Trudy Gold
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Trudy Gold | The Protocols of the Elders of Zion | 07.07.22
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- Well, good afternoon, everyone, from completely fractured Britain. Those of you who come from Britain, I’m sure you’ve been glued to the television, to the state that I just can’t cope anymore. And of course, now, I’m going to look at a very troublesome, difficult era in Jewish history. But the problem is the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” that notorious forgery, it just doesn’t go away. And I’m going to begin by giving a quote from a very good historian called Daniel Pipes. Before I do that, I should mention that the two best books on “The Protocols.” The seminal one that was written in the 60s by Norman Cohn, Professor Norman Cohn, he was a German Jew and a professor at Sussex University. It’s called “Warrant for Genocide.” He took “The Protocols” that far that they actually became almost a licence to kill. The other very good book is by an Israeli professor of law, Professor Hadassa Ben-Itto, and her title is “The Lie That Wouldn’t Die.” I could recommend either of these books. And of course, Steve Zipperstein has written very interesting things on it.
The tragedy of “The Protocols” is it doesn’t go away. And so, I’m going to begin, as I said, by reading from Daniel Pipes. “The great importance of ‘The Protocols’ lies in permitting antisemites to reach beyond traditional circles and find a large international audience, a process that continues to this day. The vagueness, almost no names or no dates, have been one of the keys to its success. Also that the Jews had used all the tools available, capitalism, communism, philo and antisemitism, democracy and tyranny, and even destruction of elements of its own people make it possible to all, rich and poor, right and left, Christian and Muslim, American and Japanese. Jews always scheme. Jews are everywhere. Jews are behind every institution. The shadowy Elders are behind everything.” Now, this is Steve Zipperstein. “The rise of liberalism has provided Jews with the tools to destroy institutions, the nobility, the church, the sanctity of marriage. Soon they will take control as the world, as part of a revenge plot dating back to the ascendancy of Christianity. The text ostensibly narrated by a Jewish leader. Jews feel that their triumph is imminent. The world will fall into the hands of a cunning elite who have schemed forever and are now fated to rule the world till the end of time.”
Now, these are quotations on that evil, little book, and the point about it is, it’s been translated into 120 languages. It’s published all over the world. Can we have a look at some of the front covers? Yeah. I didn’t know which to choose, really. If you want to go onto the website, you will see so many. Here you see the ugly Jew with his hands around the world. Another one, which is from a Spanish edition. You will see the Christ figure, of course, completely dejudaized. There you have the cover of the British edition, the first British edition of “The Protocols.” And the fourth one is an Egyptian edition of “The Protocols.” I, myself, actually have three copies of “The Protocols”. The first I brought on a black activist bookshop store in New York City in the 70s. The second was given to me by a student. He bought it from the mosque in Regents Park. And the third, I actually bought myself. I managed to get a copy of the first edition, believe it or not, in a charity bookshop. So the point about it, it’s a little pamphlet that talks about the Jewish plot to take over the world. And this text is ostensibly, as I said, it’s narrated by a Jewish leader and Jewish triumph soon will happen. And soon the world will fall into a cunning elite. And of course, when “The Protocols” came out, and I’m going to talk about that, it comes out of Russia, although the first writings of it were probably in France at the time of the Dreyfus affair. “The Protocols” work.
Why do they work? Because at a time of economic, social, and political fragility, people like conspiracy theories. We all like conspiracy theories. Is Elvis really dead? What happened to Marilyn Monroe? Who killed Princess Diana? In a way, they are relatively harmless. Weird, but harmless. On the other hand, with “The Protocols,” people look for sinister things. The Jews who are everywhere, they are visible in communism, they are visible in capitalism, they’re visible in business. Perhaps they are all working together to take over the world. Today, you still find it sold all over the Arab world. It’s become a very important book in Russian Orthodox bookshops in Russia today. It’s totally readily available. And that’s another problem. You know, this whole issue of censorship, I believe passionately in freedom of speech and also freedom of the written word, but there is a clause in British law that it incites racial hatred. Well, believe me, “The Protocols” incites racial hatred.
So it has a huge following on the far right. It’s all over America with the far rightest groups, the evangelicals, neo-Nazis, of course, also those who believe that in Israel, conspiracy theories that Israel is, if you like, at the centre of a world Jewish plot. Depending on your particular strange political deviation, “The Protocols” will work. It’s spread in Japan. You don’t need Jews there for “The Protocols” to spread. And the narrative is actually about a crucial moment in history just before a cataclysm. So the notion that the world is actually in a cabal, we hear this so often. Sometimes it’s the Freemasons, but, you see, the Jews make the most plausible, the problem is it’s plausible. And this is, again, Zipperstein. “At a jittery moment, when the world is cascading out of control, what is revealing is that ‘The Protocols’ have shed its archaic feel.” So, as I said, it’s as pertinent today as it was then. And it’s one of the most dangerous books. Are we going to go with Norman Cohn’s title, “Warrant for Genocide?” Now, “The Protocols,” a summary of “The Protocols.” Now it’s meant to be a meeting of the Elders of Zion. I’m going to talk about where it actually comes from because people who’ve exposed it as a forgery have done a lot of work on where it actually comes from.
But what I’m going to do is to give you the various scope of “The Protocols.” So you have this shadowy meeting of the Elders of Zion representing the 12 tribes of Israel. In one of the versions, they actually meet in a graveyard in Prague. Now, they want to induce alcoholism in the population. They want to destroy the privileges of the Gentile aristocracy. They’re very much into the propagation of ideas. It comes out at the end of the 19th, early 20th century. So what are the ideas that must be destroyed? It’s a very right-wing conspiracy theory. Darwinism, Marxism, Nietzsche. Nietzsche is a huge target with his notion of the death of God. Liberalism, socialism, communism, anarchy. The Jews, this cabal, who meet in the graveyard, they’re going to use all these ideas to destroy the establishing order. Their aim is world government. They believe in short wars. Let’s make as much trouble as possible. Also, we will even stage catastrophes against our own people so that we can claim the high moral ground. Tragically, this is still used, this notion, that terrible, terrible calumny, that the Zionists cooperated with the Nazis. That’s how deep it goes. And don’t forget what Zipperstein said. “It’s the Jewish revenge against Christianity.”
