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{{Short description|1903 antisemitic text}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Redirect|Protocols of Zion|the 2005 American documentary film|Protocols of Zion (film){{!}}''Protocols of Zion'' (film)}}
{{Pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Infobox book
| title_orig = Программа завоевания мира евреями
| orig_lang_code = ru
| image = 1905 2fnl Velikoe v malom i antikhrist.jpg
| caption = Cover of the first book edition of ''The Great Within the Minuscule and Antichrist'', in which the ''Protocols'' appeared as an appendix
| author = Unknown; plagiarised from various European authors
| country = [[Russian Empire]]
| language = Russian{{Efn|With plagiarism from German and French texts}}
| subject = [[International Jewish conspiracy|Antisemitic conspiracy theory]]
| genre = [[Antisemitism in the Russian Empire|Antisemitism]], [[black propaganda]]
| publisher = {{lang|ru-Latn|[[Znamya (newspaper)|Znamya]]}}
| pub_date = August–September 1903
| english_pub_date = 1919
| media_type = Print: [[Serial (literature)|newspaper serialization]]
| dewey = 305.892
| congress = DS145.P5
| wikisource = The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion
}}
'''''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'''''{{efn|{{Langx|ru|Протоколы сионских мудрецов}}, {{Transliteration|ru|Protokoly Sionskikh Mudretsov}}.}}{{efn|Also known as '''''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion''''' ({{Lang|ru|Протоколы собраний ученых сионских мудрецов}}, {{Transliteration|ru|Protokoly Sobraniy Uchenykh Sionskikh Mudretsov}}).}} is a [[Black propaganda|fabricated text]] purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]] in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the 20th century. It played a key part in popularizing belief in an [[international Jewish conspiracy]].
The text was exposed as fraudulent by the British newspaper ''[[The Times]]'' in 1921 and by the German newspaper ''[[Frankfurter Zeitung]]'' in 1924. Beginning in 1933, distillations of the work were assigned by some German teachers, as if they were factual, to be read by German schoolchildren throughout [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="Segel-1995">{{cite book |last=Segel |first=Binjamin |translator-last=Levy |translator-first=Richard S |title=A Lie and a Libel: The History of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=1995 |page=30 |isbn=0803242433}}</ref> It remains widely available in numerous languages, in print and on the Internet, and continues to be presented by [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] groups as a genuine document. It has been described as "probably the most influential work of antisemitism ever written".{{sfn|Bronner|2000|p=1}}
==Creation==
{{Antisemitism |expanded=Publications}}
The ''Protocols'' is a fabricated document purporting to be factual. Textual evidence shows that it could not have been produced prior to 1901: the document alludes to the assassinations of [[Umberto I]] (d. 1900) and [[William McKinley]] (d. 1901), for example, as though these events were plotted out in advance.{{sfn|De Michelis|2004|pp=62–65}} The title of [[Sergei Nilus]]' widely distributed first edition contains the dates "1902–1903", and it is likely that the document was actually written at this time in Russia.{{sfn|De Michelis|2004|p=65}} [[Cesare G. De Michelis]] argues that it was manufactured in the months after a Russian Zionist congress in September 1902, and that it was originally a parody of Jewish idealism meant for internal circulation among antisemites until it was decided to clean it up and publish it as if it were real. Self-contradictions in various testimonies show that the individuals involved—including the text's initial publisher, [[Pavel Krushevan]]—deliberately obscured the origins of the text and lied about it in the decades afterwards.{{sfn|De Michelis|2004|pp=76–80}}
===Political conspiracy background===
Towards the end of the 18th century, following the [[Partitions of Poland]], the [[Russian Empire]] conquered the world's largest Jewish population. The Jews lived in ''[[shtetl]]s'' in the West of the Empire, in the [[Pale of Settlement]] and until the 1840s, local Jewish affairs were organised through the ''[[qahal]]'', the semi-autonomous Jewish local government, including for purposes of taxation and conscription into the [[Imperial Russian Army]]. Following the ascent of [[liberalism]] in Europe and among the [[intelligentsia]] in Russia, the Tsarist civil service became more hardline in its reactionary policies, upholding [[Nicholas I of Russia|Tsar Nicholas I]]'s slogan of [[Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality]], whereby non-Orthodox and non-Russian subjects, including Jews, Catholics, and Protestants, were viewed as a subversive [[fifth column]] who needed to be forcibly converted and assimilated; but even Jews like the composer [[Maximilian Steinberg]] who attempted to [[Jewish assimilation|assimilate]] by converting to Orthodoxy were still regarded with suspicion as potential "infiltrators" supposedly trying to "take over society", while Jews who remained attached to their traditional religion and culture were resented as undesirable aliens.
[[File:Kagal book.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|right|''The Book of the Kahal'' (1869) by Jacob Brafman, in the Russian language original]]
Resentment towards Jews, for the aforementioned reasons, existed in Russian society, but the idea of a ''Protocols''-esque [[international Jewish conspiracy]] for world domination was minted in the 1860s. [[Jacob Brafman]], a Lithuanian Jew from [[Minsk]], had a falling out with agents of the local ''qahal'' and consequently converted to the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] and authored polemics against the [[Talmud]] and the ''qahal''.{{sfn|Petrovsky-Shtern|2011|p=60}} Brafman claimed in his books ''The Local and Universal Jewish Brotherhoods'' (1868) and ''The Book of the Kahal'' (1869), published in [[Vilna]], that the ''qahal'' continued to exist in secret and that its principal aim was undermining Orthodox Christian entrepreneurs, taking over their property and ultimately seizing political power. He also claimed that it was an international conspiratorial network, under the central control of the ''[[Alliance Israélite Universelle]]'', which was based in Paris and then under the leadership of [[Adolphe Crémieux]], a prominent [[freemason]].{{sfn|Petrovsky-Shtern|2011|p=60}} The Vilna Talmudist, [[Jacob Barit]], attempted to refute Brafman's claim.
The impact of Brafman's work took on an international aspect when it was translated into English, French, German and other languages. The image of the "''qahal''" as a secret international Jewish shadow government working as a [[state within a state]] was picked up by anti-Jewish publications in Russia and was taken seriously by some Russian officials such as P. A. Cherevin and [[Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev]] who in the 1880s urged [[Governor-general|governors-general]] of provinces to seek out the supposed ''qahal''. This was around the time of the [[assassination of Alexander II of Russia]] and the subsequent [[pogrom]]s. In France, it was translated by Monsignor [[Ernest Jouin]] in 1925, who later supported the Protocols. In 1928, [[Siegfried Passarge]], a [[Far Right]] geographer who later gave his support to the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]], translated it into German.
Aside from Brafman, there were other early writings which posited a similar concept to the ''Protocols''. This includes ''The Conquest of the World by the Jews'' (1873),<ref>{{Cite book|title=Forms of Hatred: The Troubled Imagination in Modern Philosophy and Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7Tdl6vgbmUC|publisher=Rodopi|year=2003|isbn=978-9042010666|first=Leonidas|last=Donskis}}</ref> published in [[Basel]] and authored by Osman Bey (born [[Frederick van Millingen]]). Millingen was a British subject and son of English physician [[Julius Michael Millingen]], but served as an officer in the [[Ottoman Army|army of the Ottoman Empire]] where he was born. He converted to [[Islam]], but later became a Russian Orthodox Christian. Bey's work was followed up by [[Hippolytus Lutostansky]]'s ''The Talmud and the Jews'' (1879) which claimed that Jews wanted to divide Russia among themselves.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/new-york/new-york-times/1911/08-27/page-42|title=Ritual murder encouraged...|date=August 27, 1911|work=[[The New York Times]]|publication-date=August 27, 1911}}</ref>
===Sources employed===
Source material for the forgery consisted jointly of ''[[The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu|Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu]]'' (''Dialogue in Hell Between [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavelli]] and [[Montesquieu]]''), an 1864 [[political satire]] by [[Maurice Joly]];{{Sfn|Jacobs|Weitzman|2003|p=15}} and a chapter from ''Biarritz'', an 1868 novel by the antisemitic German novelist [[Hermann Goedsche]], which had been translated into [[Russian language|Russian]] in 1872.<ref name="Segel-1995"/>{{rp|97}}
===Literary forgery===
''The Protocols'' is one of the best-known and most-discussed examples of [[literary forgery]], with analysis and proof of its fraudulent origin dating as far back as 1921.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/hoax.html|title=A Hoax of Hate|publisher=Jewish Virtual Library}}.</ref> The forgery is an early example of [[conspiracy theory]] literature.<ref name=Boym>{{Citation|first=Svetlana|last=Boym|title=Conspiracy theories and literary ethics: Umberto Eco, Danilo Kis and 'The Protocols of Zion'|journal=Comparative Literature|issue=Spring|year=1999|doi=10.2307/1771244|volume=51|pages=97–122|jstor=1771244 }}.</ref> Written mainly in the first person plural,{{Efn|The text contains 44 instances of the word "I" (9.6%), and 412 instances of the word "we" (90.4%).<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.shoaheducation.com/protocols.html|title=The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion|translator=Marsden, VE |publisher=Shoah education }}{{Dead link|date=November 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref>}} the text includes [[generalization]]s, [[truism]]s, and [[platitude]]s on how to take over the world: take control of the media and the financial institutions, change the traditional social order, etc. It does not contain specifics.{{Sfn|Pipes|1997|p=85}}
===Maurice Joly===
{{main|Maurice Joly|The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu}}
Numerous parts in the ''Protocols'', in one calculation, some 160 passages,<ref>Cohn, ''Warrant for Genocide,'' 1970, p. 82.</ref> were plagiarized from Joly's political satire ''Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu''. This book was a thinly veiled attack on the political ambitions of [[Napoleon III]], who, represented by [[Machiavelli]],<ref name ="Google Books Search">{{Citation|last1=Ye’or|first1=Bat|first2=Miriam|last2=Kochan|author-link2=Miriam Kochan|author3-link=David Littman (historian)|first3=David|last3=Littman|title=Islam and Dhimmitude|publisher=[[Fairleigh Dickinson University Press]]|place=US|date=2001|isbn=978-0-8386-3942-9|page=142|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n4kTdYgwQPkC&q=The+Protocols+of+the+Learned+Elders+of+Zion++forgery+%22Maurice+Joly%22&pg=PA142}}.</ref>{{better source|date=May 2025}} plots to rule the world. Joly, a [[Republicanism|republican]] who later served in the [[Paris Commune]], was sentenced to 15 months as a direct result of his book's publication.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bronner|first=Stephen Eric|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yzpsDwAAQBAJ&q=commune.+joly&pg=PA70|title=A Rumor about the Jews: Conspiracy, Anti-Semitism, and the Protocols of Zion|date=2019|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9783030070274|pages=68–70|language=en}}</ref> [[Umberto Eco]] considered that ''Dialogue in Hell'' was itself plagiarised in part from a novel by [[Eugène Sue]], ''Les Mystères du Peuple'' (1849–56).<ref>{{Citation|last=Eco|first=Umberto|title=Six Walks in the Fictional Woods|year=1994|publisher=Harvard University Press|___location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=978-0-674-81050-1|author-link=Umberto Eco|page= 135|chapter= Fictional Protocols}}</ref>
