“Thirty Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police”
Jill Murray
Professor Askary
English Comp 1
Hudson County College

Martin Gansberg Martin Gansberg was born on May 6, 1920 in Brooklyn New York. Graduating from Saint John’s University, he went to be a reporter and editor for the New York Times for forty three years. Mr. Gansberg was married to his wife for 48 years. Her name was Agitha Miller Gansberg. They had a son, Alan, and a daughter, Judith Gansberg. He also had a brother, Murray, and a sister, Eudice Stadlen and two granddaughters. Mr. Gansberg also won recognition for a front page article he wrote in 1964 about the murder of a young woman named Catherine Genvese, known by friends and family as Kitty. While neighbors may have ignored her cried for help, the article focused national attention on neighborhoods indifference. By doing so Mr. Gansberg’s article told about something that became symbolical in what many people recognized as the beginning of a culture full of violence and apathy in the United States. This case became so important that social scientists still debate the causes of what is now known as “The Genovese Syndrome”.

In the short story “Thirty Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” written by Martin Gansberg published on March 27, 1964, describes a true story that took place in Queens New York on March 14, 1964. The events that took place that night became widely known in American culture to be the cause of what is now known as “The Genovese Syndrome”. It was the birth of a culture that was indifferent and apathetic. The cruel murder of an innocent woman named Catherine (Kitty) Genovese happened in a civilized community surrounded by law abiding citizens, yet no one helped. The lack of action by her neighbors and “friends” became symbolic in America. It was the start of an evolving culture of violence.
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