This mad idea that the Jews, for 2,000 years, have been plotting revenge against the Christians. What we must do, the Elders of Zion, what they must do is curtail all civil liberties with the excuse of making everything safe. We create an illusion of freedom of the press, freedom of speech, human rights, all of which we must control. We must control the press, so we control everything. Pornography is a great tool for us to use because it distracts people. Give people bread, give people circuses, give them entertainment. Go into the entertainment business. Keep the population sheep-like and down. We must destroy Christianity. We must destroy Islam and all other religions and cultures. There must be a transition to atheism. And then eventually, the Jews and Judaism will rule the world. What we must do is try and brainwash. Other editions bring the whole notion of psychoanalysis in. We will create economic depression because that will make people more vulnerable to us. We must undermine the financial systems. We must create foreign loans and then pull them away. We must create national bankruptcy. What we also have to do is to train our elect of Israel, and of course, we work with the Freemasons. So that, basically, is the kind of analysis of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” It’s actually mad, but what it does is it points to the fact that the Rothschilds control business, that Marx controls communism.
So consequently, I mean, what on earth did Karl Marx have to do with the house of Rothschild? It’s totally mad. But today, they talk about Soros. And Macron gets a lot of problems in France because he once worked for Rothschild. And of course “The Protocols” are going to be most important at the time of the Russian Revolution. So, and as we’ve discussed already, and we’ll be discussing more, so many of the leaders of the revolutionary parties were Jews. Now, Jews have thrown away their Judaism. But the point is, if you are a conspiracy theorist, you believe that every Jew is in league with every other Jew. Now, austere scholars agree, they’re the product of the dying embers of the Russian Empire. Now, according to Hadassa Ben-Itto in her book, “The Lie That Wouldn’t Die,” they first appear in the home of Grand Prince Sergei. Now you will remember that Grand Prince Sergei was the governor of Moscow, he was the uncle of Nicholas II, the brother of Alexander III. And his wife was the sister of Alexandra, the wife of Nicholas II. So basically, he was the man, if you remember, when he became governor of Moscow, most of the Jews of Moscow were given 24 hours notice to get out. He’s a violent antisemite, and he’s an advisor to the tsar. His wife had helped to appoint a woman called Yelena Ozerova to be a lady in waiting to Alexandra. And a Yelena’s uncle, Phillip Stiffener was a welcome guest. And he presents to the Prince, a manuscript entitled, “Subjugation to the World of the Jews,” in which it talks about a Judeo-Masonic conspiracy.
And he explained that there were 24 protocols. Sergei seized on it and had printed “The Ancient and Modern Protocols.” Now, the Minister of Finance, Witte, who was one of the liberals, you’ve got to remember Russia, in the last embers of the Russian Empire, there is still a division between the forces of conservatism and the forces of liberalism within the context of Russia. He was trying to stabilise Russia. He was alarmed. He believed it was a total forgery, and he believed it came from reactionary forces in the Okhrana. Now, the document next appears in a paper called “The Bessarabets” by Pavel Krushevan. But what I want to do first is to go, because people finally worked out where the forgery came from. So I want to look at the forgery first. So can we see the first slide of Hermann Goedsche, please? Yes, Herman Goedsche, he was a journalist. He was born in Silesia. He was an agent of the Prussian secret police, very right-wing, very antisemitic, working at the time of the gradual unification of Prussia. Remember, Bismarck has taken over the state of Prussia through three wars. He manages, finally, in 1870/1871 to unify Germany.
So he’s a staunch German nationalist. He’s violently anti-Jewish and working for the German secret police. His job was to forge letters from democratic leaders. He was totally anti-democratic. He believed in autocracy. And he wrote a book in called “Biarritz” in the form of a historical romance. And in it, he has a chapter in the Jewish cemetery in Prague, where he talks about the secret nocturnal meeting of 13 Jews who represent the tribes of Israel and the exile. And they’re reporting on their plans to take over the world. Unfortunately, this romance, this, inverted commas, was taken as real, and it first comes into Russia, then Paris, and then Prague. And this chapter in this book is constantly used by the people who are supporting “The Protocols” as proof that “The Protocols” actually exist. So it was a novel, basically, by a right-wing antisemite, which has a nasty chapter in it. And please don’t forget, in Germany, the Jews were at a very pivotal point in German history. The leader of German’s social democracy, Lassalle, happened to be a Jew. Bismarck’s banker, Bleichroder, was a Jew. Again, you get these talented individuals who are working as individuals. Look, the real money and the real power in Germany was never in Jewish hands. But the point is, this is a man who is obsessed that the Jews can never be Germans and they are a nation of their own.
Now, the second binding factor is a very strange one. It’s from a book called “Maurice” by Maurice Joly. Can we see his face please? Now, Maurice Joly, and he’s writing in France, he’s a French satirist. He’s a political writer, and he’s writing during the reign of Napoleon III. And Napoleon III was an autocrat. And this man is a liberal democrat. And in his book, he has a chapter on a dialogue in hell between Machiavelli and Montesquieu. And what happens is this notion from a French satire is taken and put into “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” So basically, Joly actually, he borrowed this material from a popular novel by Eugene Sue, called “The Mysteries of the People.” In his case, the plotters were, in fact, Jesuits. The Jesuits in France were very much part of the forces of the right. Don’t forget France, Germany, polarisation of politics. France was soon to erupt into the Dreyfus affair, that also comes into the story. Now it is banned in France, nothing to do with the Jews, as a satire against Napoleon III. He was actually imprisoned for sedition and probably committed suicide. He died, he probably committed suicide. Now, let us go on, because the next man in the story, can we see his face?