Identifiable phrases from Joly constitute 4% of the first half of the first edition, and 12% of the second half; later editions, including most translations, have longer quotes from Joly.{{Sfn|De Michelis|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9uG1jsrOenwC&dq=first+zionist+congress+nilus&pg=PA113 8]}}
''The Protocols'' 1–19 closely follow the order of Maurice Joly's ''Dialogues'' 1–17. For example:
{|class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
!''Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu''
!''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion''
|-
|{{Blockquote|How are loans made? By the issue of bonds entailing on the Government the obligation to pay interest proportionate to the capital it has been paid. Thus, if a loan is at 5%, the State, after 20 years, has paid out a sum equal to the borrowed capital. When 40 years have expired it has paid double, after 60 years triple: yet it remains debtor for the entire capital sum.|Montesquieu|''Dialogues'', p. 209}}
|{{Blockquote|A loan is an issue of Government paper which entails an obligation to pay interest amounting to a percentage of the total sum of the borrowed money. If a loan is at 5%, then in 20 years the Government would have unnecessarily paid out a sum equal to that of the loan in order to cover the percentage. In 40 years it will have paid twice; and in 60 thrice that amount, but the loan will still remain as an unpaid debt.|''Protocols'', p. 77}}
|-
|{{Blockquote|Like the god Vishnu, my press will have a hundred arms, and these arms will give their hands to all the different shades of opinion throughout the country.|Machiavelli|''Dialogues'', p. 141}}
|{{Blockquote|These newspapers, like the Indian god Vishnu, will be possessed of hundreds of hands, each of which will be feeling the pulse of varying public opinion.|''Protocols'', p. 43}}
|-
|{{Blockquote|Now I understand the figure of the god Vishnu; you have a hundred arms like the Indian idol, and each of your fingers touches a spring.|Montesquieu|''Dialogues'', p. 207}}
|{{Blockquote|Our Government will resemble the Hindu god Vishnu. Each of our hundred hands will hold one spring of the social machinery of State.|''Protocols'', p. 65 }}
|}
[[Philip Graves]] brought this plagiarism to light in a series of articles in ''The Times'' in 1921, being the first to expose the ''Protocols'' as a forgery to the public.{{Sfn|Graves|1921}}<ref>{{Citation|last= Bein|first=Alex|year= 1990|page=339|title=The Jewish question: biography of a world problem|isbn=978-0-8386-3252-9|publisher= Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press}}</ref>
===Hermann Goedsche===
{{main|Hermann Goedsche}}
Hermann Goedsche was a spy for the [[Prussian Secret Police]] who was fired from his job as a postal clerk for helping to forge evidence against the democratic leader [[Benedict Waldeck]] in 1849.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}} Following his dismissal, Goedsche began a career as a conservative columnist, and wrote literary fiction under the pen name Sir John Retcliffe.<ref name= Cohn1966>{{Citation|first=Norman|last=Cohn|title=Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World-Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elder of Zion|place=New York|publisher=Harper & Row|year=1966|pages=32–36}}.</ref> His 1868 novel ''Biarritz'' (''To Sedan'') contains a chapter called "[[Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague|The Jewish Cemetery in Prague]] and the Council of Representatives of the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel]]." In it, Goedsche (who was unaware that only two of the original twelve Biblical "tribes" remained) depicts a clandestine nocturnal meeting of members of a mysterious [[rabbi]]nical [[cabal]] that is planning a diabolical "Jewish conspiracy." At midnight, the Devil appears to contribute his opinions and insight. The chapter closely resembles a scene in [[Alexandre Dumas]]' ''Giuseppe Balsamo'' (1848), in which Joseph Balsamo a.k.a. [[Alessandro Cagliostro]] and company plot the [[Affair of the Diamond Necklace]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Eco|first=Umberto|title=Serendipities: Language and Lunacy|year=1998|publisher=Columbia University Press|___location=New York|isbn=978-0-231-11134-8|page=14|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCyBIa34aAMC&pg=PA14}}</ref>
In 1872, a Russian translation of "[[Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague|The Jewish Cemetery in Prague]]" appeared in [[Saint Petersburg]] as a separate pamphlet of purported non-fiction. François Bournand, in his ''Les Juifs et nos Contemporains'' (1896), reproduced the soliloquy at the end of the chapter, in which the character Levit expresses as factual the wish that Jews be "kings of the world in 100 years"—crediting a "Chief Rabbi John Readcliff." Perpetuation of the myth of the authenticity of Goedsche's story, in particular the "Rabbi's speech", facilitated later accounts of the equally mythical authenticity of the ''Protocols''.<ref name=Cohn1966 /> Like the ''Protocols'', many asserted that the fictional "rabbi's speech" had a ring of authenticity, regardless of its origin: "This speech was published in our time, eighteen years ago," read an 1898 report in ''[[La Croix (newspaper)|La Croix]]'', "and all the events occurring before our eyes were anticipated in it with truly frightening accuracy."<ref>{{Citation|first=Maurice|last=Olender|author-link=Maurice Olender|title=Race and Erudition|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2009|page=11}}.</ref>
Fictional events in Joly's ''Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu'', which appeared four years before ''Biarritz'', may well have been the inspiration for Goedsche's fictional midnight meeting, and details of the outcome of the supposed plot. Goedsche's chapter may have been an outright plagiarism of Joly, Dumas père, or both.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History|first1=Paul R|last1=Mendes-Flohr|first2=Jehuda|last2=Reinharz|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-507453-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Bu5GnLZCw0C&pg=PA363|at=p. 363 see footnote}}</ref><ref group=lower-alpha name=Graves1921>This complex relationship was originally exposed by {{Harvnb|Graves|1921}}. The exposé has since been elaborated in many sources.</ref>
==Structure and content==
The ''Protocols'' purports to document the minutes of a late-19th-century meeting attended by world Jewish leaders, the "Elders of Zion", who are conspiring to control the world.{{Sfn|Chanes|2004|p=58}}{{Sfn|Shibuya|2007|p=571}} The forgery places in the mouths of the Jewish leaders a variety of plans, most of which derive from older antisemitic canards.{{Sfn|Chanes|2004|p=58}}{{Sfn|Shibuya|2007|p=571}} For example, the ''Protocols'' includes plans to subvert the morals of the non-Jewish world, plans for Jewish bankers to control the world's economies, plans for Jewish control of the press, and – ultimately – plans for the destruction of civilization.{{Sfn|Chanes|2004|p=58}}{{Sfn|Shibuya|2007|p=571}} The document consists of 24 "protocols", which have been analyzed by Steven Jacobs and Mark Weitzman, who documented several recurrent themes that appear repeatedly in the 24 protocols,{{Efn|Jacobs analyses the Marsden English translation. Some other less common imprints have more or less than 24 protocols.}} as shown in the following table:{{Sfn|Jacobs|Weitzman|2003|pp=21–25}}
{|class="wikitable" style="width:99%" border="2"
!width=10%|Protocol
!width=45%|Title{{Sfn|Jacobs|Weitzman|2003|pp=21–25}}
!width=45%|Themes{{Sfn|Jacobs|Weitzman|2003|pp=21–25}}
|-
|1
||The Basic Doctrine: "Right Lies in Might"
||Freedom and Liberty; Authority and power; Gold equals money
|-
|2
||Economic War and Disorganization Lead to International Government
||International Political economic conspiracy; Press/Media as tools
|-
|3
||Methods of Conquest
||Jewish people, arrogant and corrupt; Chosenness/Election; Public Service
|-
|4
||The Destruction of Religion by Materialism
||Business as Cold and Heartless; Gentiles as slaves
|-
|5
||Despotism and Modern Progress
||Jewish Ethics; Jewish People's Relationship to Larger Society
|-
|6
||The Acquisition of Land, The Encouragement of Speculation
||Ownership of land
|-
|7
||A Prophecy of Worldwide War
||Internal unrest and discord (vs. Court system) leading to war vs Shalom/Peace
|-
|8
||The transitional Government
||Criminal element
|-
|9
||The All-Embracing Propaganda
||Law; education; Freemasonry
|-
|10
||Abolition of the Constitution; Rise of the Autocracy
||Politics; Majority rule; Liberalism; Family
|-
|11
||The Constitution of Autocracy and Universal Rule
||Gentiles; Jewish political involvement; Freemasonry
|-
|12
||The Kingdom of the Press and Control
||Liberty; Press censorship; Publishing
|-
|13
||Turning Public Thought from Essentials to Non-essentials
||Gentiles; Business; Chosenness/Election; Press and censorship; Liberalism
|-
|14
||The Destruction of Religion as a Prelude to the Rise of the Jewish God
||Judaism; God; Gentiles; Liberty; Pornography
|-
|15
||Utilization of Masonry: Heartless Suppression of Enemies
||Gentiles; Freemasonry; Sages of Israel; Political power and authority; King of Israel
|-
|16
||The Nullification of Education
||Education
|-
|17
||The Fate of Lawyers and the Clergy
||Lawyers; Clergy; Christianity and non-Jewish Authorship
|-
|18
||The Organization of Disorder
||Evil; Speech
|-
|19
||Mutual Understanding Between Ruler and People
||Gossip; Martyrdom
|-
|20
||The Financial Program and Construction
||Taxes and Taxation; Loans; Bonds; Usury; Moneylending
|-
|21
||Domestic Loans and Government Credit
||Stock Markets and Stock Exchanges
|-
|22
||The Beneficence of Jewish Rule
||Gold equals Money; Chosenness/Election
|-
|23
||The Inculcation of Obedience
||Obedience to Authority; Slavery; Chosenness/Election
|-
|24
||The Jewish Ruler
||Kingship; Document as Fiction
|}
Hagemeister notes that{{blockquote|the text of the ''Protocols'' is completely devoid of the old, traditional accusations against Jews such as deicide, host desecration, well poisoning, ritual murder, blood defilement, fake conversation, or interest taking and usury. ..[T]he motives and images of modern, racially motivated antisemitism (such as physical inferiority, financial and sexual greed, racial intermixing) are also lacking. The only clearly anti-Jewish motives and defamations found in the ''Protocols'' concern the pursuit of world domination, the possession of money and gold, and global networking.<ref>Hagemeister (2022), p3.</ref>}}
=== Conspiracy references ===
According to [[Daniel Pipes]],
{{Blockquote|The book's vagueness—almost no names, dates, or issues are specified—has been one key to this wide-ranging success. The purportedly Jewish authorship also helps to make the book more convincing. Its embrace of contradiction—that to advance, Jews use all tools available, including capitalism and communism, [[philo-Semitism]] and antisemitism, democracy and tyranny—made it possible for ''The Protocols'' to reach out to all: rich and poor, [[right-wing|Right]] and [[left-wing|Left]], Christian and [[Muslim]], American and Japanese.{{Sfn|Pipes|1997|p=85}}}}
Pipes notes that the ''Protocols'' emphasizes recurring themes of conspiratorial antisemitism: "Jews always scheme", "Jews are everywhere", "Jews are behind every institution", "Jews obey a central authority, the shadowy 'Elders'", and "Jews are close to success."{{Sfn|Pipes|1997|pp=86–87}}
As fiction in the genre of literature, the tract was analyzed by [[Umberto Eco]] in his novel ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]'' (1988):
{{Blockquote|The great importance of ''The Protocols'' lies in its permitting antisemites to reach beyond their traditional circles and find a large international audience, a process that continues to this day. The forgery poisoned public life wherever it appeared; it was "self-generating; a blueprint that migrated from one conspiracy to another."<ref>{{Citation|first=Umberto|last=Eco|author-link=Umberto Eco|title=Foucault's Pendulum|place=London|publisher=Picador|year=1990|page=490|title-link=Foucault's Pendulum }}.</ref>}}
Eco also dealt with the ''Protocols'' in 1994 in chapter 6, "Fictional Protocols", of his ''[[Six Walks in the Fictional Woods]]'' and in his 2010 novel ''[[The Cemetery of Prague]]''.
