Desecration of the Host

Darstellung der Hostienschändung in Sternberg vom Jahre 1492, nach einem gleichzeitgen Lübecker Stich, unbekannter Künstler; Bildquelle: Jüdisches Lexikon, Berlin 1928, vol. 2, Sp. 1681.

The desecration of the host is a further antisemitic topos whose roots lie in the Middle Ages. Jews were accused of stealing the sacramental host, which according to Catholicism was the body of Christ, and pricking it. This accusation sought to draw on the old accusation of the crucifixion of Jesus by the Jews to prove that they still sought to torture the body of Christ.

Depiction of the desecration of the host in Sternberg from 1492, based on a contemporary engraving from Lubeck, unknown artist; source: Jewish encyclopaedia, Berlin 1928, vol. 2, col. 1681.