The Denver Jewish news., 1921-06-29

The first authentic information con-
cerning the mysterious -NlIus who is
responsible for the so-caIied Protocols
of the Wise Men of Zion. which have
heen used as the basis for anti-Jew
ish propaganda in Europe and the
United States, is given in an article
in La Tribune .Iuive. the organ of
the Russian Jews resident in Paris,
Il copy of which has just been received
by the American Jewish Committee.
The author of this article is a. NJ.
du Chayla. Il Frenchman by birth. the
author of several important studies
on Russian theology and culture. Dur
ing the war he was commander of Il
detachment of Don Cossacks and was
decorated for herOism. In 1909 NJ.
du Chayla spent nine months at the
monastery ut Optina Poustine as Il
close neighbOr and intimate friend of
Nilus. who frequently spoke to him of
the Protocols and showed him the
original document and the commentar
les which he was preparing for it. NJ.
du Chayla also gathered further in
formation concerning Nilus from peo-
pie who had known him intimately and
this information is here made public
for the first time.
When he was introduced to Nilus
the third day after his arrival at
optina Poustine. du Cnayla found
Nilus to be "A man of about 40. II
true Russian type. big and broad with
gray beard and deep blue eyes"
NiluS came from a family of Swiss
cmigres who had come to Russia in
the reign of Peter l. and boasted of
being II direct descendant of special
executiOner under Ivan the Terrible.
\ brother of his was n judge in Mos
cow, who regarded Nilus as n mad
man. Nilus wae welD' educated. had
been araduatesi from t,a- Law aA1.,aa-l
emy in Moscow, and knew perfectly
French. German. and English He had
been appointed judge in Trans-Cau-
casia but his ecccntricities and caprici-
Gus temperament forced INN to aban-
don that post.
NJ du Chayla makes the sensation
nj disclosure that Nilus was at one
time about to become the confessor df
the Car and the Royal family of Rus
sia but was prevented by his enc
mics and forced to leave in disgrace.
In 1918. Nilus lived in Kiev, ut the
convent known as Protection 0Y the
Holy Version. In the winter Of 1o1S-
in Berlin.
The Real Origin of the Protocols.
Du Chayla frequently visited Nilus
at his villa near the monastery where
Nilus was living on the pension that
his wife was receiving from the I'M
berial Court. In the course of Il dis
cussion on religion. Nilus read some
extracts from the text ana from his
commentaries. and was greatly in
censed ut the Frenchman's failure to
he impressed with the document and
proceeded to show him II manuscript.
which he claimed was the original!
draft of the sessions of the Wise Men
of Zion. Du Chayla noticed ON the
front page large ink spot. The text
was French. and was in several hand
writings and in different INKS. Nilus
explained this by asserting that diff
ferent people had filled the post of
secretary at the secret sessions of the
Wise Men of Zion. He did not seem
to he certain. however. about this de-
tail. for at another time he told du
Chayla that the manuscript was not
the original but copy.
How Nilus Obtained the Manuscript.
Nilus introduced du Chayla to
certain Nine. X. who was living with
them at the villa. This Nine. X.
whose name du Chayla does not di-
vulge. had been in intimate relations
with Nilus in Paris and, after Nilus
had married, came to live with him
and his wife. Nine. Nilus was sub
missivc woman who did not object to
this arrangement.
Nilus told <lu Chayla that this Nine.
X. while in Paris had met IA certain
General Ratchovsky who had given
her the manuscript of the Protocols
which he said he had removed from
the secret archives of the Freemasons.
This Ratchovsky was head of the
branch of the Russian political police
which watched Russian political of
Tenders who had escaped to France.
Du Chayla once asked Nilus wheth-
er he did not think that he was fol-
lowing a false trail in accepting ns
gospel truth the manuscript of Rntch-
kovsky, whose unreliability had been
so frequently demonstrated. Nilus
answered. did not the ass of Balaam