==History==
===Publication history===
{{see also|List of editions of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion{{!}}List of editions of ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion''}}
The first known mention of ''The Protocols'' was in a 1902 article in [[Saint Petersburg]]'s conservative newspaper ''[[Novoye Vremya (newspaper)|Novoye Vremya]]'' by journalist Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov. He wrote that a venerable lady of the upper class had suggested he read a small booklet, ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'', which denounced "a conspiracy against the world". Menshikov was strongly skeptical of the authenticity of ''The Protocols'', dismissing its authors and spreaders as "people with [[brain fever]]".<ref name="Kadzhaya"/> In 1903, ''The Protocols'' was published as a series of articles in ''[[Znamya (newspaper)|Znamya]]'', a [[Black Hundreds]] newspaper owned by [[Pavel Krushevan]]. It appeared again in 1905 as the final chapter (Chapter XII) of the second edition of ''Velikoe v malom i antikhrist'' ("The Great in the Small & [[Antichrist]]"), a book by [[Sergei Nilus]]. In 1906, it appeared in pamphlet form edited by [[Georgy Butmi de Katzman]].{{Sfn|De Michelis|2004}}
These first Russian language imprints were used as a tool for [[scapegoating]] Jews, blamed by the monarchists for the defeat in the [[Russo-Japanese War]] and the [[Revolution of 1905]]. Common to all the texts is the idea that Jews aim for [[world domination]]. Since ''The Protocols'' are presented as merely a [[document]], the [[Book design#Front matter|front matter]] and [[Book design#Back matter (end matter)|back matter]] are needed to explain its alleged origin. The diverse imprints, however, are mutually inconsistent. The general claim is that the document was stolen from a secret Jewish organization. Since the alleged original stolen manuscript does not exist, one is forced to restore a purported original edition. This has been done by the Italian scholar, [[Cesare G. De Michelis]] in 1998, in a work which was translated into English and published in 2004, where he treats his subject as [[apocrypha]].{{Sfn|De Michelis|2004}}{{Sfn|Cohn|1967}}
In 2020, the Russian historian Ljubov’ Vladimirovna Ul’Janova-Bibikova found a typescript version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the manuscripts collections of the Moscow Central Library. The copy included manuscript additions of terms and corrections found in the 1906 version edited by [[Georgy Butmi de Katzman|Georgy Butmi]]. The handwriting is similar to other manuscripts written by Butmi. This typescript copy confirms that the Protocols were written at least in part in Russia, and were not completely written or translated in France. [[Cesare G. De Michelis]] has signalled the importance of the discovery of this typescript.<ref name="De Michelis 2021 (it)">{{Citation|lang=it|author=Cesare G.De Michelis|title=Protocolli dei savi di Sion. Ritrovato il protograf |journal=Studi Slavistici |issue=xviii |year=2021 |url=https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/ss/article/download/11387/10086/ }}</ref><ref name="De Michelis 2021 (en)">{{Citation|lang=en |author=Cesare G.De Michelis |title=The Protocols of the Sages of Zion: The Discovery of the Protograph |journal=Studi Slavistici |issue=xviii |year=2021 |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354633296 }}</ref>
As the [[Russian Revolution]] unfolded, causing [[White movement]]–affiliated Russians to flee to the West, this text was carried along and assumed a new purpose. Until then, ''The Protocols'' had remained obscure;{{Sfn|Cohn|1967}} it now became an instrument for blaming Jews for the Russian Revolution. It became a tool, a political weapon, used against the [[Bolsheviks]] who were depicted as overwhelmingly Jewish, allegedly executing the "plan" embodied in ''The Protocols''. The purpose was to discredit the [[October Revolution]], prevent the West from recognizing the [[Soviet Union]], and bring about the downfall of [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s regime.{{Sfn|De Michelis|2004}}{{Sfn|Cohn|1967}}
===First Russian language editions===
[[File:The Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Nilus (1912) - cleaned.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|right|The frontispiece of a 1912 edition using occult symbols]]
The chapter "In the Jewish Cemetery in Prague" from Goedsche's ''Biarritz'', with its strong antisemitic theme containing the alleged rabbinical plot against the European civilization, was translated into Russian as a separate pamphlet in 1872.<ref name="Segel-1995"/>{{rp|97}} However, in 1921, Princess [[Catherine Radziwill]] gave a private lecture in New York in which she claimed that the ''Protocols'' were a forgery compiled in 1904–05 by Russian journalists [[Matvei Golovinski]] and Manasevich-Manuilov at the direction of [[Pyotr Rachkovsky]], Chief of the Russian secret service in Paris.<ref name=NYT_RadziwillQuizzed>{{Cite news|title=Princess Radziwill Quizzed at Lecture; Stranger Questions Her Title After She Had Told of Forgery of "Jewish Protocols." Creates Stir at Astor Leaves Without Giving His Name – Mrs. Huribut Corroborates the Princess. Stranger Quizzes Princess. Corroborates Mme. Radziwill. Never Reached Alexander III. The Corroboration. Says Orgewsky Was Proud of Work.|date=March 4, 1921|work= The [[New York Times]]|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9800EFDD133CE533A25757C0A9659C946095D6CF|access-date=2008-08-05}}</ref>
In 1944, German writer [[Konrad Heiden]] identified Golovinski as an author of the ''Protocols''.<ref name=Freund2000>{{Citation|url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/27585.html|title=Forging Protocols|first=Charles Paul|last=Freund|newspaper=Reason Magazine|date=February 2000|access-date=2008-09-28|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104231406/http://www.reason.com/news/show/27585.html|archive-date=2013-01-04|url-status=dead }}.</ref> Radziwill's account was supported by Russian historian Mikhail Lepekhine, whose claims were published in November 1999 in the French newsweekly ''[[L'Express (France)|L'Express]]''.<ref>{{Citation|language=fr|url=http://www.phdn.org/antisem/protocoles/origines.html|first=Éric|last=Conan|title=Les secrets d'une manipulation antisémite|trans-title=The secrets of an antisemite manipulation|newspaper=L’Express|date=November 16, 1999}}.</ref> Lepekhine considers the ''Protocols'' a part of a scheme to persuade Tsar [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] that the modernization of Russia was really a Jewish plot to control the world.<ref name=Skuratovsky>{{Citation|first=Vadim|last=Skuratovsky|title=The Question of the Authorship of 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'|publisher=Judaica Institute|place=Kiev|year=2001|isbn=978-966-7273-12-5}}.</ref> [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] scholar [[Vadim Skuratovsky]] offers extensive literary, historical and [[linguistics|linguistic]] analysis of the original text of the ''Protocols'' and traces the influences of [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]'s [[prose]] (in particular, ''[[The Grand Inquisitor]]'' and ''[[The Possessed (novel)|The Possessed]]'') on Golovinski's writings, including the ''Protocols''.<ref name=Skuratovsky />
Golovinski's role in the writing of the ''Protocols'' is disputed by [[Cesare G. De Michelis]], [[Michael Hagemeister]], and [[Richard S. Levy|Richard Levy]], who each write that the account which involves him is historically unverifiable and to a large extent provably wrong.<ref>{{cite book|author-last=De Michelis|author-first=Cesare|title=The Non-Existent Manuscript|pages=passim}}</ref>{{sfn|Hagemeister|2008|pp=83–95|ps =: "How can we explain that when it comes to the origins and dissemination of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the rules of careful historical research are so completely ignored and we are regularly served up stories"}}<ref name=Levy-record/>
In his book ''The Non-Existent Manuscript'', Italian scholar [[Cesare G. De Michelis]] studies early Russian publications of the ''Protocols''. The ''Protocols'' were first mentioned in the Russian press in April 1902, by the Saint Petersburg newspaper ''Novoye Vremya'' ({{lang|ru|Новое Время}} – ''The New Times''). The article was written by famous conservative publicist {{ill|Mikhail Menshikov|ru|Меньшиков, Михаил Осипович|vertical-align=sup}} as a part of his regular series "Letters to Neighbors" ("Письма к ближним") and was titled "Plots against Humanity". The author described his meeting with a lady ([[Yuliana Glinka]], as it is known now) who, after telling him about her mystical revelations, implored him to get familiar with the documents later known as the ''Protocols''; but after reading some excerpts, Menshikov became quite skeptical about their origin and did not publish them.<ref>{{Citation|language=ru|url=http://www.vehi.net/asion/kon/08.html#_ftnref14|first1=T|last1=Karasova|first2=D|last2=Chernyakhovsky|title=Afterword}} in {{Citation|language=ru|edition=translated|first=Norman|last=Cohn|title=Warrant for Genocide}}.</ref>
====Krushevan and Nilus editions====
The ''Protocols'' were published at the earliest, in serialized form, from August 28 to September 7 ([[Old Style|O.S.]]) 1903, in ''[[Znamya (newspaper)|Znamya]]'', a Saint Petersburg daily newspaper, under [[Pavel Krushevan]]. Krushevan had initiated the [[Kishinev pogrom]] four months earlier.<ref name="Kadzhaya">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newtimes.ru/eng/detail.asp?art_id=470|title= The Fraud of a Century, or a book born in hell|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051217032523/http://www.newtimes.ru/eng/detail.asp?art_id=470|archive-date =December 17, 2005|first=Valery|last=Kadzhaya}}.</ref>
In 1905, Sergei Nilus published the full text of the ''Protocols'' in ''Chapter XII'', the final chapter (pp. 305–417), of the second edition (or third, according to some sources) of his book, ''[[Velikoe v malom i antikhrist]]'', which translates as "The Great within the Small and the Antichrist". He claimed it was the work of the [[First Zionist Congress]], held in 1897 in [[Basel, Switzerland]].{{Sfn|De Michelis|2004}} When it was pointed out that the First Zionist Congress had been open to the public and was attended by many non-Jews, Nilus changed his story, saying the Protocols were the work of the 1902–03 meetings of the Elders, but contradicting his own prior statement that he had received his copy in 1901:
{{blockquote|In 1901, I succeeded through an acquaintance of mine (the late Court Marshal Alexei Nikolayevich Sukotin of Chernigov) in getting a manuscript that exposed with unusual perfection and clarity the course and development of the secret Jewish Freemasonic conspiracy, which would bring this wicked world to its inevitable end. The person who gave me this manuscript guaranteed it to be a faithful translation of the original documents that were stolen by a woman from one of the highest and most influential leaders of the Freemasons at a secret meeting somewhere in France—the beloved nest of Freemasonic conspiracy.<ref name= Kominsky1970>{{Citation|first=Morris|last=Kominsky|author-link=Morris Kominsky|url=https://archive.org/details/TheHoaxers|title=The Hoaxers|year=1970|page=209|publisher=Branden Press |isbn=978-0-8283-1288-2}}.</ref>}}
====Stolypin's fraud investigation, 1905====
