Kenyon]

Unless you are in the Hutch is JTR camp then there is no antisemitism at all in Mary's murder. The court was well known to belong to a Gentile [Mcarthys rents], nor was there any writing on the wall similar to the Goulston Graffiti, yet the killer had plenty of time to leave a message. Finally, after the Dear Boss and the free for all in the letters department. Not one was sent to anyone with, say Mary's heart [to prove it was from the killer], with a note implicating the Jewes. Either the killer changed tact or it was just coincidence what happened on the previous murders, or just maybe he was a Jew.

[Abby Normal]

I do think there`s a good argument to be made for a Ripper taking advantage of the climate.

After Nichols the press were all about Leather Apron
After Chapman there was some unrest amongst the locals
After DE the Ripper writes GSG
After Kelly, Hutchinson see`s man of Jewish appearance

But yes, I agree that the DE is the only time the Ripper himself may have shown anti-semitism.





We have Hutchinson`s sighting of man with Jewish appearance ?

Hi Jon
I do find it rather odd that the only two pieces of evidence that directly implicates jews is the GSG, coming on the heels of BS man shouting Lipski, and then with Kelly murder with Hutchs Aman being jewish.

even if hutch wasn't the ripper he may have used the events surrounding the DE to bolster his fake Aman for his 15 minutes of fame.

[Batman]

Right after the murder of Nichols, you had a suspect called 'Leather Apron' who happened to also be Jewish. Therein is the start of the view that JtR was a Jew although there was already strong anti-semitic views being held at the time.

So prior to the JtR murders JtR doesn't appear to be using the anti-semitic hysteria to his advantage because it wasn't associated until Pizer.

Then he had cover to go about as a gentile, meets with Chapman.

When Pizer is cleared he then uses tries to put the blame back on the Jews again, first by attacking Stride near a Jewish socialist club, shouting Lipski when seen, in the hope that someone might associate this with a Jew.

Then he fails to get his emotional satisfaction (no signature) and goes off to do his signature on someone else and follows this up by throwing her bloody apron piece into a Jewish market sector with some anti-semitic graffiti next to it.

Again, people hear about this and suspect a Jew, so off he goes to Kelly as a gentile, following the path of Chapman again.

It isn't hard to figure out that JtR was using anti-Semitic hysteria as a cover for himself.

Which really deals a stake to the heart of ideas that JtR was Jew. Either he was a gentile or a Jew with a serious identity crisis.

Heck even many of the investigators ended up believing he was Jew.

So to that end, JtR was successful. Which seems obvious because he wasn't caught.

Also let's address the Jewish connections to the Stride and Eddowes murders that must be coincidental.

• Stride murdered next to a Jewish social club.
• The attacker is heard shouting LIPSKI.
• Eddowes bloody apron part is dumped in Goulston St., in a Jewish market spot.
• Above it is Graffiti that is anti-Semitic... which apparently the Jews never saw to rub out at the time.

Remove Lipski and the Graffiti and it still has anti-semitic themes.

• Jewish social club alley the scene of a murder.
• Bloody apron dumped in Jewish market quarters.

Seems JtR was freely able to stalk Chapman with the arrest of Piser but when Piser was basically exonerated JtR probably wasn't as free as the hysteria had died down, meaning a gentile was back on the cards again.

Furthermore, if the antisemitism is just a big coincidence because of high frequencies, then one would expect there to have been more of it... and not just the Whitechapel murders, but all murders around London. Yet it is strangely absent in the other Whitechapel murders except when we talk about JtR.

[Ben]

As you say, nothing with Nichols and Chapman, although these two were within a week of another, and after the Chapman murder there was a lot of unrest amongst the locals, so the Double Event may have been the first instance for an antisemitic Ripper to build on the atmosphere.

Agreed, Jon.

It seems likely that the ripper sought to exploit the advantage presented by anti-semitism from the published description of “Leather Apron” onwards. If it wasn’t the trigger for his “deflecting” tactics, it was undoubtedly the catalyst.

Hanbury Street was predominantly Jewish-occupied, and was even cited by Charles Booth as one of about five streets in the district having the strongest connections to Jewry, Petticoat Lane being another.

The double event had marked Jewish connections, with the two murders being committed in close proximity to the IWEC and publishing headquarters of Arbeter Fraint (Dutfield’s Yard) and the Great Synagogue (Mitre Square). If anyone can provide the name of three locations more enmeshed with the cultural, political and religious life of the Jewish population in Whitechapel, I would be astonished to hear it. Otherwise, the reality of the aforementioned three Jewish hotspots all being situated within a stone’s throw of the double-event murders is surely no coincidence.

Moving on to the Kelly murder, and the unfortunate elephant in the room here is that a logical extension of the killer’s previous Jew-implicating efforts may have been exhibited in Hutchinson’s fervour to implicate a Jewish involvement in the crime.

All the best,
Ben

[Batman]

.... the Great Synagogue (Mitre Square). If anyone can provide the name of three locations more enmeshed with the cultural, political and religious life of the Jewish population in Whitechapel, I would be astonished to hear it.

I forgot about that landmark. That's another "coincidence" that has to go on the big list of coincidences to try and put the anti-semitic connections aside.

If it isn't clear that JtR is using Jewish sectors to cover up his identity I don't know what is.

All of this is near fatal to the Kozminski hypothesis.

[Batman]

I must admit, all of this does sort of point at George Chapman and not away from him.

From what I can gather, he looked Jewish, but wasn't. That such as thing was a problem for some people in Whitechapel at the time and may have caused resentment to be mistaken for a Jew. He could also pass as a Jew possibly and I heard that many in Whitechapel also did this to get by.

[Abby Normal]

I must admit, all of this does sort of point at George Chapman and not away from him.

From what I can gather, he looked Jewish, but wasn't. That such as thing was a problem for some people in Whitechapel at the time and may have caused resentment to be mistaken for a Jew. He could also pass as a Jew possibly and I heard that many in Whitechapel also did this to get by.

Yup. Away from koz and toward suspects like chapman, hutch and lech.

[MrBarnett]

I forgot about that landmark. That's another "coincidence" that has to go on the big list of coincidences to try and put the anti-semitic connections aside.

If it isn't clear that JtR is using Jewish sectors to cover up his identity I don't know what is.

All of this is near fatal to the Kozminski hypothesis.

Not to forget the nearby Sephardic Bevis Marks synagogue, the oldest place of Jewish worship in the country. Or nearby Jewry Street.

But of course, you'd have to know something about the history of the Jews on London to appreciate the exact significance of the area.