LUTOSTANSKI, HIPPOLYTE°

LUTOSTANSKI, HIPPOLYTE ° (1835–1915), antisemitic agitator of Polish origin, born in Lithuania. Lutostanski was originally a Catholic priest but converted to the Greek Orthodox Church after he had been defrocked on charges of corruption. When Russian society became increasingly antisemitic at the end of the 1870s, he wrote several libelous books, including "The Problem of the Use of Christian Blood for Religious Purposes by Jewish Sects" (1876) and "The Talmud and the Jews" (1879). Scholars and public figures such as D. *Chwolson and Z. *Minor revealed his ignorance and distortions of fact. Lutostanski, who knew no Hebrew, drew the material for his books from the Christian anti-Jewish literature of Western Europe, and enjoyed the protection of prominent members of the court. In 1880 he was denounced as an impostor and forger by Alexander *Zederbaum, the editor of Ha-Meliẓ. Lutostanski sued Zederbaum but lost the case. From time to time he attempted to extort money from wealthy Jews by promising to put an end to his anti-Jewish activities, but in fact with the support of the authorities, he continued to bring out new editions of his books. These editions included new material mainly calculated to "prove" the responsibility of the Jews in general, and the Zionist Movement and the *Bund in particular, for the rise of the revolutionary movement in Russia.

bibliography:

Z. Minor, Rabbi Ippolit Litostanski (Rus., 1879); N. Cohn, Warrant for Genocide (1967), 55–57.

[Yehuda Slutsky]