A subsequent secret investigation ordered by [[Pyotr Stolypin]], the newly appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers, came to the conclusion that the ''Protocols'' first appeared in Paris in antisemitic circles around 1897–98.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.fedorov.ru/stolypin.html|title=P. Stolypin's attempt to resolve the Jewish question|first=Boris|last=Fyodorov|language=ru|place=[[Russia|RU]]|access-date=2006-11-23|archive-date=2012-02-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210161318/http://www.fedorov.ru/stolypin.html|url-status=dead}}.</ref> When [[Nicholas II]] learned of the results of this investigation, he requested, "The Protocols should be confiscated, a good cause cannot be defended by dirty means."<ref name=Burtsev1938>{{Citation|publisher=Jewniverse|language=ru|chapter-url=http://www.jewniverse.ru/RED/Burtsev/BPSM-1-4.htm|place=Paris|title=The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: A Proved Forgery|first=Vladimir|last=Burtsev|author-link=Vladimir Burtsev|year=1938|page=106|chapter=4}}.</ref> Despite the order, or because of the "good cause", numerous reprints proliferated.<ref name="Kadzhaya" /> Nicholas later read the ''Protocols'' to his family during their imprisonment.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 October 2018 |title=Five myths about the Romanovs |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-the-romanovs/2018/10/26/9e7a6d30-d868-11e8-83a2-d1c3da28d6b6_story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308134609/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-the-romanovs/2018/10/26/9e7a6d30-d868-11e8-83a2-d1c3da28d6b6_story.html |archive-date=8 March 2023}}</ref>
===''The Protocols'' in the West===
In January 1920, [[Eyre & Spottiswoode]] published the first English translation of ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' in Britain.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Rap55ZimykC&pg=PA390|title=Hostages of Modernization: Studies on Modern Antisemitism 1870–1933/39|editor-last=Strauss|editor-first=Herbert A.|publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]]|year=1993|page=390|isbn=3-11-010776-7}}</ref> According to a letter written by art historian Robert Hobart Cust, the pamphlet had been translated, prepared, and paid for by [[George Shanks]]<ref>Holmes, Colin ''Anti-Semitism in British Society, 1876–1939'' Edward Arnold, 1st ed., (1979)</ref> and their mutual friend, Major Edward Griffiths George Burdon, who was serving as Secretary of the ''United Russia Societies Association'' at that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.monocledmutineer.co.uk/major-edward-g-g-burdon/|title=Major Edward Griffiths George Burdon, United Russia Societies Association|date=December 2021}}</ref> In an edition of [[Lord Alfred Douglas]]’ ''Plain English'' journal dated January 1921,<ref>"The Blue Faced Ape of Horus", ''Plain English'', No. 29, Vol. II, January 22, 1921, p. 66.</ref> it is claimed that Shanks, a former officer in the Royal Navy Air Service and the Russian Government Committee in Kingsway, London,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.monocledmutineer.co.uk/pdfs/George_Shanks_the_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion_Jewish_Peril.pdf|title=The Protocols Matrix: George Shanks and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion|via=www.monocledmutineer.co.uk}}</ref> had found post-war employment in the Chief Whip's Office at 12 Downing Street, before being offered a position as Personal Secretary to Sir [[Philip Sassoon]], at that time serving as Private Secretary to British Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]] in Britain's Coalition Government.
[[
In the United States, ''The Protocols'' are to be understood in the context of the [[First Red Scare]] (1917–20). The text was purportedly brought to the United States by a Russian Army officer in 1917; it was translated into English by [[Natalie de Bogory]] (personal assistant of [[Harris A. Houghton]], an officer of the [[United States Department of War|Department of War]]) in June 1918,<ref>Baldwin, N. ''Henry Ford and the Jews. The mass production of hate''. PublicAffair (2001), p. 82. {{ISBN|1891620525}}.</ref> and Russian expatriate [[Boris Brasol]] soon circulated it in American government circles, specifically diplomatic and military, in typescript form,<ref>Wallace, M. ''The American axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the rise of the Third Reich''. St. Martin's Press (2003), p. 60. {{ISBN|0312290225}}.</ref> a copy of which is archived by the [[Hoover Institute]].{{Sfn|Singerman|1980|pp=48–78}}
On October 27 and 28, 1919, the [[Philadelphia]] ''[[Public Ledger (Philadelphia)|Public Ledger]]'' published excerpts of an English language translation as the "Red Bible," deleting all references to the purported Jewish authorship and re-casting the document as a [[Bolshevik]] [[manifesto]].<ref name="Jenkins">{{Citation |last=Jenkins |first=Philip |title=Hoods and Shirts: The Extreme Right in Pennsylvania, 1925–1950 |page=114 |year=1997 |publisher=[[UNC Press]] |isbn=978-0-8078-2316-3 |author-link=Philip Jenkins}}</ref> The author of the articles was the paper's [[correspondent]] at the time, [[Carl W. Ackerman]], who later became the head of the journalism department at [[Columbia University]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p61ACwAAQBAJ&q=ackerman.+zion.+bolshevik&pg=PT190|title=Haters, Baiters and Would-Be Dictators: Anti-Semitism and the UK Far Right|last=Toczek|first=Nick|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2015|isbn=978-1317525875}}</ref>{{Sfn|Singerman|1980|pp=48–78}}
In 1923, there appeared an anonymously edited pamphlet by the [[Britons Publishing Society]], a successor to [[The Britons]], an entity created and headed by [[Henry Hamilton Beamish]]. This imprint was allegedly a translation by Victor E. Marsden, who had died in October 1920.{{Sfn|Singerman|1980|pp=48–78}}
On May 8, 1920, an article<ref>{{Citation|first=Henry Wickham|last=Steed|title=A Disturbing Pamphlet: A Call for Enquiry|newspaper=The Times|date=May 8, 1920}}.</ref> in ''The Times'' followed German translation and appealed for an inquiry into what it called an "uncanny note of prophecy". In the leader (editorial) titled "The Jewish Peril, a Disturbing Pamphlet: Call for Inquiry", [[Wickham Steed]] wrote about ''The Protocols'':
{{Blockquote|What are these 'Protocols'? Are they authentic? If so, what malevolent assembly concocted these plans and gloated over their exposition? Are they forgery? If so, whence comes the uncanny note of prophecy, prophecy in part fulfilled, in part so far gone in the way of fulfillment?<ref>{{Citation|last=Friedländer|first=Saul|title=Nazi Germany and the Jews|place=New York|publisher=HarperCollins|year=1997|page=95}}.</ref>}}
Steed retracted his endorsement of ''The Protocols'' after they were exposed as a forgery.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1080/0031322X.2012.672226|title=The antisemitism of Henry Wickham Steed|journal=Patterns of Prejudice|volume=46|issue=2|pages=180–208|year=2012|last1=Liebich|first1=Andre|s2cid=144543860}}</ref>
===
[[File:The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.tif|thumb|right|upright=0.85|Title page of 1920 edition from Boston]]
For nearly two years starting in 1920, the American industrialist [[Henry Ford]] published in a newspaper he owned—''[[The Dearborn Independent]]''—a series of antisemitic articles that quoted liberally from the Protocols.<ref name=Singerman>{{cite journal | first = Robert | last = Singerman | title = The American Career of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion | journal = American Jewish History | volume = 71 | issue = 1 | pages = 48–78}}</ref> The actual author of the articles is generally believed to have been the newspaper's editor [[William J. Cameron]].<ref name=Singerman/> During 1922, the circulation of the Dearborn Independent grew to almost 270,000 paid copies.<ref>{{cite book | first1 = Allan | last1 = Nevins | first2 = Frank Ernest | last2 = Hill | title = Ford, Expansion and Challenge 1915–1933 | publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons | year = 1957 | page = 316}}</ref> Ford later published a compilation of the articles in book form as "[[The International Jew|The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem]]".<ref name=Singerman/> In 1921, Ford cited evidence of a Jewish threat: "The only statement I care to make about the ''Protocols'' is that they fit in with what is going on. They are 16 years old, and they have fitted the world situation up to this time."<ref name= Wallace2003>{{Citation|first=Max|last=Wallace|title=The American Axis|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=2003}}.</ref> Robert A. Rosenbaum wrote that "In 1927, bowing to legal and economic pressure, Ford issued a retraction and apology—while disclaiming personal responsibility—for the anti-Semitic articles and closed the ''Dearborn Independent''".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rosenbaum|first1=Robert A|title=Waking to Danger: Americans and Nazi Germany, 1933–1941|date=2010|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0313385025|page=41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sx27AHzby8YC&q=1927%2C+++Ford+to+retract+his+publication+and+apologize%3B&pg=PA41}}</ref> Ford was an admirer of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name=Dobbs1998>{{Citation|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm|title=Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration|first=Michael|last=Dobbs|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=November 30, 1998|page=A01|access-date=March 20, 2006}}.</ref>
In 1934, an anonymous editor expanded the compilation with "Text and Commentary" (pp 136–141). The production of this uncredited compilation was a 300-page book, an inauthentic expanded edition of the twelfth chapter of Nilus's 1905 book on the coming of the [[anti-Christ]]. It consists of substantial liftings of excerpts of articles from Ford's antisemitic periodical ''The Dearborn Independent''. This 1934 text circulates most widely in the English-speaking world, as well as on the internet. The "Text and Commentary" concludes with [[quote mining|a comment]] on [[Chaim Weizmann]]'s October 6, 1920, remark at a banquet: "A beneficent protection which God has instituted in the life of the Jew is that He has dispersed him all over the world". Marsden, who was dead by then, is credited with the following assertion:
{{Blockquote|It proves that the Learned Elders exist. It proves that Dr. Weizmann knows all about them. It proves that the desire for a "National Home" in Palestine is only camouflage and an infinitesimal part of the Jew's real object. It proves that the Jews of the world have no intention of settling in Palestine or any separate country, and that their annual prayer that they may all meet "Next Year in Jerusalem" is merely a piece of their characteristic make-believe. It also demonstrates that the Jews are now a world menace, and that the Aryan races will have to domicile them permanently out of Europe.<ref name=Marsden>{{Citation|contribution=Introduction|edition=English|first=Victor E|last=Marsden|title=The protocols of the learned Elders of Zion}}.</ref>}}
====''The Times'' exposes a forgery, 1921====
[[File:TheTimes exposes TheProtocols as a forgery.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.85|''The Times'' exposed the ''Protocols'' as a forgery on August 16–18, 1921.]]