This is Pyotr Rachkovsky, a very sinister figure, 1853 to 1910. He was based in Paris between 1885 and 1902. And he was head of the Okhrana in Paris. Paris, think about the dates he’s there. He’s there at the height of the Dreyfus affair. When the whole of France is galvanised by this traitor, inverted commas, Dreyfus. And of course, Dreyfus is eventually totally exonerated. It was the Dreyfus affair that plunged Herzl into Zionism because Herzl realised that if France could erupt with such savagery, it could happen anywhere. Now, so what he does, one of his agents is a woman called Yuliana Glinka. She was a Russian oculist, a theosophist, minor aristocrat. There were all these kind of strange circles, emigre circles in Paris and in Berlin. Also, theosophy was popular in London. As we moved to the year 1900, what is happening to the world? A fear of industrialization, a fear of modernity, which enemies always saw as Jewish. So she and he, the agent and her boss, were violent antisemites. And it is believed that they smuggle the first of these chapters into Russia.
So it’s coming in various directions because it’s not yet codified. And now we have to turn to the man, who more than anything else, was responsible for the real promulgation of “The Protocols”. So can we see the next slide, please, Judi? This is Pavel Krushevan Now, Lenin referred to reactionaries in time of the revolution as Krushevans. Yiddish song cited him as a murderous oppressor of the Jews. And he was the main author of the terrible Krushevan pogrom. “The Protocols” were released by him in his newspaper, “The Bessarabets,” in late August, early September, 1903, in “St. Petersburg Newspaper.” He had already, in his paper, “The Bessarabets,” talked of the blood libel and had whipped up the mob into the obscene pogrom, the Kishinev pogrom, which was a blood libel pogrom. He was a clever man. He was a totally twisted man. Ironically, much of his early life had been spent surrounded by Jews. He came from a town called Soroksky, which was 60% Jewish, and most of the stores were owned by Jews. And his beloved sister, Anastasia, ran away with a Jew. And his other sister believed that that was what completely turned him against Jews. He started out as a liberal, but by the 1890s, he’d embraced pan-Slavism, conservatism, orthodoxy. He was very involved with that very kind of sinister, right-wing, pan-Slavism. And he, as I said, he took control of “The Bessarabets” and he produced it himself. He was a prolific writer, and he’d already published his most ambitious book, “What is Russia?” It became a very important book.
And what he said as he went through Russia, he thought that the Jews were a totally alien group. And he wrote, “How can Russia survive with this alien mass?” He crisscrosses the Pale, he looks at the beauty of the countryside, and the relentless pollution. As he said, “The Jews are polluting Russia.” Now, and he, in this book, “What is Russia?” he says that the Jews can only be true to their land. He says this, “They have lost all capacity to work the land or live in a way that healthy people readily do. They do not believe there is anything of value in the Christian world and are obstinate. They persist in isolationism despite all those the humiliations they have suffered since Titus and the hatred levelled against them everywhere they live. As the Jewish population expands, 5 million aliens wedged against Russia’s western borders, perilously close to Russia’s enemies. The problem must be solved.” So this book, he got a commendation from Nicholas II. He’s becoming a very important, famous journalist. And don’t forget that Nicholas II, himself, is very antisemitic. He, and of course, his wife. When Alexandra was actually taken away at Yekaterinburg, there was a copy of “The Protocols” by her bedside. And of course, it was in the spring of 1903, as I’ve already mentioned, to coincide with Easter and Passover, that he published an accusation of the ritual murder. And it led, on Easter Sunday, 1903, to the appalling Kishinev pogrom, which had such an impact.
Not only did it lead to appalling death and destruction, and it was particularly pernicious. Why? Because it was a garrison town, and the murderers were allowed to go on the rampage for two days before the police went in and cleaned it up within an hour, the garrison. But it was in his St. Petersburg paper that he released in nine serial editions, “The World Union of Freemasons and the Sages of Zion, the Ultimate Conspiracy Theory.” And so, Krushevan, his version laid down the plan that the Jews had threatened to take over the world. In his version, they all swear an oath on the golden calf that emerges from the rabbi’s grave in the cemetery of Prague. It’s absolute madness. And after each representative has spoken, according to his version, Satan, in a ball of fire, speaks to them from the grave. But newspapers are perishable. And to obtain a more lasting effect, it has to be written in a book. Now, was this the brainchild of Rachkovsky, the head of the Okhrana? Because it was actually written, the book form, slightly different again. It was written by a man called Sergei Nilus, who was the husband of Yelena Ozerova, a lady in waiting to the Empress Alexandra. So can we see the next of the gallery of horror?
This is Sergei Nilus. He was of Swedish descent, a minor aristocrat. He studied law at Moscow University. He was totally unsuited to the law so he went to work on his family estate. He was unsuited to that. He completely broke off relations with his family. He fled to Paris in 1894. He had a total mental collapse, and he emerges from that, a completely obsessive fanatic for the Russian Orthodox Church. He’s obsessed with mysticism and the coming of the antichrist. The year 1900, the coming of the antichrist. He’s there for the Dreyfus affair. He is completely uncompromising. He’s anti-liberal. He’s against any constitutional reform. He’s a staunch supporter of the Black Hundreds. And his book, his version of “The Protocols”. You see, this is where the mystery is. How much did “The Protocols” merge with one another? There are three versions. Sergei Nilus, his book, “The Great Within the Small,” it coincides with the 1905 revolution, which William and I have both talked about. That revolution, if you like, the dress rehearsal for the revolution of 1917. And all the forces of conservatism, they were horrified that the tsar had summoned a Duma. They were anti-liberal, they’re anti-democratic. The tsar rules through God. There is the coming of the new Messianic age. The antichrist is the enemy.
So it’s published in 1905 to coincide with the revolution because obviously, it’s the perfect scapegoat. Because so many people of Jewish descent were involved in revolution. The Bund was on the barricades, even though the Bund had been expelled from the party by the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. Nevertheless, they were still on the barricades. Now, so it’s there. Now, I’ll just tell you what happened to him. He survived in Russia. He was arrested many times by the Soviets. “The Protocols” was completely illegal under the communists. And he dies in 1929 of a heart attack. So that’s Sergei Nilus. But these individuals did unbelievable damage. And of course, it’s in the course of the Russian Civil War that it all goes completely haywire because think about it, the communist revolution, Lev Davidovich Bronstein, the fact that Lenin was the father of the revolution, ironically, turned out he had a Jewish grandmother. But the point is, also, one of the stories was that the Bolsheviks had received millions of dollars from Jacob Schiff. Now, that wasn’t true, but certainly back in 1905, he had persuaded the American government to exert itself to help Jews in those terrible pogroms.
