Catholic worshipers who made a pilgrimage to the Deggendorf church last week to receive absolution for their sins reported today that they found medieval anti-Jewish captions on pictures of a “ritual murder” covered with cloth or otherwise made unreadable. Thousands of Catholics make the pilgrimage annually.
The captions, which were covered on recommendation of the Vatican, described the contents of 12 “miracle pictures, “which show the alleged ritual murder of a Christian child by Jews in Deggendorf in 1337. The pictures and captions also depict the subsequent slaughter of Deggendorf Jews as a “God-willed act.”
The Regensburg diocese also ordered confiscation of the “Deggendorf Gnadenbuechlein,” published by Benedictine Father Wilhelm Frank in 1960 in which the alleged ritual murder was presented as a fact. The diocese acted after the Central Council of the Jews of Germany protested two months ago against circulation of the booklet.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
