How a False (and Anti-Semitic) Accusation of Patricide Almost Derailed the Career of a Great Photographer

Aug. 22 2023

In the 1940s and 50s, Philippe Halsman (1906–1979) established himself as one of America’s leading photographers, known for his fashion shoots as well as for his portraits of Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Salvador Dali, and numerous other public figures. But in 1928, while vacationing in the Alps with his parents and younger sister, he and his father took a fateful hike in the Austrian region of Tyrol. His father fell to his death; Philippe ran to get help and soon found himself accused of murder. Karen Haber describes the incident:

In 1928, the Tyrol region of Austria was fertile ground for Nazi ideology, and anti-Semitism was rampant. Although the number of Jews in the region had been minuscule since the Middle Ages, hair-raising tales of Jewish blood rituals were part of the local folklore.

On his way [back to the nearest city, after sending a local shepherd to get help], Philippe encountered a rescue team and returned with them to the scene, not knowing the doctor leading the team was a known anti-Semite. When they arrived there, the owner of the nearby inn, who also reached the location, immediately theorized that the son had murdered the father, and despite Philippe’s insistent denials, the doctor believed the story. They then decided to escort Philippe to a nearby town. A German police officer who was nearby volunteered to search the young man; his clothes contained no blood stains, there were no signs of a struggle, and no money was found on his person.

The local media were quick to plant the idea of the murder in the minds of the locals, and even before the trial began, the press had concluded that the son murdered his father in cold blood with repeated blows to his head. The police themselves only began to question witnesses two weeks after the murder, after all the locals were already convinced Philippe was guilty.

The fact that Philippe was aided by one of the best lawyers in Vienna, Richard Pressburger, only worked against him. The locals didn’t care for the liberal atmosphere of the Austrian capital, and the defense attorney’s Jewishness didn’t help, either.

While Halsman’s lawyers were able to obtain a retrial, the case became national news and, in Haber’s words, “a battleground between liberal Vienna, which increasingly supported the defendant, and the conservative periphery.” Halsman was eventually convicted, but his release was secured a year later.

Read more at The Librarians

More about: Anti-Semitism, Austria, Photography

Expand Gaza into Sinai

Feb. 11 2025

Calling the proposal to depopulate Gaza completely (if temporarily) “unworkable,” Peter Berkowitz makes the case for a similar, but more feasible, plan:

The United States along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE should persuade Egypt by means of generous financial inducements to open the sparsely populated ten-to-fifteen miles of Sinai adjacent to Gaza to Palestinians seeking a fresh start and better life. Egypt would not absorb Gazans and make them citizens but rather move Gaza’s border . . . westward into Sinai. Fences would be erected along the new border. The Israel Defense Force would maintain border security on the Gaza-extension side, Egyptian forces on the other. Egypt might lease the land to the Palestinians for 75 years.

The Sinai option does not involve forced transfer of civilian populations, which the international laws of war bar. As the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other partners build temporary dwellings and then apartment buildings and towns, they would provide bus service to the Gaza-extension. Palestinian families that choose to make the short trip would receive a key to a new residence and, say, $10,000.

The Sinai option is flawed. . . . Then again, all conventional options for rehabilitating and governing Gaza are terrible.

Read more at RealClear Politics

More about: Donald Trump, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula