JEWISH RITUAL MURDER HISTORICAL FACTS
A.D. 1287
Bern, Switzerland.
Numerous old records attest to the noted case in this famed Swiss city. A young fellow named Rudolph was lured into the house of a wealthy Jew named Matler, who tortured the boy before finally ritually slitting his throat. The murdered lad became canonized as Saint Rudolph of Bern. His name appears in several medieval martyrologies. A famous memorial fountain "The Fountain of the Child-Devourer" commemorating the ritual slaying was erected in 1540.
Berne. Rudolf, a boy, was murdered at Passover in the house of a rich Jew called Matler. Jews confessed that he had been crucified; many were put to death. The boy was canonised as a martyr, and his name can be found in several martyrologies. Documental authorities:Bollandists, Acta, Vol. II, April; Helvetia sancta(H. Murer); Karl Howald, Die Brunnen zu Bern, 1848, p. 250; Cosm. Munst., 13, p. 482. But a stone monument still exists in Berne commemorating the crime. It is called The Fountain of the Child-Devourer, and is now on the Kornhausplatz. It represents a monster, with a Jewish countenance, eating a child. The figure wears the Judenhut, the hat prescribed for the Jews to wear by decree of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. This monument was first placed in a street of the Jews' quarter as a reminder of the monstrous crime and as a punishment for the whole of Berne Jewry. Later, it was removed to its present situation.