Kosminski/Kaminsky - please debunk

[Sam Flynn]

Very good point, Dave. Makes perfect sense to me.

[DirectorDave]

From some admittedly limited online research on both names show "Kaminsky" is a significantly more popular name than "Kosminski" which is a fairly rare name.

I would think this suggests a policeman booking someone called "Kosminski" under the name "Kaminsky" a realistic possibility, conversely I think the idea that senior officers transposing the popular "Kaminsky" into "Kosminski" less probable.

[jmenges]

Hi Chris.

Martin Fido has been on record for some time as now considering the Nathan Kaminsky element of his Kozminski hypothesis "a bridge too many". He has said that is purely speculative that Kozminski and Kaminsky were mixed as names and Kaminsky only shows up coincidentally as someone of the right age, right nationality and right occupation. He believes it best to put Kaminsky aside and focus on Cohen and Kosminski being confused with one another by Swanson.
Fido says pretty much all of the above in an old Rippercast episode called 'The Police, the Jews and Jack the Ripper'.

Welcome back to the boards.

JM

[Xoferbean01]

Hi all. It's been many years since I've posted here.

I was just curious about the Kaminsky/Kosminski theory that was put forward by (I believe?) Martin Fido.

At the time when I read this I found it quite compelling. I admit it was somewhat convoluted but I found it satisfying.

As we know there are plenty of police, press and inquest reports from the period and since full of spelling errors to names and full of misinformation and factual errors. The idea that Macnaghten got the name of his suspect wrong makes some sense to me. His claims that Kaminsky has also at Colney Hatch but WAS actually violent could again suggest an error being made between him and the Kosminski "harmless imbecile".

Anyway, I don't have that book anymore and I can't remember all the facets of that theory but I'm not as naive as I once was and was wondering if maybe somebody could refresh my memory about what that theory entailed but more specifically - what was wrong with it? Was it too speculative? Was it too convoluted? Were there genuine factual errors made by Fido that shot the credibility of the entire theory?

Like I said, at the time for me it made some sense and explained some of my issues with the Kosminski suspect but wondered what the general consensus is on it and why it's seems to be dismissed so readily as a theory?

Many thanks. Chris.