Blum - 04 - Der Schächter

Summer is at its peak, tourists are bathing in Lake Constance and relaxation is the order of the day in the police department. Klara Blum plays boules on the lake shore with Jakob Leeb, with whom she has a warm friendship. Jakob is the butcher of Strasbourg's Jewish community and spends the summer in Constance, where he spent his childhood years before his family was expelled. The mood is relaxed, and so a rumor can only spoil the summer idyll slightly at first: A dead boy was allegedly seen at the Rodammers' campsite. The body has disappeared again, the witness has traveled further and no one is missing a teenager; Nevertheless, Klara Blum has traces secured to be on the safe side and questions Edgar Rodammer, who works as a supervisor on the pitch.
Edgar is easily disturbed and easily unsettled and cannot contribute anything that enlightens. Nevertheless, he refuses to let Klara look at his notes, in which he records the events of the day. The summery relaxation suddenly ends when the rumor becomes a fact: the dead boy is found in Jakob's front yard of all places. Immediately there are numerous voices that see the slaughterer as the culprit: Isn't the knife cut on the victim's neck suspiciously similar to the one that slaughterers use to kill their animals? Prosecutor Bux puts himself at the head of those who believe Jakob is the culprit. Neither the question of a motive nor the conspicuous place where it was found in the Leebsche Garten can dissuade Bux from his opinion.
Deep-seated anti-Semitic reflexes are awakened in him, which make the case appear very simple in its resolution. The old talk about Jews needing the blood of Christian children to prepare unleavened bread serves as a suitable motive for his murder. Klara is convinced that Jakob has nothing to do with the dead boy in his front yard. Not wanting to be put on the defensive, she insists on interrogating Edgar to find out what he's so desperate to hide. Much to the displeasure of Edgar's brother, Wolfgang Rodammer, who teams up with the prosecutor to protect his brother from interrogation. Klara, however, does not give up and fights for Jacob.