But it’s after the Russian Revolution. Please don’t forget that after the Russian Revolution, civil war breaks out throughout Russia. Trotsky, the brilliant commander and creator of the Red Army, he was later written out of history by Stalin. But Trotsky created the Red Army. He’s fighting on many fronts. Civil war erupts, the Ukrainian Cossacks, they go for liberty in inverted commas. The Poles, there’s a war with the Poles. And the French, the Americans, and the British send troops in to try and stop the Soviets because of the notion of internationalism. Think of the first line of the manifesto, “Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains.” And what happens to “The Protocols,” with the number of Jews in the revolution and also the horror of the First World War and the pandemic that followed it, and you know, the destruction of a whole order. If you want to understand the Second World War, you have to study the First World War. It was totally calamitous on every level. And you may remember that last year, we looked at in a lot of detail through Patrick and culture, through David and literature with William and me from history.
So basically, that calamitous war. And yet, the Soviets held. And please don’t forget that it was the Jew, Trotsky, with his Jewish aide, Adolph Joffe, that signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the German high command. Now, many of the White Russians, who had fought the communists, came out of Russia and they had with them, in their backpacks, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” And by 1919, “The Protocols” go on their world journey. So it begins in Russia. It’s commissioned by the agent of the Okhrana. There are various versions. And now, it’s on the march out of Russia. And the plausibility factor was, of course, because so many of the high-level members of the Soviet government were of Jewish birth. And I can talk until I’m purple and say, what on earth did Trotsky have in common with the capitalists of the West, or the Jews of the Bund, or the Zionists? But the point is, and this is the key to understanding “The Protocols,” it takes on that every Jew is in league with every other Jew. So whether you are a businessman, or whether you are in the press, or whether you are a doctor, or whether you are a political character, whether you’re left, whether you’re right, all you really have in common is that you are together with all these other Jews. And in your own way, you are all plotting to take over the world. That is “The Protocols.”
And that’s why it is such a sinister, nasty, little book, because I don’t need to tell you how it’s being spread today. Okay, it goes west through two fanatics, Pyotr Shabelsky-Bork and Fyodor Vinberg. Can we see Bork’s picture, please? Now, he was born in the Caucasus. His father was a rich landowner and his mother was a leading member of the Black Hundreds. Now, he was the editor of the “Black Hundreds Periodical” and already an author of an antisemitic tract called “The Satanists of the 20th Century.” Shall we have a picture of the Black Hundreds, please? I’ve already told you about the Black Hundreds. They were active particularly in the pogroms after the failed Duma. And the tsar was their president. And they would go on the rampage through the Pale of Settlement. It was a very, very evil organisation. And of course, it had the sanction, you can see the cross, it had the sanction of the Russian Orthodox Church. Now he joined the Black Hundreds very early. He served as an officer in the tsarist army, and he went to a Yekaterinburg to inquire after the murder of the imperial family. And of course, both him and Vinberg. Vinberg was born in Kiev, the son of a general, he was a member of the Confraternity Of St. Michael The Archangel, right-wing, spiritualist, Pan-Slavs. They were both arrested by the Soviets. They both escaped to the Ukraine. They joined the pogromists in Kiev because the pogromists, the armies of the Ukrainians fighting the Soviets murdered upwards of about 70,000 Jews. It’s a terrible story that I will be recounting a little later on in the course. Both of them hero-worshiped Alexandra.
Now, when the Germans evacuated, remember they do a peace deal. They provided trains for any officer in the tsarist army who wanted to accompany them. And they arrived in Germany in the midst of a revolution. Okay? The end of the war, revolution breaks out in Berlin led by Rosa Luxemburg. In Munich, and we’ve covered this, there were three successive revolutions and the minority of the leadership were of Jewish birth. Now he contacts a man called Lud Miller, the pen name of Gottfried zu Beck. He’s a retired army captain. Remember, these are Russian aristocrats. So they’ll be welcomed in right-wing circles. And don’t forget that when the Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated, he said, “I’ve been destroyed by the Jews, the Communists, and the Freemasons.” And they gave zu Beck a copy of Nilus’ book, “The Great and the Small,” and the two Russians collaborated in producing a yearbook called “Ray of Light.” And in May, 1920 issue, it contains the full text of Nilus’ book. And this is what they wrote. “Germany is relatively free of the democratic malady. ‘The Protocols’ circulate freely, and the workers are revising their socialist programmes. Lectures on Jewish dominion are being given everywhere. It is Germany’s enemies, England and France, that constitute the stronghold of the Elders.” And according to them and their madness. I’m quoting again. “Already in the 18th century, England, at the behest of the Elders, paid such men as Rousseau, Voltiare, and the Encyclopedistes to undermine France.
More recently, they paid Tolstoy and Gorky to undermine Russia. The French Revolution was planned and paid for by the Elders. And so were the Russian and German revolutions of 1917/19.” They blame the Elders for every war. But you can see how insane it is. I don’t have to go into it. Voltaire was a real antisemite anyway. It’s absolute balderdash. And it’s at this stage, another German aristocrat, a man called Prince Otto zu Salm-Horstmar, who became a sponsor of “The Protocols.” And he said, “Look, Germany’s lost the war because of the Jews. It’s a part of the Jewish plan.” So in April, 1919, a notorious antisemite called Theodor Fritsch. Can we see him? He, can we see, yeah. Theodor Fritsch, he’s going to be one of the mentors of Adolf Hitler. He already had created antisemitic unions in Germany. He was very paternalistic. He loved the volk. He wanted to destroy anything that was contrary to the pure German volk. And of course, later on, he’s going to become an important part of the Nazi party. So he printed in his “Hammer.” This is a prophecy made according to him by a Jewish revolutionary in Paris in 1895. “In 30 years, Germany will be involved in a great war, which it will lose. Then on the ruins of the German Empire, we shall rebuild our empire as Jehovah promised with a second Solomon as king.” So, through him, “The Protocols” are published, they’re edited as a different title, “The Secrets of the Elders of Zion.”