In 1920–1921, the history of the concepts found in the ''Protocols'' was traced back to the works of Goedsche and [[Jacques Crétineau-Joly]] by [[Lucien Wolf]] (an English Jewish journalist), and published in London in August 1921. Then an exposé occurred in the series of articles in ''The Times'' by its [[Constantinople]] reporter, [[Philip Graves]], who discovered the plagiarism from the work of [[Maurice Joly]].{{Sfn|Graves|1921}}
<!-- Note: In 1921, the city of Istanbul was called Constantinople. don't change the city name without discussing. -->
According to writer Peter Grose, [[Allen Dulles]], who was in Constantinople developing relationships in post-[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] political structures, discovered "the source" of the documentation and ultimately provided him to ''The Times''. Grose writes that ''The Times'' extended a loan to the source, a Russian émigré who refused to be identified, with the understanding the loan would not be repaid.<ref>{{Citation|first=Peter|last=Grose|title=Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1994}}.</ref> Colin Holmes, a lecturer in economic history at [[Sheffield University]], identified the émigré as Mikhail Raslovlev, a self-identified antisemite, who gave the information to Graves so as not to "give a weapon of any kind to the Jews, whose friend I have never been."<ref>{{Citation|author-link=Leon Poliakov|last=Poliakov|first=Leon|year=1997|contribution=Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion|title=Encyclopedia Judaica|edition=CD-ROM 1.0|editor-first=Cecil|editor-last=Roth|editor-link=Cecil Roth|publisher=Keter|isbn=978-965-07-0665-4|title-link=Encyclopedia Judaica }}.</ref>
In the first article of Graves' series, titled "A Literary Forgery", the editors of ''The Times'' wrote, "our Constantinople Correspondent presents for the first time conclusive proof that the document is in the main a clumsy plagiarism. He has forwarded us a copy of the French book from which the plagiarism is made."{{Sfn|Graves|1921}} In the same year, an entire book{{Sfn|Bernstein|1921}} documenting the hoax was published in the United States by [[Herman Bernstein]]. Despite this widespread and extensive debunking, the ''Protocols'' continued to be regarded as important factual evidence by antisemites. Dulles, a successful lawyer and career diplomat, attempted to persuade the [[US State Department]] to publicly denounce the forgery, but without success.<ref>Richard Breitman et al. (2005). OSS Knowledge of the Holocaust. In: U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis. pp. 11–44. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.{{doi|10.1017/CBO9780511618178.006}} [Accessed 20 April 2016]. p. 25</ref>
===Switzerland===
====Berne Trial, 1934–35====
{{Main|Berne Trial}}
The selling of the ''Protocols'' (edited by German antisemite [[Theodor Fritsch]]) by the [[National Front (Switzerland)|National Front]] during a political meeting in the Casino of Bern on June 13, 1933,{{Efn|The main speaker was the former chief of the Swiss General Staff [[Emil Sonderegger]].}} led to the [[Berne Trial]] in the ''Amtsgericht'' (district court) of [[Bern]], the capital of [[Switzerland]], on October 29, 1934. The plaintiffs (the Swiss Jewish Association and the Jewish Community of Bern) were represented by Hans Matti and [[Georges Brunschvig]], helped by Emil Raas. Working on behalf of the defense was German antisemitic propagandist [[Ulrich Fleischhauer]]. On May 19, 1935, two defendants (Theodore Fischer and Silvio Schnell) were convicted of violating a Bernese statute prohibiting the distribution of "immoral, obscene or brutalizing" texts<ref name="NZZ">{{Cite news|url= http://www.nzz.ch/2005/12/23/fe/articleDEYRW.html|title= Die Quelle allen Übels? Wie ein Berner Gericht 1935 gegen antisemitische Verschwörungsphantasien vorging|last= Hafner|first= Urs|date= December 23, 2005|publisher= [[Neue Zürcher Zeitung]]|language= de|access-date= 2008-10-11|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110201033419/http://www.nzz.ch/2005/12/23/fe/articleDEYRW.html|archive-date= February 1, 2011}}</ref> while three other defendants were acquitted. The court declared the ''Protocols'' to be forgeries, plagiarisms, and obscene literature. Judge Walter Meyer, a Christian who had not previously heard of the ''Protocols'', said in conclusion,
{{Blockquote|I hope the time will come when nobody will be able to understand how in 1935 nearly a dozen sane and responsible men were able for two weeks to mock the intellect of the Bern court discussing the authenticity of the so-called Protocols, the very Protocols that, harmful as they have been and will be, are nothing but laughable nonsense.<ref name=Kadzhaya />}}
[[Vladimir Burtsev]], a Russian émigré, anti-Bolshevik and [[Anti-fascism|anti-Fascist]] who exposed numerous [[Okhrana]] [[agent provocateur|agents provocateurs]] in the early 1900s, served as a witness at the Berne Trial. In 1938 in Paris he published a book, ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: A Proved Forgery'', based on his testimony.
On November 1, 1937, the defendants appealed the verdict to the ''Obergericht'' (Cantonal Supreme Court) of Bern. A panel of three judges acquitted them, holding that the ''Protocols'', while false, did not violate the statute at issue because they were "political publications" and not "immoral (obscene) publications (Schundliteratur)" in the strict sense of the law.<ref name="NZZ"/> The presiding judge's opinion stated, though, that the forgery of the ''Protocols'' was not questionable and expressed regret that the law did not provide adequate protection for Jews from this sort of literature. The court refused to impose the fees of defense of the acquitted defendants to the plaintiffs, and the acquitted Theodor Fischer had to pay 100 Fr. to the total state costs of the trial (Fr. 28,000) that were eventually paid by the [[canton of Bern]].{{Sfn|Ben-Itto|2005|loc=chapter 11}} This decision gave grounds for later allegations that the appeal court "confirmed authenticity of the Protocols" which is contrary to the facts.
