Please join us for a zoom presentation by Flora Cassen, Senior Faculty at the Hartman Institute and Associate Professor of History at Washington University in Saint Louis. This talk examines the disturbing legacy of antisemitism embedded in the very fabric of Brussels Cathedral. In 1370, a false accusation of host desecration led to the execution of several Jewish men and the expulsion of the entire Jewish community. Today, the cathedral stands as a monument to this tragic event, with its paintings, stained glass windows, and tapestries telling and perpetuating this false accusation. The actual wafers are even preserved in the cathedral’s treasury. In this talk, I will offer an overview of the events and their historical context. Since Brussels is the “capital of the EU” and millions of visitors visit the cathedral annually, I will also interrogate the significance of the ongoing presence of this imagery in the cathedral today. 

 Dr Cassen is the author of Marking the Jews in Renaissance Italy: Politics, Religion, and the Power of Symbols (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and a number of scholarly articles on early modern Jewish history. She has also written for the Conversation, Slate, the Smithsonian Magazine, and Haaretz.