Now, Prince Otto zu Salm-Horstmar raised the money and a professional politician, shall we see his face? Count Ernst zu Reventlow, he was a leading member of the Volkisch Bloc, who later joined the Nazis. He propagated “The Protocols” in his own newspaper, which was called “Guardian of the Reich.” Now, he says, “The great struggle has begun. This book will bring salvation to our people.” Sales escalate. It’s reprinted twice within a month of publication. And another three times before the end of 1920. Its sales in Germany alone reached 120,000. It fans the rise of the Nazis. Streicher was always publishing extracts from it. Hitler quotes from it in “Mein Kampf.” By 1933, there are 33 editions of zu Beck’s translation. And then of course, it’s going to spread. It’s going to spread to America. And I’ll come onto that in a minute. In 1923, Graf zu Reventlow was involved in a law case because he actually claimed that Ahad Ha'am who I talked about yesterday was in fact, and of course, his real name was Asher Ginsberg was one of the Elders of Zion. And agents of Asher Ginsberg actually sued him. But he withdrew before and had to give money. So the next stage is it crosses the channel. In January, 1920, “The London Times” discusses respectfully, the German edition of a tract dated 1919. It called for an inquiry into which it called “An uncanny note of prophecy.”
And what was published was the first English edition, “The Jewish Peril: Protocols of the Learned or Elders of Zion.” Its first edition is credited by a British correspondent of “The Morning Post” in Russia, Victor Marsden. In 1925, editions have sold out in England. In fact, “The Times” actually said, “Have we escaped a Pax Germanica to fall under the spell of a Pax Judaica?” “The Spectator” devoted a long editorial review. They believed it was actually original, it was true. “‘The Protocols’ were a very great ability, brilliant in their moral perversity and intellectual depravity, and indeed one of the most remarkable reductions of their kind.” This again, this is Norman Cohn’s research. This is again, in “The Spectator,” October the 16th, 1920. “We shall be justified in moving with great caution in our admission of Jews to the fullest rank of citizenship. We must drag the conspirators into the open, tear off their ugly masks and show the world how ridiculous as well as how evil and dangerous are such parts of society.” “Blackwood’s Magazine,” a very important magazine, insisted that if the country was to be from the Bolsheviks, Jews must be excluded from all areas of influence. “Plain English,” beg your pardon, a periodical that was written by Lord Alfred Douglas, who of course, was the boyfriend of Oscar Wilde. And he said that the minor strike in England at the time is because the Jews are trying to stir up trouble.
And it’s at this stage that it’s unmasked as a forgery and it’s unmasked by two people. One of them is Philip Graves. I haven’t got a picture of him. I looked everywhere. Can we see the next slide? So all I could find was his gravestone. He was a fabulous man. He was the uncle of Graves, the great writer, who of course wrote “I, Claudius.” He was born into a prominent Anglo-Irish family. He was the, sorry, he was the half-brother, not the uncle of Robert Graves. He was the correspondent of “The Times” in Constantinople. And he was in the British Army in the Middle East, 1915 to 1919. He knew Jabotinsky well. He was a friend of Lawrence of Arabia. He moved in Jewish circles. He was a captain in army intelligence. He and Lawrence of Arabia worked on the Turkish army manual for the Arab Bureau. But he was no enemy of the Jews. In fact, he had sympathy for the Zionists. And he was in the Cairo Intelligence Department. He reported on the Anglo-Irish war in 1919. He later became “The Times” foreign correspondent in India, in the Balkans. And later on, he was the editor in “The Times.” And it’s he, in 1921, in a series of articles, he exposed that “The Protocols” were, in fact, a total forgery. And the forgery is published on August, 1921.
They published it in its centre pages, three consecutive days that “The Protocols” were a forgery. And he did his research. They’re based on the dialogue in Machiavelli’s dialogue in Hell. And “The Leader” said the “End of ‘The Protocols.’” “Eyre & Spottiswoode,” which has been publishing it. They were, in fact, the publishers to the royal family. They declined to reprint it. And so it’s exposed, and it’s further exposed on September the fourth, 1921. And the article is reprinted in “The New York Times.” And this article, it is actually based on a book by a man called Herman Bernstein and also Lucien Wolf, the London journalist Lucien Wolf, he also worked on debunking the myth, and he traced the origins back to Joly and Goedsche. Here you have a lovely sort of caricature of Lucien Wolf. He was a fascinating character. He was the son of a wealthy Jewish pipe maker from Bohemia and his Jewish Viennese wife. He was very, very smart, as was Philip Graves. He became a journalist at 17, editor of “The Jewish World.” Later editor. He was foreign editor of “The Daily Graphic.” He went under the nom de plume, Diplomaticus. The pogrom sparked his interest in Jewish affairs in Russia. And he wrote a supplement for “The Jewish Chronicle” entitled “Darkest Russia.”
In fact, when war broke out, it ended his career in journalism, because of course, the British went on the same side as the Russians. He was mad about Jewish history. He was a real enthusiast. In 1897, he sponsored the first Jewish historic exhibition in England. He became it’s first president. But his fatal flaw, the fatal flaw, I’m going to admit it, of so many Jews. He was fascinated by the English aristocracy and had real upper middle class pretensions. He was a vociferous opponent of Zionism. He’d lobbied against the Balfour Declaration. He actually co-founded the anti-Zionist League of British Jews, which included Lionel Rothschild by the way and Louis Montefiore, who was second Baron Swaythling. He was part of the committee that wrote an anti-Zionist letter to “The Times.” Became very important actually. He actually chaired the refugee committee at the League of Nations. He saw himself as an advocate of his people. He’d lobbied against Sunday closing for Jewish businesses. This was his comment on Zionism. “The Zionists declare that where emancipation does not exist, it’s not worth striving for, where it does exist, it is no remedy.” But it’s interesting, he wanted to be an Englishman. He believed that being Jewish was just a religious affiliation, which gives you a notion of the ridiculousness of “The Protocols” trying to say that every Jew is in league with other Jews.