[[File:Beschlagnahmte Protokolle und Geheimnisse der Weisen von Zion.jpg|thumb|Protocols of Zion, confiscated by the Basel police on complaint of the Jews Dreyfus-Brodsky and Marcus Cohn, 1933, in the collection of the [[Jewish Museum of Switzerland]]]]
Evidence presented at the trial, which strongly influenced later accounts up to the present, was that the ''Protocols'' were originally written in French by agents of the Tzarist secret police (the Okhrana).<ref name=Levy-record/> However, this version has been questioned by several modern scholars.<ref name=Levy-record/> Michael Hagemeister discovered that the primary witness Alexandre du Chayla had previously written in support of the [[blood libel]], had received four thousand Swiss francs for his testimony, and was secretly doubted even by the plaintiffs.{{sfn|Hagemeister|2008|pp=83–95|ps =: "How can we explain that when it comes to the origins and dissemination of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the rules of careful historical research are so completely ignored and we are regularly served up stories"}} Charles Ruud and Sergei Stepanov concluded that there is no substantial evidence of Okhrana involvement and strong circumstantial evidence against it.{{sfn|Ruud|Stepanov|1999|pp=203–273}}
====Basel Trial====
A similar trial in Switzerland took place in [[Basel]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Häne |first1=Barbara |title=The Basel Trial of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" - The History of a Book in Our Collection |url=https://www.juedisches-museum.ch/en/the-basel-trial-of-the-protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion/ |website=Jewish Museum of Switzerland |access-date=1 October 2024}}</ref> The Swiss [[National Front (Switzerland)|Frontists]] Alfred Zander and Eduard Rüegsegger distributed the ''Protocols'' (edited by the German Gottfried zur Beek) in Switzerland. Jules Dreyfus-Brodsky and Marcus Cohen sued them for insult to Jewish honour. At the same time, chief rabbi [[Mordecai Ehrenpreis|Marcus Ehrenpreis]] of Stockholm (who also witnessed at the Berne Trial) sued Alfred Zander who contended that Ehrenpreis himself had said that the ''Protocols'' were authentic (referring to the foreword of the edition of the ''Protocols'' by the German antisemite Theodor Fritsch). On June 5, 1936, these proceedings ended with a settlement.{{Efn|Zander had to withdraw his contention and the stock of the incriminated ''Protocols'' were destroyed by order of the court. Zander had to pay the fees of this Basel Trial.{{Sfn|Lüthi|1992|p=45}}}}
===Finland===
The first Finnish edition of the Protocols was published in Swedish in 1919. In 1920, the protocols were published in Finnish as "''The Jewish Secret Program''“. Four additional editions of the Swedish edition were quickly published, and the Finnish edition was re-released in 1933 under the title "''The Scourge of Nations''“. Another edition of the Protocols was published by the Nazi group [[Blue Cross (society)|Blue Cross]] in 1943. The [[Party of Finnish Labor]] also published their edition of the Protocols translated by party secretary Taavi Vanhanen.<ref>Hanski, Jari: Juutalaisviha Suomessa 1918–1944, s. 207–214. Helsingissä: Ajatus kirjat, 2006. ISBN 978-951-207-041-1</ref><ref>Taylor, Andrew: Kirjat jotka muuttivat maailmaa, s. 250–251. (Books that changed the world: The 50 most influential books in human history, 2008.) Suomentanut Simo Liikanen. Helsinki: Ajatus, 2010. ISBN 978-951-20-8144-8</ref><ref>Nummelin, Juri (toim.): Oikeiston vihapuhetta: 1900-1950. Turku: Savukeidas, 2014. ISBN 978-952-268-105-8.</ref>
The [[State Police (Finland)|State Police]] had copies of the Protocols in its libraries available to those wishing to read them, along with other antisemitic books. It is unknown if the Protocols was officially considered legitimate, but the chief of the State Police Ossi Holmström subscribed to the [[Judeo-Bolshevik]] conspiracy theory.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Karcher|first1=Nicola |last2=Markus|first2=Lundström|date=2022 |title=NORDIC FASCISM FRAGMENTS OF AN ENTANGLED HISTORY|publisher=Routledge |page=55 |isbn=9781032040301}}</ref>
===Germany===
{{Nazism sidebar}}
According to historian [[Norman Cohn]],{{Sfn|Cohn|1967|p=169}} the assassins of German Jewish politician [[Walther Rathenau]] (1867–1922) were convinced that Rathenau was a literal "Elder of Zion".
It seems likely [[Adolf Hitler]] first became aware of the ''Protocols'' after hearing about it from ethnic German [[white émigrés]], such as [[Alfred Rosenberg]] and [[Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter]].<ref>Gellately, Robert (2012). ''Lenin, Stalin and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe'', {{ISBN|1448138787}}, p. 99</ref> Rosenberg and Scheubner-Richter were also members of the early [[Aufbau Vereinigung]] counterrevolutionary group, which according to historian Michael Kellogg, influenced the Nazis in promulgating a ''Protocols''-like myth.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schwonek|first=Matthew R.|date=2006|title=Review of The Russian Roots of Nazism: White Émigrés and the Making of National Socialism, 1917–1945; Victims of Stalin and Hitler: The Exodus of Poles and Balts to Britain|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3664431|journal=The Russian Review|volume=65|issue=2|pages=335–337|jstor=3664431|issn=0036-0341}}</ref>
Hitler refers to the ''Protocols'' in ''[[Mein Kampf]]'':
{{Blockquote|... [The Protocols] are based on a forgery, the ''[[Frankfurter Zeitung]]'' moans [ ] every week ... [which is] the best proof that they are authentic ... the important thing is that with positively terrifying certainty they reveal the nature and activity of the Jewish people and expose their inner contexts as well as their ultimate final aims.<ref name=Hitler1924>{{Citation|first=Adolf|last=Hitler|title=Mein Kampf|chapter=XI: Nation and Race|volume=I|pages=307–08|title-link=Mein Kampf }}.</ref>}}
The ''Protocols'' also became a part of the Nazi propaganda effort to justify persecution of the Jews. In ''[[The Holocaust]]: The Destruction of European Jewry 1933–1945'', [[Nora Levin]] states that "Hitler used the Protocols as a manual in his war to exterminate the Jews":
{{Blockquote|Despite conclusive proof that the ''Protocols'' were a gross forgery, they had sensational popularity and large sales in the 1920s and 1930s. They were translated into every language of Europe and sold widely in Arab lands, the US, and England. But it was in Germany after World War I that they had their greatest success. There they were used to explain all of the disasters that had befallen the country: the defeat in the war, the hunger, the destructive inflation.<ref name=Levin>Nora Levin, ''The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry 1933–1945''. Quoting from [https://web.archive.org/web/20021001121141/http://ddickerson.igc.org/hitler-protokollen.html IGC.org]</ref>}}
Hitler did not mention the Protocols in his speeches after his defense of it in ''Mein Kampf''.<ref name=Levy-record/><ref name="Bytwerk"/> "Distillations of the text appeared in German classrooms, indoctrinated the [[Hitler Youth]], and invaded the USSR along with German soldiers."<ref name="Segel-1995"/> Nazi Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]] proclaimed: "The Zionist Protocols are as up-to-date today as they were the day they were first published."{{Sfn|Pipes|1997|p=95}}
[[Richard S. Levy]] criticizes the claim that the ''Protocols'' had a large effect on Hitler's thinking, writing that it is based mostly on suspect testimony and lacks hard evidence.<ref name=Levy-record>{{cite book|author=Richard S. Levy|chapter=Setting the Record Straight Regarding 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion': A Fool’s Errand?|pages=43–61|title=Nexus – Essays in German Jewish Studies|volume=2|editor1=William C. Donahue |editor2=Martha B. Helfer|publisher=Camden House|year=2014}}</ref> Randall Bytwerk agrees, writing that most leading Nazis did not believe it was genuine despite having an "inner truth" suitable for propaganda.<ref name="Bytwerk">{{cite journal|author=Randall L. Bytwerk|title=Believing in "Inner Truth": The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in Nazi Propaganda, 1933–1945|journal=Holocaust and Genocide Studies|volume=29|issue=2|year=2015|pages=212–229|doi=10.1093/hgs/dcv024|s2cid=145338770|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Publication of the ''Protocols'' was stopped in Germany in 1939 for unknown reasons.{{sfn|Hagemeister|2011|pp=241–253}} An edition that was ready for printing was blocked by censorship laws.<ref>Michael Hagemeister, lecture at Cambridge University, 11 November 2014. [http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/gallery/video/dr-michael-hagemeister-theprotocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-the-facts-surroun video] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524233738/http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/gallery/video/dr-michael-hagemeister-theprotocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-the-facts-surroun |date=2015-05-24 }}</ref>
====
Having fled Ukraine in 1918–19, [[Piotr Shabelsky-Bork]] brought the ''Protocols'' to Ludwig Müller von Hausen who then published them in German.{{Sfn|Kellogg|2005|pp=63–65}} Under the pseudonym Gottfried zur Beek he produced the first and "by far the most important"{{Sfn|Pipes|1997|p=94}} German translation. It appeared in January 1920 as a part of a larger antisemitic tract<ref>{{Citation|title=Geheimnisse der Weisen von Zion|publisher=Auf Vorposten|year=1919|language=de}}.</ref> dated 1919. After ''The Times'' discussed the book respectfully in May 1920 it became a bestseller. Alfred Rosenberg's 1923 analysis<ref>{{Citation|first=Alfred|last=Rosenberg|author-link=Alfred Rosenberg|title=Die Protokolle der Weisen von Zion und die jüdische Weltpolitik|place=Munich|publisher=Deutscher Volksverlag|year=1923}}.</ref> "gave a forgery a huge boost".{{Sfn|Pipes|1997|p=95}}
===Italy===
Fascist politician [[Giovanni Preziosi]] published the first Italian edition of the ''Protocols'' in 1921.{{sfn|Pisanty|2006|p=301}} The book however had little impact until the mid-1930s. A new 1937 edition had a much higher impact, and three further editions in the following months sold 60,000 copies total.{{sfn|Pisanty|2006|p=21}} The fifth edition had an introduction by [[Julius Evola]], which argued around the issue of forgery, stating: "The problem of the authenticity of this document is secondary and has to be replaced by the much more serious and essential problem of its truthfulness".{{sfn|Pisanty|2006|p=306-308}}
=== Post–World War II ===
{{See also|Contemporary imprints of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion{{!}}Contemporary imprints of ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion''|New World Order (conspiracy theory)#The Protocols of the Elders of Zion}}
===
Neither governments nor political leaders in most parts of the world have referred to the ''Protocols'' since [[World War II]]. The exception to this is the Middle East, where a large number of [[Arab]] and Muslim regimes and leaders have endorsed them as authentic, including endorsements from Presidents [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] and [[Anwar Sadat]] of [[Egypt]], President [[Abdul Salam Arif]] of [[Iraq]],<ref>Katz, S. and Gilman, S. ''Anti-Semitism in Times of Crisis''. NYU Press (1993), pp. 344–345. {{ISBN|0814730566}}</ref> King [[Faisal of Saudi Arabia|Faisal]] of [[Saudi Arabia]], and Colonel [[Muammar al-Gaddafi]] of [[Libya]].<ref name="Lewis 1986" /><ref name=ADL-IASHP>{{Citation|url=http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/arab/Arab_Anti-Semitism.pdf|title=Islamic Antisemitism in Historical Perspective|pages=8–9|publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030705140049/http://adl.org/anti_semitism/arab/Arab_Anti-Semitism.pdf|archive-date=2003-07-05 }}</ref> A translation made by an Arab Christian appeared in [[Cairo]] in 1927 or 1928, this time as a book. The first translation by an Arab Muslim was also published in Cairo, but only in 1951.<ref name="Lewis 1986">{{Citation|last=Lewis|first=Bernard|author-link=Bernard Lewis|title=Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice|year=1986|publisher=WW Norton & Co.|isbn=978-0-393-02314-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/semitesantisemit00lewi/page/199 199]|url=https://archive.org/details/semitesantisemit00lewi/page/199 }}</ref>
