Although I wished that the database published here on an optical disc would have been made available online, certain legal aspects made it necessary to resort to the medium of a CD-ROM. Winfried Frey has spent many years researching the topic of anti-Jewish Propaganda in sixteenth-century German literature and here he, together with Andrea Frölich, finally presents the result of their work. With the invention of the printing press the public was increasingly inundated with publications of all sorts, and the broadsheet was one of the most effective genres to achieve the desired effects. But comments about Jews can be found in many other genres as well, though Frey and Frölich limit their investigation to broad-sheets. And they have a corpus that is already huge enough. They do not make all these texts available by copying them here; instead they make them accessible through a number of search options and by providing much valuable background information.
There are 219 files on this CD-ROM, and each one can be opened in multiple categories. Each text is identified, if possible, by first name, last name, title, publication date, location of the text today (sometimes up to four), the book where it has been published in modern times, biography of the author, themes and motifs, the structure of the argument against Jews, references to alternative publications (such as in Luthers works), nonbiblical and biblical references in the text, lexica and monographs where the individual text has been treated, and other secondary literature.
The most important features, apart from the collection of these documents in the first place, prove to be the search key for author, title, theme, motif, structure of the argument, biblical, and nonbiblical references. Once having reached any point, one only needs to click on "Hauptlayout," and one is immediately back to the critical window with all the crucial information, where the search can continue in a different direction. There is also the Option to print out any or all the files. Frey and Frölich have made great efforts to introduce their readers to each individual text with füll erudition, analyzing the content, the structure, the intentions, the target of the anti-Jewish Propaganda, and explaining the writer's purposes and approaches.
Searching for "Judensau," for instance, we come, first of all, to a window for Luthers text "Von den Juden und ihren Lügen," but then we can simply click on the forward button and so find our way through the entire collection. In order to get more detailed information about a specific text, we only have to click on "Hauptlayout" again and find ourselves back at the relevant site. There are nine broadsheets that deal with the motif of "Judensau," as a little button on the top left informs us. We can do the same search via that button, but the result is then the same.
Technically I had some difficulties, particularly when switching between the various search options. For instance, "Sachs" also yields "Sachsen," but clicking forward I got quickly to where I wanted to be. Since Sachs's works have been published, all that was necessary to find the specific passage and page only required clicking on "Hauptlayout" once again. Trying to end a search, however, did not result in the desired return to the main page; instead I was stuck in the last search. But this is a minor problem, and I simply had to return to the very beginning to Start afresh.
Secondary literature seems to be up to date, at least up to 2007, but one cannot search for bibliographic information, which would be, at any rate, not pertinent to the purpose of this wonderful CD-ROM. The wealth of information and its easy accessibility are fantastic, and considering that it costs only €20.00 suggests that it should be acquired by anyone interested in this topic. The authors are to be thanked for having published their work in this modern and interactive fashion. The next Steps might be to create a CD-ROM with the primary texts as well, and then to upload everything to a Website for free access.
Copyright © 2008 by Verlag Traugott Bautz