His article, “The Myth of the Jewish Menace in World Affairs: The Truth about the Forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” So, and he started it this way, “I confess to a feeling of shame at having to write this article at all, that reputable newspapers in this country should be seeking to transplant here the seeds of Prussian antisemitism. It’s for this reason that I have limited myself to the specific charges formulated by these publications.” And also, of course, he details the plagiarism. And don’t forget that Winston Churchill wrote an article in “The Sunday Herald” where he basically warned against the danger of Jewish communism. He said, “That’s why we must turn all the Jews to Zionism, unless they are very much part of the countries in which they live.” And many writers believe that he’d been influenced by reading “The Protocols.” And then, of course, it spreads to America. Let’s see the next slide, please, Judi. There you see him, Henry Ford. Henry Ford who said, “History is bunk.” Henry Ford, who himself had published “The Eternal Jew.” Shall we see it? Can we see the next one? There you go. “The Eternal Jew.” And that is, of course, Henry Ford had it published in 17 different languages. He was a great supporter of Nazism. He also, every one of his workforce, he had his own newspaper, “The Dearborn Independent.”
Every one of his workforce had to read the rubbish. So, I’ve tried to explain to you how it went on the march, how it started, the plausibility factor, and the fact that it just doesn’t disappear. And you see it today, as I’ve already said, you see it mainly, now just think where the problems are. You see it mainly, as I said, in Russian religious bookshops, which is fascinating. The Russian Orthodox Church that canonised Nicholas II and his family, not the servants. They’re so involved with all those antisemitic unions in Russia. And also, of course, unfortunately in the Arab world, in the, I think it was in the 60s, that the king of Saudi Arabia used to give “The Protocols” to every visiting head of state. In the Arab world, for quite a long period, it was taken as a given. So it has spread everywhere. Whenever people feel disaffected, and they’re looking for the scapegoat, that’s what I think is one of the terrible ingredients. Look, I believe that all racisms have their commonality. They’re all evil, but they also have their distinct part. And with antisemitism, it’s the notion that Jews have power. And that’s the tragedy of “The Protocols.” The fact that even in the Shoah, which must be one of the greatest examples of powerlessness in history and yet still the notion of Jewish power goes on. So “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Thank you.
Shall I start looking at the questions, Judi?
[Judi] Yes, Trudy, go ahead.
[Trudy] Thank you.
[Wendy] Trudy, before you do that, I just have to jump off quickly now. I just want to remind everybody that we going to have a very, very interesting presentation at 2:30.
And Yes. Can you go on Wendy?
Go on.
‘Cause I’d like to say something when you finished.
[Wendy] Go on.
Oh, I was going to say that, of course, the first blood libel was in Norwich, the first English blood libel. And of course, she’s going to be talking about this. She, who was formally sheriff of Nottingham is going to be talking about that, isn’t she, Wendy?
[Wendy] She is. Can you hear me? I don’t my have my…
Yes, yes, we can.
Okay. So actually I wanted to say that Marian, and we grew up together in Swaziland. And I have not seen Marian, I haven’t seen Marian, I actually haven’t even, you know, connected with her on Zoom. It’s going to be the first time that I’m seeing her in 50 years, maybe 55 years.
Wow.
And happened that John Schlapobersky, actually he’s a psychologist, a psycho analyst. He spoke on Lockdown University. So we reconnected through Lockdown and Marian will be talking about her experience in Norwich and as being the sheriff in Norwich in an hour. Thank you very, very much. Thanks, everybody, for joining us. Thanks, Judi.
God bless.
Thanks, Trudy.
God bless, Wendy.
Q&A and Comments
- Ah, yes, there’s quite a few questions on Boris and the Ukraine. Selwyn has asked the two books and Batya has given the answer. That’s what, as I said, that’s what I love. “Warrant for Genocide” by Norman Cohn. And “The Lie That Wouldn’t Die” by Hadassa Ben-Itto. They’re both really worth reading. Thank you, Arlene. “Your original reading sounds a lot like QAnon.” Yes, that’s the point. Arlene. “Sadly, 'The Protocols’ are required reading in Arab schools in Israel.” And Sarah is going to check that with the Ministry of Education. Thank you. I doubt if it is in Arab schools in Israel. I believe it was circulated in the Palestinian authority areas. But if you could check that, Sarah.
Q: Elliot, “Is ‘The Protocols’ available in China?” A: If so, it currently didn’t have much influence. Elliot, that’s a fascinating comment. China has a completely different view of the Jew. I don’t know if you know, but we were very heavily involved in teaching in China. We taught in 12 different Chinese universities. On the contrary, we fascinate them. And this is really funny. I had a meeting because we were doing so much work there. This was through IHRA, I-H-R-A. We were doing so much work there. So Sigmund Sternberg, who might be known to some of you, he was an extraordinary man. He said, “Look, you need to talk to the Chinese authorities.” So we went to see the Chinese ambassador and he said, “I like the Jews, they’ve never hurt China.” And then he said, “I don’t understand antisemitism. You work hard, you look after your families, and you’re good at business. What’s wrong with that?” Oh, and “Your diaspora gives to your homeland.” So that was also very, is I think that they’re a little too philosemitic because, but anyway, that’s another story.
Yes. Yes. Under the Soviets, Michelle, it was punishable by death. Yes. In fact, when I look at Stalin later on in the Jews, he came out in the 20s and 30s violently against antisemitism. Look, you’re dealing with Stalin, remember, you know, he used everything. But certainly, it was considered a serious crime. Not because of the Jews, because of his total control. Oh, yes, Saul, “The Challenge” by Mark Lazarus, the Greyshirt trial action. Yes. This is very, very interesting. In South Africa, and I believe, yeah. Now didn’t Dennis Lecture on this, Saul? On the Greyshirts? There’d been two trials. There was one in Switzerland and one in South Africa, because of course, the Greyshirts in South Africa use “The Protocols.” It was fodder for the extreme right. Ironically, it’s sometimes used today by the extreme left. Yeah.
Q: When did that change? A: Well, that was under the communists. You’ve got to remember that the Russian Orthodox Church, the elements of it are still violently antisemitic.
