Ein Medien-Hype im 17. Jahrhundert? : Fünf illustrierte Drucke aus dem Jahre 1666 über die angebliche Hinrichtung von Sabbatai Zwi

Th is article analyzes reports about the (alleged) dreadful torture and death of Sabbatai Zvi (Zwi, Sebi, Sevi, 1626-76), printed in contemporary periodical newspapers, pamphlets and broadsheets. In May 1665, Sabbatai Zvi of Smyrna, the most prominent of the modern Jewish pseudo-messiahs,proclaimed himself the new messiah. Supported by his prophet, the young and charismatic rabbi Nathan Ashkenazi of Gaza, he set out for Constantinople, where it was believed, he would take back the Holy Land from Ottoman Sultan. However, the Turkish authorities promptly arrested him. Given an ultimatum either to convert to Islam or die, Sabbatai chose to apostasize. Rumors about his arrest reached the printing houses in northern Europe along with news items about his purported execution (which never took place). Among the broadsides and pamphlets about the false messiah were ones illustrated with vivid engravings of the supposed tortures. On the basis of the engravings and certain textual details we conclude that the earliest illustrated broadside about the torture is Wunder über Wunder, known from one extant copy). The next broadside (with added details) is Verwunderlicher Anfang und schmählicher Ausgang (possibly printed in Augsburg), then a pamphlet with a folding plate, which we have attributed to D.F. Rhete, Danzig. Another rare pamphlet, known only from a single copy, contains the same text as the broadside, but no engravings. Finally the authors try to estimate the impact of those broadsides and pamphlets on their readers. Apparently the interest was very large. In the case of the Danzig pamphlet, there was even a second edition, from which we might estimate that about 12-14% of the population of Danzig either read or listened to the (invented) story about the execution of Sabbatai Zvi in 1666.