The Protocols reached Germany sometime around 1918. One of those who brought them to Germany was Alfred Rosenberg, an Estonian of German heritage who first encountered the Protocols when a student in Moscow. According to Rosenberg a stranger entered his room, placed the book on the table and silently departed. Whether his tale was true or not, Rosenberg soon became an anti-Semite convinced of the authenticity of the Protocols. When he fled Raval (now Talinn) in the civil war that followed the Russian Revolution, he took the Protocols with him. In Germany Rosenberg soon became involved with a mystical group that was a precursor to National Socialism known as the Thule Society where he frequently lectured about the Protocols. Rosenberg was there to explain the mysteries of the Protocols when Adolf Hitler appeared on the stage of right-wing politics in 1921. Rosenberg was at Hitler's side during the attempted putsch in Munich in 1923. By then the Protocols had become one of the central themes of Nazi thought. The Protocols were the basis for much of Mein Kampf, and Rosenberg's book The Myth of the 20th Century became the most important exposition of Nazi philosophy. It was already known that the Protocols were a forgery when Hitler received his first copy. The exposure of the forgery began as soon as the
The anti-Semitic agitation of the Nazis was international in scope. The Protocols was the chief weapons used in the propaganda campaign against the Jews. Under the direction of Joseph Goebbels, the Protocols were translated into many other languages and the world was flooded with cheap editions of the forged document. With Henry Ford's "The International Jew" (also based in large part on the Protocols), it became the staple text for the anti-Semitism exported by the Nazis around the world. In Mein Kampf, Hitler described the importance of the Protocols to his program of anti-Semitism:
Even today the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is one of the principal propaganda weapons of anti-Semitism. In the United States it continues to be circulated by the Christian Identity movement, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups. It is still distributed by those who deny the Holocaust as well. The Institute for Historical Review - the intellectual center of the movement denying the Holocaust - continues to sell the Protocols and it is still used to attack Jews. Ernst Zündel, who states openly that he is an admirer of Hitler and claims the Holocaust never happened, still repeats the lies of the Protocols:
Nor is the United States the only country and English the only language where the Protocols are still being distributed as fact. The Protocols are available in virtually every European country. Translated into Arabic, the Protocols have become a standard text for anti-Semitism in the Middle East. Translated into Japanese, millions of the copies of the Protocols are still being distributed around the Pacific Rim. "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" has become a lie that will not die, no matter how often it is exposed as a forgery. Where to start your researchNorman Cohn, "Warrant for Genocide" Serif Press (1967, 1996) is the most complete history of the Protocols. Albert Lee, "Henry Ford and the Jews" Stein & Day (1980) explains how they were used by Henry Ford and distributed throughout the world. Michael Barkan, "Religion and the Racist Right" University of North Carolina Press (Revised Edition; 1997) explains how the Protocols influenced the Christian Identity movement. D. Sklar, "The Nazis and the Occult" Dorset Press (1977, 1989) explains the connection between the Thule Society and Nazi thought. The text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and several articles about it can be read at: http://www.igc.org/ddickerson/protocols.html. | ||||||||||
Last modified: June 1, 1999
|