Yeah, Joe, that’s what I’ve said. I said it’s used in the Arab world. Yeah. And that’s the problem. That is the problem with it, Joe. Anybody can use it. Extremists of all kinds use it. It’s the perfect conspiracy theory. And as I said to you, one of our tragedies is that we like conspiracy theories, don’t we? Look, I gave you a few benign conspiracy theories. You know, Elvis is still alive and well, these kind of conspiracies, ‘cause people don’t want, you know, people want dreams. They want, what is it about. Very few people, it would seem, when times are bad, it does seem that a lot of people want answers, easy answers on a plate. And conspiracy theories tend to work, tragically. If you’re brought up in a rational tradition, it’s quite difficult to take that on.
Shelly, yes. One of the first instances of the blood libel in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” Shelly, I’m going to be talking about the blood libel next week. I’m comparing the blood libel trial in Russia of Mendel Beilis. And at the same time, I’m going to be looking at a blood libel trial in America of Frank where conspiracy comes in. And of course, the first blood libel was in Norwich. And that is what Marian Schlapobersky will be talking about tonight. Look, the idea of the blood libel, it’s a ghastly notion. And it first appears in paganism, actually. So we know that certain pagan tribes sacrificed babies to the earth or virgin women. Crazy, crazy stuff. But we also know that in the infighting in Christianity, before Christianity was codified, the various sects within Christianity accused the other sects. Witches were accused of using the blood of babies. It’s about as bad as you can get. And anyone who knows anything about Judaism will know that blood is totally taboo. It first appears in Norwich during the English Civil War when there’s total instability. And then there’s a more famous one in Lincoln and it’s immortalised in Chaucer’s “Canterbury’s Tales” when there were no Jews living in England. So, yes.
Yes, of course, Susan, the Elders works for QAnon. And David’s got a good question.
Q: “Why did the book about the Jesuits not have the same popularity as 'The Protocols?’ Would it not be nice if the Jesuits were blamed for control?” A: Well, it wouldn’t work, you see, because they don’t have real power in Japan. You know, if you want to laugh at it, because sometimes, things are so horrific, you have to laugh at it. The point is, the Jews are everywhere. That’s the whole notion. Because the Jews are international, it can work wherever you are. Japan is a fascinating incident actually because “The Protocols” spread widely in Japan.
Yeah. Susan tells us, “The Nazis insisted it’d be read by all school children.” Yeah. Louise, “Your presentation to be published in appropriate journal.” Oy yoi yoi. Yes. Well, yes, of course. Yes. That’s what I said, Susan. That’s why I showed them.
Q: “Why did Henry Ford buy into it?” A: Because Henry Ford had a diseased personality and he hated Jews. Look, who could have been richer and more powerful than Henry Ford? In fact, one of the people who worked for him was a Nazi. There’s a lot of stories and maybe when we turn to America, we should do a whole session on Henry Ford.
Q: Where is the church and Christianity in all this with the belief that the Jews killed Rabbi Joshua known as Jesus? A: Ah-ha. Now let’s be very, very, very careful here. The Protestant Church in England recently apologised for the wearing of the Jew badge to the chief rabbi. England was the first country to import the Jew badge. There is something called post-Holocaust theology, remember? Also, the Catholic church, you know, that verse in St. Matthew where Pilate washes his hands. “His blood be upon our hands or on our children.” The Catholic church in, I think, it was 1963, in the Vatican Council, they said that although they still blame the Jews of the time, no Jews now are to blame for the death of Christ.
It is David. It’s a problem. I’m not going to pretend it isn’t. Because I think one of the real problems of understanding Jew hatred is it’s so deep in the psyche. That’s the problem we have. It’s deep, deep, deep in the psyche. And even when people are secular, I don’t know how to eradicate it. Remember, I was educated in the 60s, late 60s in that time, in England, in that time of enlightenment. I really believed all these horrors would disappear against all people. Was Nicholas president at the… Yes, he was, Adele. Thank you, Susan. Thank you, Susan. Yes, this is Mara. “The government of Russia has ordered Jewish Agency for Israel, halt all operations. ‘The Jerusalem Post’ reported it. The Russian Ministry of Justice sent a letter to the Jewish Agency, which is based in Jerusalem, ordering an end to its operations early this week.” Yes. Susan is asking,
Q: “Are you suggesting that the Holocaust was a direct consequence of ‘The Protocols’ or is it more complicated than that?” A: Susan, I would say it’s far more complicated than that, but I would suggest, now Norman Cohn goes very heavy on it in “Warrant for Genocide.” You heard about lists, eight different factors that made it a possibility. I would add “The Protocols” as one of those factors. I actually think there’s about a dozen, and I do believe the deep anti-Semitic literature because “The Protocols,” don’t forget, there’s a whole progression of antisemitic literature from the beginning that the Jews became part of the modern world. So I think it’s much more complicated than that. Maybe for Holocaust Memorial Day, I will give a presentation on that. I think it’d be quite important.
Thank you.
Q: How did Graves demonstrate that “The Protocols” were a forgery? A: Barry, along with Lucien Wolf, they did their homework. You see, it was so easy. You go back to these books and they’re transplanted from it.
Q: Is Putin antisemitic? A: I don’t know. I really don’t know, Shelly. To add to his long list of crimes, I know that he, I don’t want to go there. I don’t have enough knowledge of it. Fanya is saying no.
Thank you, Ali. And Natasha, “Interesting that Henry Ford’s accountant was a Jew who was so smart he couldn’t bring himself to sack.” Lovely, Natasha. “The miracle is the Jews are still around and they still have the same problem.” Look, there are people who really, really admire Jews. Please don’t forget that comment of Mark Twain. You know, we are the eternal people, he said. And think of Simon Dubnow. “We attract, we repel, but we go on. We see through every civilization.” I do believe in Jewish destiny. I’m not religious really, but I do believe there is something.