The [[1988 Hamas charter|1988 charter]] of [[Hamas]], a Palestinian Islamist group, stated that the ''Protocols'' embodies the plan of the Zionists.<ref name="yale1">{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp|title=Hamas Covenant|year=1988|publisher=Yale|access-date=May 27, 2010|quote=Today it is Palestine, tomorrow it will be one country or another. The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the [[Nile]] to the [[Euphrates]]. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.}}</ref> The reference was removed in the [[A Document of General Principles and Policies|new covenant issued in 2017]].<ref>{{cite web|author=The Islamic Resistance Movement|date=1 May 2017|title=A Document of General Principles and Policies|url=https://hamas.ps/en/post/678}}</ref> Recent endorsements in the 21st century have been made by the [[Grand Mufti]] of [[Jerusalem]], Sheikh [[Ekrima Sa'id Sabri]], and the education ministry of [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref name=ADL-IASHP /> The Palestinian Solidarity Committee of South Africa distributed copies of the ''Protocols'' at the [[World Conference against Racism 2001]].<ref name="JacobsWeitzman2003">{{cite book|author1=Steven L. Jacobs|author2=Mark Weitzman|title=Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8N0TwbYCycAC&pg=PA8|year=2003|publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc.|isbn=978-0-88125-786-1|page=8}}</ref> The book was sold during the conference in an exhibition tent set up for the distribution of antiracist literature.<ref name="Schoenberg2002">Schoenberg, Harris O. "Demonization in Durban: The World Conference Against Racism." The American Jewish Year Book 102 (2002): 85–111. Accessed October 27, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23604538.</ref><ref name="Bayefsky2002">
Bayefsky, Anne. "THE UN WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM: A RACIST ANTI-RACISM CONFERENCE." Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law) 96 (2002): 65–74. Accessed October 27, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25659754.</ref>
However, figures within the region have publicly asserted that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a forgery such as former Grand Mufti of Egypt [[Ali Gomaa]], who made an official court complaint concerning a publisher who falsely put his name on an introduction to its Arabic translation.<ref>al-Ahram, 1 January 2007</ref>
==== Finland ====
[[Pekka Siitoin]]'s [[Patriotic Popular Front]] published a new edition in the 1970s.<ref name=Nallipyssynatsi>Fasismia, terrorismia vai nallipyssynatsien leikkiä? Julkinen keskustelu Isänmaallisen Kansanrintaman toiminnasta loppuvuodesta 1977 Piipponen, Marko ; Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja kauppatieteiden tiedekunta, Historia- ja maantieteiden laitos ; Faculty of Social Sciences and Business, Department of Geographical and Historical Sciences</ref> In the 2000s, the Protocols were published by the [[Magneettimedia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sermones.fi/2018/01/valemedia-vaihtoehtoiset-totuudet/|work=Sermones|date=28 November 2024|title=Valemedia Vaihtoehtoiset totuudet}}</ref> In the 2020s, the Protocols have been republished by a pseudonymous individual suspected of being a researcher in [[University of Helsinki]] according to [[Demokraatti]].<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Demokraatti]]|url=https://demokraatti.fi/helsingin-yliopiston-tutkija-mukana-antisemitismiskandaalissa-epaillaan-netin-vihankylvajahahmoksi|date=23 March 2025|title=Helsingin yliopiston vieraileva tutkija mukana antisemitismiskandaalissa: epäillään netin vihankylväjähahmoksi}}</ref>
==== Greece ====
In 2012, The Protocols were read aloud in the [[Greek Parliament]] by one of its members, [[Ilias Kasidiaris]], of the neo-Nazi party [[Golden Dawn (Greece)|Golden Dawn]].<ref name="greek">{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-read-aloud-in-greek-parliament-1.472552|title=Protocols of the Elders of Zion read aloud in Greek Parliament|newspaper=Haaretz|date=2012-10-26}}</ref>
==== Contemporary conspiracy theories ====
{{See also|Conspiracy theory}}
The ''Protocols'' continue to be widely available around the world, particularly on the Internet.
''The Protocols'' is widely considered influential in the development of other conspiracy theories,{{citation needed|date=May 2015}} and reappears repeatedly in contemporary conspiracy literature. Notions derived from the ''Protocols'' include claims that the "Jews" depicted in the Protocols are a cover for the [[Illuminati]],<ref name="Freund2000" /> [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]], the [[Priory of Sion]] or, in the opinion of [[David Icke]], "[[Reptilian humanoid|extra-dimensional entities]]".<ref>{{cite news|last=Miren|first=Frankie|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-psychology-and-economy-of-conspiracy-theories-890/|title=The Psychology and Economy of Conspiracy Theories|work=Vice|date=20 January 2015|access-date=9 December 2019}}</ref> In his book ''And the truth shall set you free'' (1995), Icke asserted that the ''Protocols'' are genuine and accurate.<ref>{{cite news|last=Offley|first=Will|url=http://www.publiceye.org/Icke/IckeBackgrounder.htm|title=David Icke And The Politics Of Madness Where The New Age Meets The Third Reich|work=Political Research Associates|date=29 February 2000|access-date=9 December 2019}}</ref>
The Protocols are similar to the [[Eurabia]] conspiracy theory.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zia-Ebrahimi |first1=Reza |title=When the Elders of Zion relocated to Eurabia: conspiratorial racialization in antisemitism and Islamophobia |journal=Patterns of Prejudice |date=2018 |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=314–337 |doi=10.1080/0031322X.2018.1493876|s2cid=148601759 |url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/files/80805599/When_the_Elders_of_ZIA_EBRAHIMI_Accepted1September2017_GREEN_AAM.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bangstad |first1=Sindre |title=Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-26586-0 |edition=2nd |chapter=Western Islamophobia: The origins of a concept|quote=The “Eurabia” theory is a conspiracy theory directly analogous to the twentieth-century antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Meer |first1=Nasar |title=Key Concepts in Race and Ethnicity |date=2014 |publisher=Sage Publications Ltd |pages=70–74 |edition=Third |quote=These assessments have led Matt Carr (2011, p. 14) to note the ways in which ‘Eurabia bears many of the essential features of the invented antisemitic tract, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, in its presentation of European Muslims as agents in a conspiracy of world domination.}}</ref>
==Adaptations==
===Print===
[[Masami Uno]]'s book ''If You Understand Judea You Can Comprehend the World: 1990 Scenario for the 'Final Economic War''' became popular in Japan around 1987 and was based upon the ''Protocols''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jews, Japan, Boycott and Bigotry|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-04-28-8702010709-story.html|publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=1987-04-28}}</ref>
===Television===
In 2001–2002, [[Arab Radio and Television Network|Arab Radio and Television]] produced a 30-part television miniseries entitled ''Horseman Without a Horse'', starring prominent Egyptian actor [[Mohamed Sobhi (actor)|Mohamed Sobhi]], which contains dramatizations of the ''Protocols''. The United States and Israel criticized Egypt for airing the program.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2386767.stm "Egypt criticised for 'anti-Semitic' film"], ''[[BBC News]] Online'', November 1, 2002.</ref> ''[[Ash-Shatat]]'' (Arabic: الشتات ''The Diaspora'') is a 29-part Syrian television series produced in 2003 by a private Syrian film company and was based in part on the ''Protocols.'' Syrian national television declined to air the program. ''Ash-Shatat'' was shown on Lebanon's [[Al-Manar]], before being dropped.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=National Socialism and Anti-Semitism in the Arab World |journal=Jewish Political Studies Review |last=Küntzel |first=Matthias |author-link=Matthias Küntzel}}</ref> The series was shown in Iran in 2004, and in Jordan during October 2005 on Al-Mamnou, a Jordanian satellite network.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=A European Plot on the Arab Stage |last=Milson |first=Menahem |journal=Posen Papers in Contemporary Antisemitism |publisher=Sassoon Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem}}</ref>
==See also==
===Pertinent concepts===
* [[Black propaganda]]
* [[
* [[
* [[
* [[
* [[Pseudohistory]]
* [[Shadow government (conspiracy)]]
* [[World government]]
===Individuals===
* [[Martin Heidegger and Nazism]]
===Related or similar texts===
* ''[[Alta Vendita]]''
* The [[Cohen Plan]]
* [[1988 Hamas charter|Hamas Covenant]]
* ''[[Memoirs of Mr. Hempher, The British Spy to the Middle East]]''
* ''[[Our Race Will Rule Undisputed Over The World]]''
* ''[[The Prague Cemetery]]''
* ''[[A Protocol of 1919]]''
* ''[[Protocols of Zion (film)|Protocols of Zion]]'' (film)
* ''[[A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century]]''
* [[Tanaka Memorial]]
* ''[[Warrant for Genocide]]''
==
{{Notelist}}
==
'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}
'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin|26em}}
* {{cite book|title=The Lie That Wouldn't Die: One Hundred Years of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V8ltAAAAMAAJ|year= 2005|last= Ben-Itto|first= Hadassa|author-link=Hadassa Ben-Itto|publisher=Vallentine Mitchell|isbn=978-0-85303-602-9|___location=London; Portland, [[Oregon|OR]]}}
* {{Gutenberg|no=19200|name=Bernstein, Herman (1921): The History of a Lie}}
** {{cite book|last=Bernstein|first=Herman|author-link=Herman Bernstein|year=1921|format=page images|publisher=Archive|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofliethep00berniala|title=The history of a lie, 'The protocols of the wise men of Zion'|type=study|access-date=2009-02-01}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Stephen Bronner|last=Bronner|first=Stephen Eric|title=A Rumor About the Jews: Reflections on Antisemitism and ''the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion''|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|year=2000|___location=New York|isbn=9780312218041}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Stephen Bronner|last=Bronner|first=Stephen Eric|title=A Rumor About the Jews: Conspiracy, Antisemitism, and ''The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion''|edition=2nd|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|year=2019|isbn=9783030070274}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.skepdic.com/protocols.html|title=Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion|website=[[The Skeptic's Dictionary]]|first=Robert Todd|last=Carroll|author-link=Robert Todd Carroll|year=2006|access-date=February 25, 2021}}
* {{cite book|last=Chanes|first=Jerome A|title=Antisemitism: a reference handbook|publisher=[[ABC-Clio]]|year=2004}}
* {{cite book|first=Norman|last=Cohn|author-link=Norman Cohn|title=Warrant for Genocide, The myth of the Jewish world conspiracy and the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'|year=1967|publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode|isbn=978-1-897959-25-1|title-link=Warrant for Genocide }}
