Jews in the Russian Empire
(Part 5 of 8)
The “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”
The “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” a major source for most anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to this day, were written by an anonymous author working for the Okhrana, the Russian secret police, in Paris at the end of the 19th century.
The "protocols" are said to be the minutes of a conference of Jewish leaders drawing up plans to dominate the world. In the book, the "Elders of Zion" are accused of corrupting the country by spreading liberal ideas, undermining the rightful position of the nobility, stirring up social unrest and revolution.
At your left, Sergei Nilus, publisher of the first edition of the "Protocols" in 1905.
At your right, the Bolshevist Revolution is explained as part of an alleged "Jewish plot"; proof is seen in the fact that some Bolshevist leaders are Jewish. Edition of the "Protocols," published by Russian emigrants in Paris, 1927.
The "Protocols" do not immediately draw much attention when published in Russia in 1905, but this changes after the Revolution. Anti-Bolshevists point to the "Protocols" to explain the sudden and radical changes in Russia and to justify anti-Semitic violence during the Civil War. In 1921 evidence is produced that the "Protocols" are a forgery: the author has plagiarized whole sections from a French publication of 1864 which was directed against Napoleon III and had nothing to do with Jews.
At your left, Spanish edition of the "Protocols": "The Invisible World Government, or the Jewish Program to Subjugate the World." (1930)
In the middle, cover of a Polish edition of the "Protocols," published during the Nazi occupation of Poland. (Poznan, 1943)
At your right, cover of
a Russian edition of the "Protocols" published in 1992. Already in
1934, a Swiss Court concluded that the "Protocols" were a forgery.
In 1992 a Ukrainian Court reached the same verdict.
At your left, cover of an Arab translation of the "Protocols," published in Cairo in 1972.
In the middle, This English translation of the "Protocols" uses the classic anti-Semitic image of the Jew as a snake encircling the globe. (London, 1978)
At your right, French edition: "The Jewish Danger: Complete Text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion." (1934)
The leaders of the German National Socialist Party, notably Hitler and Goebbels, refer frequently to the "Protocols." In Hitler's "Mein Kampf" the "Protocols" are presented as proof of an alleged "Jewish conspiracy" to dominate the world, and the persecution of Jews as a necessary self-defense.
In this way, the "Protocols" come to justify the discrimination and later the extermination of Jews by the Nazis. After the Second World War, the "Protocols" find new adherents in the Arab world by providing an "explanation" for the military victories of Israel. Today, the book continues to be distributed by Neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic groups.