Elliot, “Henry Ford was a great friend of Edison and we know what Edison thought about the Jews, don’t we? He hated the fact that Jews were coming into the movie business.” Harry, in the footsteps of Henry Ford, staff at American Ben & Jerry’s ice cream emporium apparently required to immerse themselves in BDS screeds. Ben & Jerry’s founded by two Jews.“ Is that true, Harriet? If so, it’s appalling. Thank you, Ellie. Dr. Estelle Phillips, "Long ago when I was in my first job, an older woman with whom I had made friends was shocked when she realised I was Jewish. She accused me personally of killing Jesus.” Because we have Jewish humour. I’ve got to give you a comment on that. Lenny Bruce, the satirist, he actually wrote on a wall. “I admit it, I killed him.” Robert, you’re right. Henry Ford’s antisemitic pamphlets were called the, wait a minute, was it the International? I’ve got it on my bookshelf. Let me check it out for you for next week. Good to know they’re out. What books are out of print, “Warrant for Genocide?” I know that “The Protocols” isn’t. Henry Ford did apologise later, but I didn’t take it too seriously.
“Regarding your comments about China, there are concerns about their military links with Iran. China might be me mildly interested in the Jews but China will always act in the interests of China.” But they do not believe in a secret Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. The Chinese are a very, very interesting, old civil civilization. The other thing a Chinese official once said to me, “I like the Jews because your civilization is almost as old as ours.” You know, if you believe in the ebb and flow of empires, I just wonder where you rate China in the coming world. Oh yes, this is Stuart. He’s talking about Two-Gun Cohen. He was a Polish, British and Canadian adventurer of Jewish origin who became aid-de-camp to Sun Yat-sen and a major general in the Chinese National Army. Stuart, my friend, Sandra Myers, gave a presentation on him. It must have been about a year and a half ago in lockdown. You’ve got to remember, we’ve been going for over 2 ½ years, but these presentations will be available. My friend travelled to China. The guide said, “Jews must be a terrible people. Everyone hates them.” Mayra, I’ve not heard that. If that’s happening, it’s very, very sad.
Q: “Why did ‘The Protocols’ spread in Japan?” A: They like conspiracy theories. Why not?
“I have the same question.” This is from Michelle. “As there is a vibrant Jewish community in Kobe until Hitler put the Japanese ambassador under severe pressure to wipe them out. Instead, they were allowed to leave, having sold their goods and businesses at market rate and given time to do so.” Yeah, the Japanese in the war, they had the Fuji plan. They saved Jews. The Fuji is a puffer fish. It’s the greatest delicacy you can eat. And if you eat it in the wrong place, it kills you. Ah, Elliot Zinner. “Professor Shushin will address Jewish think tank on October the 20th.” Now, I know Professor Shushin very, very well. We used to run seminars at his university. He is a great friend, so please give him my very, very best regards. And in fact, you’ve given me an idea. I will ask Wendy what she thinks and if she agrees, we should contact him and ask him to come on Lockdown. Barry. “When I was a student in Rhodesia, I hitchhiked to Cape Town from Salisbury and stopped at a small town in the Orange Free State. In a corner store, the book was for sale. I heard about the book in , but knew very little about it. Yeah, I’m afraid right-wing Afrikaners. Don’t forget the Silver Shirts.
Oh yes, Monty, I like this. The Chinese don’t know much about Judaism. When my son was in Hong Kong, he said he was Jewish. They asked him how many gods did the Jews have? Look, my partner unfortunately died. He ran our China programme and they made him a professor at the university of which was it? Hainan. And he had many PhD students and some of them were studying the Talmud. So it’s a complicated story.
Q: "Have any Jewish leader or Jewish institution ever done anything to refute the allegations?” A: Many, many, many times. There’ve been court cases. Yeah, look, just because something’s not true. What was it? Was it Goebbels who said, “If you tell a lie often enough people will believe it and the bigger the lie the more they’re likely to believe it?”
Mark Tanenbaum.
Q: “Is blood libel credible to Christians?” A: No, Mark, I’m not going to go that way. I’m not going to go, I’m not going to go that. The whole notion of the murder of children, I think anyone with a moral compass, would find it absolutely poor. I know communion is a, you know, it’s the Catholic church believe in communion. Don’t forget, one of the real reasons for the 30 Years War was the debate between Christian Protestantism and Catholicism over consubstantiation and transubstantiation.
“Pure antisemitism.” Says, Jonathan. “Is antisemitism without Jews. Explains why ‘The Protocols’ sell so well in Japan.” You know, look, when Chaucer wrote “The Canterbury Tales,” there weren’t any Jews in England. It’s the negative stereotype. Yes, Rebecca. “In America, Aaron Shapiro bought a libel case against Henry Ford’s newspaper. The court refused to talk about antisemitism and in the end, Ford had to publicly apologise.” Yes. Thank you for drawing that to our attention, Lenny Bruce said, “We did kill Jesus, but only for three days.” You know, that’s Jewish humour. You have to laugh. Lenny Bruce also said if Jesus comes back, he’ll kill him again. You know, I never saw Lenny Bruce. It was one of the tragedies of my life. He was appearing at the Establishment Club in London. I was 15 years old. My father, who was an incredibly indulgent father, he stopped me going. He said, uh-oh, there are two things he stopped me doing. One was to go to stay at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club after 10 o'clock at night when I was 15, and the other was to go to hear Lenny Bruce. It was the 60s.
“Report Ben & Jerry’s are staying in Israel.” Ah, this is all horrible. The Ben & Jerry’s thing. This is from Robert in the book ‘Vilna" by Israel Cohen, he says, “The Jewish apostate in Russia, Jacob Brafman wanted revenge on the Kahals and wrote "The Book of the Kahals,” which spread antisemitism.“ Yes, Roberta, I talked about that when I was looking at Russia. Yes, "The Book of the Kahals” is a book, it’s not exactly a forerunner to “The Protocols.” What it does is it proves that, according to Brafman, what he tried to, his horrific story was that the Talmud had some very, very dangerous anti-Christian parts in it. Gene’s talking about China again. Nanette.
Thank you all very, very much. A very dark subject, I’m afraid. But please listen in at half past seven because in a way, it’s a kind of continuation what I’m talking about. And as I said, next week, again, I’ll be talking about the blood libel. And keep safe and think about us in England. We are living in, as the Chinese say, interesting times. Bye.
[Judi] Bye-Bye. Thank you so much, Trudy. See everybody later.
Thanks. Thanks Jude. God bless.
[Judi] Thank you, bye-bye.