Kristoff Kerl. Männlichkeit und moderner Antisemitismus

Kristoff Kerl’s title, Männlichkeit und moderner Antisemitismus: Eine Geneaologie des Leo Frank-Case, 1860er–1920er Jahre, promises that his book will provide a new approach to modern antisemitism by examining the notorious Leo Frank case (1913–1915) in Atlanta, Georgia, which caused a nationwide sensation because it involved the murder and possible rape of a thirteen-year-old girl, Mary Phagan, who was found dead in the basement of the Atlanta National Pencil Factory. Although it is possible—though unlikely—that Phagan was killed by Leo Frank, the Jewish manager of the factory, it was the inconsistent testimony of Jim Conley, an African American janitor, that convinced the jury to convict Frank of murder and that resulted in his death sentence. One journalist—“tendentiously,” as Kerl puts it—opined that “the negro’s testimony was good enough to swear away the life of a Jew” (C. P. Connolly, quoted on 56). Although Frank was condemned to death, his sentence was commuted by Governor John M. Slaton, causing a furious backlash and leading to the organization of a lynch mob. Calling themselves the Knights of Mary Phagan, the mob abducted Frank from prison and hanged him in a forest near the birthplace of Phagan.

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