Did Club Members Convey Their Cover-Up Story to Schwartz in English Or Hungarian?

[c.d.]

I never really thought of this before and I don't think anybody has mentioned it. Assuming for the sake of argument that club members put together a story for Schwartz to give to the police, how did they convey it to him? There is I suppose the possibility that he actually did speak and understand English and misrepresented himself to the police when he gave his account. It would seem more likely that the club members would have had to have found someone who spoke Hungarian and who would willingly translate. Trying to convey a complicated story in this manner where everyone needed to be on the same page seems to be a recipe for disaster.

Any thoughts?

c.d.

[lynn cates]

Yiddish

Hello CD. Thanks for starting this thread.

Schwartz spoke Yiddish like as not.

Cheers.
LC

[c.d.]

Hello Lynn,

But the top club members who we are assuming were behind this story did not speak Yiddish, correct?

c.d.

[GUT]

G'day c.d.

I'd guess Yiddish or Hungarian,

but I doubt the hypothesis.

[c.d.]

Not sure what you mean there, GUT.

c.d.

[GUT]

I mean that I think that if such a conversation took place it would be in Yiddish or maybe Hungarian.

But I don't buy into the proposition that there was a cover-up by the club.

[c.d.]

Hello GUT,

Neither do I but if there was and the members concocting the story only spoke English it would have to have gone from English to Yiddish through a translator and then from Schwartz to the translator and then back to the English speakers. If you don't want any slip-ups, this method would seem rife with opportunity for doing so.

c.d.

[GUT]

G'day c.d.

Neither do I but if there was and the members concocting the story only spoke English it would have to have gone from English to Yiddish through a translator and then from Schwartz to the translator and then back to the English speakers. If you don't want any slip-ups, this method would seem rife with opportunity for doing so.

I would have thought that Yiddish might be the broadest spoken language.

But if the people concocting the story spoke only English you would expect them to use an English speaking stooge.

[Sam Flynn]

Schwartz spoke Yiddish like as not.

There was a tendency in Hungary for Jews not to speak Yiddish - I believe it was frowned upon to a large extent. According to Wikipedia, an 1890 Census carried out in Hungary showed that only 33% Hungarian Jews spoke Yiddish - actually, they were listed as German-speakers, most of whom (it is assumed) would have spoken Yiddish also. Even that needs to be qualified, in that to understand written Yiddish, one generally had to have a fluent grasp of the Hebrew alphabet. As a reasonably good German-speaker myself, I can actually understand a lot of spoken Yiddish, but I can't read "proper" Yiddish without a lot of effort.

Anyway, based on that Census, it appears that there was one-in-three chance that Schwartz understood spoken Yiddish, at least to some degree of competency. Whether he was fluent in either spoken or written Yiddish is very hard to assess without further evidence.

[lynn cates]

Wess

Hello CD. Thanks.

"But the top club members who we are assuming were behind this story did not speak Yiddish, correct?"

You're joking, of course? I possess some of Wess's documents in Yiddish. It was their primary language.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

May the Schwartz be with you.

Hello Gareth. thanks.

"based on that Census, it appears that there was one-in-three chance that Schwartz understood spoken Yiddish"

Indeed, PROVIDED he were, as alleged, Hungarian. If, however, he were Austro-Hungarian . . .

Cheers.
LC

[GUT]

I must say I was assuming that any conspiracy put in place would have been spoken and not committed to paper.

[The Good Michael]

I would suggest that, as most of these men were educated, they spoke and wrote Yiddish. After all, the Arbeter Fraint was in Yiddish. As Gareth says, the spoken Yiddish is easy enough for a German speaker. The written, Hebraic form would have had to have been learned, but I see no reason to think Schwartz couldn't do so.

Cheers,

Mike

[GUT]

G'day Mike

I would suggest that, as most of these men were educated, they spoke and wrote Yiddish. After all, the Arbeter Fraint was in Yiddish. As Gareth says, the spoken Yiddish is easy enough for a German speaker. The written, Hebraic form would have had to have been learned, but I see no reason to think Schwartz couldn't do so.

Cheers,

Mike

Personally I have no doubt that he spoke it but I'm not so sure about him reading and writing Yiddish. I have many Jewish friends who can speak it but not read and they are highly educated people [some of them anyway].

[The Good Michael]

Personally I have no doubt that he spoke it but I'm not so sure about him reading and writing Yiddish. I have many Jewish friends who can speak it but not read and they are highly educated people [some of them anyway].

Yiddish isn't popular nowadays. Back then, it was a survival language.


Mike