Pitaval

A Pitaval is a collection of historical criminal cases. The name derives from the French jurist and author François Gayot de Pitaval (1673-1743), who compiled a twenty -volume collection of causes célèbres et Interesting 1734-1743. Such case collections both served first as a legal specialist reading as well as a general audience reading. Later, they focused primarily on the public taste.

The heyday of this form of literature was the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. During this period included so-called " Pitavalgeschichten ' in each library. In the postwar period, there was still about publications such collections, however, the former importance could not be reached. Instead, the function of these collections was taken over by television documentaries of more or less authentic criminal cases.

Examples

Such known collections of criminal cases are in addition to the work of François Gayot de Pitaval about Paul Johann Anselm von Feuerbach's " Strange lawsuits " 1808/11, "The new Pitaval " by Julius Eduard Hitzig and Willibald Alexis ( 1842-1890 ), Egon Erwin Kisch " Prague Pitaval " (1931 ), Herrmann Mostar, and Robert Adolf Stemmles " The new Pitaval "(1963 ff ), Maximilian Jactas the late 1960s / early 1970s, published several volumes Famous criminal cases and edited by Curt Riess band processes, the our world moving. It is also known edited by Friedrich Schiller four-volume selection compiled by Pitaval cases. GDR Television leaned on with the developed by Friedrich Karl Kaul Fernsehpitavalen the tradition of the genre.