Damascus affair: what Wikipedia removed
The Damascus affair of 1840 was a blood libel in which Jews were tortured until they falsely confessed to murder. Through 2005 the opening said events culminated “in a seizure of sixty-three Jewish children held hostages and mob attacks on Jewish communities throughout the Middle East.” Today the opening does not mention the children, though hostage survives twice in the body. A reader arriving now learns that Jews were tortured into false confessions and that antisemitic violence spread, and not that sixty-three Jewish children were specifically seized and held hostage.
The word “hostage” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2005. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 2. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hostage | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| antisemitism | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The detail that sixty-three Jewish children were seized and held hostage amid mob attacks on Jewish communities is gone from the opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2005 (revision 16291521):
On February 5 , 1840 in Damascus , Franciscan Capuchin friar Father Thomas and his servant were found dead. The Turkish governor and the French consul believed the blood libel and ritual murder accusations, as the murder had occurred before Jewish Passover . A fake investigation was staged and Solomon Negrin, a Jewish barber, confessed under torture, accusing other Jews. Two died under torture, and one converted to Islam to escape torture. More arrests and atrocities followed, culminating in a seizure of sixty-three Jewish children held hostages and mob attacks on Jewish communities throughout the Middle East . The affair attained wide international attention. In a groundbreaking effort, fif…
2025 (revision 1288653478):
1840 antisemitic accusation Jewish prisoner preparing his defence, a Capuchin distant in the doorway. Painting by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim . The Damascus affair of February 1840 was the disappearance of an Italian monk and his servant, for which a large number of Jews were summarily tortured until they “confessed” to murder. As an instance of antisemitism and a blood libel , news of the case spread, across the Middle East, to Europe, and the Western world. The Christians were supported in their accusation by the French consul at Damascus, Ulysse de Ratti-Menton, a person described by historians as antisemitic and known to favour Christian merchants and advisers over their Jewish counterparts.…
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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