* {{cite book|last=De Michelis|first=Cesare G.|author-link=Cesare G. De Michelis|title=The Non-Existent Manuscript: A Study of the Protocols of the Sages of Zion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9uG1jsrOenwC&pg=PA113|year=2004|publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]]|isbn=978-0-8032-1727-0}}
* {{cite news|last=Graves|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Graves|title=The Truth about the Protocols: A Literary Forgery|place=London|newspaper=The Times|date=August 16–18, 1921|url=http://www.h-net.org/~antis/doc/graves/graves.a.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030809215759/http://www.h-net.org/~antis/doc/graves/graves.a.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 9, 2003}}
* {{cite news|url=http://emperor.vwh.net/antisem/first.pdf|title='Jewish World Plot': An Exposure. The Source of 'The Protocols of Zion'. Truth at Last|first=Philip|last=Graves|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 4, 1921b|at=Front p, Sec 7|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060304102238/http://emperor.vwh.net/antisem/first.pdf|archive-date=March 4, 2006}}
** {{cite book|last=Graves|first=Philip|url=https://archive.org/details/truthaboutthepro00londiala|title=The truth about 'The Protocols': a literary forgery|year=1921c|place=London|series=The Times|format=pamphlet|type=articles collection|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510140102/https://archive.org/details/truthaboutthepro00londiala|archive-date=May 10, 2013|publisher=London : The Times }}
* {{cite book|author-link=Michael Hagemeister|last=Hagemeister|first=Michael|title=Nationalist Myths and Modern Media. Contested Identities in the Age of Globalization|editor1-last=Brinks|editor1-first=Jan Herman|editor2-last=Rock|editor2-first=Stella|editor3-last=Timms|editor3-first=Edward|place=London/New York |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2006|pages=243–255}}
* {{cite journal|author-link=Michael Hagemeister|last=Hagemeister|first=Michael|title=The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: Between History and Fiction|journal=[[New German Critique]]|volume=35|issue=103|pages=83–95|doi=10.1215/0094033X-2007-020|jstor=27669221|year=2008 }}
* {{cite book|author-last=Hagemeister|author-first=Michael|chapter=The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in court: The Bern trials, 1933–1937|editor-last=Webman|editor-first=Esther|title=The Global Impact of 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'|place=London, New York|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2011|pages=241–253}}
* {{cite book|author-last=Hagemeister|author-first=Michael| title = The Perennial Conspiracy Theory — Reflections on the History of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion | publisher = Routledge | year = 2022 | isbn = 978-1-032-06015-6}}
* {{cite book|last1=Jacobs|first1=Steven Leonard|last2=Weitzman|first2=Mark|title=Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|year=2003|publisher=KTAV Publishing House |isbn=978-0-88125-785-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Kellogg|first=Michael|title=The Russian Roots of Nazism White Émigrés and the Making of National Socialism, 1917–1945|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2005}}
* {{cite book|last=Klier|first=John Doyle|title=Imperial Russia's Jewish Question, 1855–1881|year=2005|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0521023818}}
* {{cite book|last=Lüthi|first=Urs|language=de|title=Der Mythos von der Weltverschwörung: die Hetze der Schweizer Frontisten gegen Juden und Freimaurer, am Beispiel des Berner Prozesses um die 'Protokolle der Weisen von Zion'|place=Basel/Frankfurt am Main|publisher=Helbing & Lichtenhahn|year=1992|isbn=978-3-7190-1197-0|oclc=30002662}}
* {{cite book|author-last=Petrovsky-Shtern|author-first=Yohanan|chapter =The enemy of humanity: The Protocols paradigm in nineteenth-century Russian Mentality|editor-last=Webman|editor-first=Esther|title=The Global Impact of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. A century-old myth|place=London & New York|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2011|isbn=978-0-415-59892-7}}
* {{cite book|first=Daniel|last=Pipes|author-link=Daniel Pipes|year=1997|title=Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From|publisher=The Free Press, [[Simon & Schuster]]|isbn=978-0-684-83131-2|url=https://archive.org/details/conspiracy00dani }}
*{{cite book |last1=Pisanty |first1=Valentina |title=La difesa della razza: antologia 1938-1943 |date=2006 |publisher=Tascabili Bompiani |isbn=9788845214196 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVO5AAAAIAAJ |access-date=19 May 2025 |language=it}}
* {{cite book|last1=Ruud|first1=Charles|last2=Stepanov|first2=Sergei|title=The Tsar's Secret Police|chapter=10. Protocols, Masons and Liberals|publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]]|year=1999}}
* {{cite journal|author-link=Robert Singerman|last=Singerman|first=Robert|title=The American Career of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion|journal=American Jewish History|volume=71|year=1980}}
{{refend}}
'''Further reading'''
* {{Citation|author=American jewish Committee Staff|url=http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/F-45.PDF|title=Public Statement|publisher=[[The American Jewish Committee]] }}, 4 pp. A [[disclaimer]] published as a result of a conference held in New York City on November 30, 1920.
* {{cite book|author=Anti-Defamation League Staff|url=http://www.adl.org/special_reports/protocols/protocols_intro.asp|title=A Hoax of Hate|publisher=The [[Anti-Defamation League]]|year=2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051228055640/http://www.adl.org/special_reports/protocols/protocols_intro.asp|archive-date=2005-12-28 }}
* {{Citation|editor-last=Dickerson|editor-first=D|url=http://ddickerson.igc.org/protocols.html|type=Index of several resources|publisher=[[Institute for Global Communications]]|title=Protocols|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060424122316/http://ddickerson.igc.org/protocols.html|archive-date=2006-04-24 }}
* {{Citation|url=http://ddickerson.igc.org/The_Protocols_of_the_Learned_Elders_of_Zion.pdf|others=Marsden, transl.|publisher=IGC|editor-last=Dickerson|editor-first=D|title=The protocols of the learned Elders of Zion|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729103854/http://ddickerson.igc.org/The_Protocols_of_the_Learned_Elders_of_Zion.pdf|archive-date=2014-07-29 }}
* {{Citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/aug/17/society.umbertoeco|title=The poisonous Protocols|first=Umberto|last=Eco|author-link=Umberto Eco|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=August 17, 2002|access-date=August 17, 2016}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Will Eisner|last=Eisner|first=Will|title=The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion|isbn=978-0-393-06045-4|year=2005|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |url=https://archive.org/details/plotsecretsto00eisn}}
* {{Citation|author=Encyclopædia Britannica Staff|contribution-url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/480269/Protocols-of-the-Learned-Elders-of-Zion|contribution=Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|title-link=Britannica }}
* {{cite journal|first=Frank|last=Fox|title=The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the Shadowy world of Elie de Cyon|journal=East European Jewish Affairs|volume=27|issue=1|year=1997|pages=3–22|doi=10.1080/13501679708577838}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Isaac Goldberg|last=Goldberg|first=Isaac|title=The so-called "Protocols of the Elders of Zion": a Definitive Exposure of One of the Most Malicious Lies in History|place=Girard, [[Kansas|KS]]|publisher=[[E. Haldeman-Julius]]|year=1936}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Danilo Kiš|last=Kiš|first=Danilo|contribution=The Book of Kings and Fools|title=The Encyclopedia of the Dead|year=1989|publisher=Faber & Faber}}
* {{cite book|editor1-link=Richard Landes|editor1-last=Landes|editor1-first=Richard|editor2-last=Katz|editor2-first=Steven|title=Paranoid Apocalypse: A Hundred-Year Retrospective on 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'|place=New York|publisher=New York University Press|year=2012}}
* {{Citation|last=Matussek|first=Carmen|url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/14007/wjc_analysis_carmen_matussek_the_protocols_of_the_elders_of_zion_in_the_arab_world|title=The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the Arab world|publisher=[[World Jewish Congress]] website|year=2013}}
* {{Citation|author=Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance Staff|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/jud_blib4.htm|title=Antisemitic Propaganda: 'The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion'|publisher=[[Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance]]|date=September 2004}}
* {{Citation|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/protocols.html|title=The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|publisher=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]}}
* {{Citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/21/arts/design/21holo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin|type=exhibition review|title=The Antisemitic Hoax That Refuses to Die|first=Edward|last=Rothstein|author-link=Edward Rothstein|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 21, 2006}}
* {{cite book |last=Shibuya |first=Eric |chapter=The Struggle with Violent Right-Wing Extremist Groups in the United States |title=Countering terrorism and insurgency in the 21st century |editor-last=Forest |editor-first=James |publisher=Greenwood |year=2007}}
* Sykes, Christopher. "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" ''History Today'' (Feb 1967), Vol. 17 Issue 2, pp. 81–88
* {{cite book|author-link=Kenneth R. Timmerman|last=Timmerman|first=Kenneth R|title=Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America|year=2003|publisher=Crown Forum|isbn=978-1-4000-4901-1|url=https://archive.org/details/preachersofhatei00timm}}
* {{Citation|author=United States Holocaust Museum Staff|url=http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/pdf/senate-protocols.pdf|title=Protocols of the Elders of Zion; a fabricated 'historic' document|type=report|publisher=Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 88th Congress, 2d Session|place=[[United States Holocaust Museum]]|date=August 6, 1964|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528134535/http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/pdf/senate-protocols.pdf|archive-date=May 28, 2008 }}
* {{Citation|url=http://forward.com/articles/103587/|title=Elders of Zion to Retire|first=Anthony|last=Weiss|type=[[Purim]] spoof article|newspaper=The Jewish Daily Forward|date=March 4, 2009}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Lucien Wolf|last=Wolf|first=Lucien|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6_IHAAAAIAAJ&q=The+Protocols+and+World+Revolution&pg=PA15|title=The Myth of the Jewish Menace in World Affairs or, The Truth About the Forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion|place=New York|publisher=Macmillan|year=1921}}
==External links==
{{Portal|1900s|Literature|Judaism|Russia}}
{{Commons category|Protocols of the Elders of Zion}}
{{Wikisource|The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion}}
* [https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-key-dates Protocols of the Elders of Zion: Key Dates] – The Holocaust Encyclopedia (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
* [https://archive.org/details/protocolsofthelearnedeldersofzion ''The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion''] translated by Victor E. Marsden at [[archive.org]]
* [https://archive.org/details/Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (Original Russian Edition)''] at [[archive.org]]
* [https://vault.fbi.gov/protocols-of-learned-elders-of-zion FBI historical documents]
{{Antisemitism topics}}
{{Conspiracy theories}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The}}
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