The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion

[[File:1905 2fnl Velikoe v malom i antikhrist.jpg|right|thumb|165px|It's a genuine first edition of a genuine fake document.]]
{{antisemitism}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion''}}
'''''The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion''''' is a fabricated booklet that may have been written by {{wpl|Mathieu Golovinski||,}} a French-Russian {{wpl|Okhrana|''Okhrana''}} ([[tsar]]ist Russian [[secret police]]) operative. As a textbook example of {{wpl|black propaganda||,}} it purports to detail the agenda for a [[Jewish]] [[conspiracy]] to take over the world, including how to control the [[media]], the banks, and the government. The ''Protocols'' have been the basis for innumerable anti-Semitic tracts throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, most notably [[Henry Ford]]'s ''The International Jew'' and [[Adolf Hitler]]'s ''[[Mein Kampf]]''. The [[Nazi]]s heavily promoted the booklet to justify oppression of the Jews and the [[Holocaust]], and paradoxically (yet [[Horseshoe theory|not surprisingly]]) acted much like the Jews depicted in ''Protocols'' in plotting and enacting the exploitation and abuse of nearly anyone not a German in good standing — albeit with even more brutality.

==Hoax==
Despite being shown to be a [[hoax]] as far back as 1921,<ref>[http://emperors-clothes.com/antisem/graves-text.htm The Protocols of Zion — An Exposure] by Philip Graves (August 16 to 18, 1921) ''The Times'' of London (this is a transcript)</ref><ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19200/19200-h/19200-h.htm The History of a Lie: "The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion"] by Herman Bernstein (1921) J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company.</ref> it is still distributed and believed by people who [[Confirmation bias|swallow whatever fiction fits]] with their [[racist]] views.<ref>[https://theconversation.com/why-the-protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-is-still-pushed-by-anti-semites-more-than-a-century-after-hoax-first-circulated-145220 Why the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ is still pushed by anti-Semites more than a century after hoax first circulated] ''The Conversation'' 2 September 2020</ref> In addition to its exposure as a fabrication by journalist Philip Perceval Graves of ''The Times'' in 1921, a pamphlet containing three essays by Lucien Wolf called ''The Myth of the Jewish Menace in World Affairs'', which debunked the ''Protocols'', was released in the same year.<ref>Lucien Wolf. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=6_IHAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=myth+of+the+jewish+menace&hl=en&ei=IVYiTsO5IYTW0QGmhJyzAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false The Myth of the Jewish Menace in World Affairs (or, The Truth About the Forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion).]'' New York: McMillan, 1921. (Public domain.)</ref> In 1935, a [[Swiss]] judge ruled the pamphlet to be a forgery in a case known as the Berne trial.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140729103834/http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=7860&inst_id=104&nv1=search&nv2= Papers regarding the Bern trial,] further commentary by [https://web.archive.org/web/20080724202712/http://iamthewitness.com/books/Denis.Fahey/Waters.Flowing.Eastward/Appendix.2_The.Berne.Trials.htm Leslie Fry] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20061129222135/http://www.engageonline.org.uk/journal/index.php?journal_id=12&article_id=47 Larry Ray.]</ref>

==Origin==
The text of the book that now circulates was originally [[plagiarism|plagiaristically]] cobbled together from three sources:<ref>''A Lie and a Libel: The History of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' by Binjamin W. Segel (1996) University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803292457.</ref>{{rp|97}}<ref>''The Non-Existent Manuscript: A Study of the Protocols of the Sages of Zion'' by Cesare G. De Michelis (2004) University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803217277.</ref>{{rp|47,114}}
#{{wpl|The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu|''The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu''|,}} an 1864 political [[satire]] by Maurice Joly that did not mention Jews
#A chapter from the antisemitic 1868 novel ''Biarritz'' by Hermann Goedsche
#{{wpl|Der Judenstaat|''Der Judenstaat''|,}} an early [[Zionist]] tract by Theodor Herzl (1896)
The earliest known publication of the Protocols was when it was serialized in the [[Russian]] newspaper ''Znamya'' in August–September 1903; however, the Protocols itself was first mentioned in 1902.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20051217032523/http://www.newtimes.ru/eng/detail.asp?art_id=470 The Fraud of a Century, or a Book Born in Hell] by Valery Kadzhaya (December 2005) ''New Times'' (archived from December 17, 2005).</ref>

==Current use==
Anti-Semitic groups have been pushing the book, and it is still in print, even promoted by such conspiracy-minded folks as [[Texe Marrs]] (who wrote an introduction to his own edition, with comments by [[Henry Ford]]),<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20151019184036/http://www.texemarrs.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=catalog&Product_Code=bboa_protocols_elders_zion&Category_Code=bboa_books_by_other_authors Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion] ''Power of Prophecy'' (Archived from the original on 19 October 2015)</ref> and (until his imprisonment) [[Kent Hovind]].<ref>[https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/creationism-gets-dash-anti-semitism/ Creationism Gets a Dash of Anti-Semitism] ''Southern Poverty Law Center'' 8 May 2001</ref>

On his album ''Extremist Won'', Carl Klang {{lived|1953|2019}}, self-described as "America's #1 Patriotic Singer", recorded the song "The News Behind the News" which deals with the ''Protocols'', calling them "the blueprint to the downfall of our nation".<ref group=note>If you ''really'' want to read the lyrics, they're [http://web.archive.org/web/20050208055300/http://www.klang.com/lyrics/thenews.htm here]. You can also hear the song on [[YouTube]], if you're truly curious, [http://youtu.be/hR6WcjwH6ok here]. It also seemed that [https://trib.com/news/national/patriot-singer-released-from-jail/article_52cb898d-296d-5697-81a3-68f82ee25d20.html Carl had problems].</ref>

[[David Icke|David "Thelizardsdidit" Icke]] (described as a "fucking loon" by ''[[Cracked.com|Cracked]]'')<ref>[http://www.cracked.com/article_17469_5-pathetic-groups-that-people-think-rule-world_p3.html 5 Pathetic Groups That People Think Rule The World] ''Cracked'' 28 June 2009</ref> "declared that the Protocols of Zion is evidence not of a Jewish plot, but of a reptilian plot of Illuminati lizards".<ref>John Ronson. [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/17/features.weekend Beset by Lizards], ''The Guardian''. Published 17 March 2001.</ref> We ''would'' ask how the hell he's getting lizards out of this document, but…

The ''Protocols'' are also regularly used as evidence of a Jewish conspiracy in the [[Islamic]] world: [[Hamas]], for example, cited the text in its 1988 charter.<ref>[https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp Hamas Covenant 1988] ''The Avalon Project (Yale Law School)''</ref>

It has three stars on Amazon,<ref>[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Protocols-Learned-Elders-Zion/dp/0935199624 The Protocols: The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion] ''Amazon''</ref> which 
all
 most sane people would regard as three stars too many.<ref group=note>But it's not like [[Reality-based community|sane people]] are [[Alex Jones|the ones reading this book anyway]].</ref>

The last completed work of {{wpl|Will Eisner}} {{lived|1917|2005}} was ''The Plot: The Secret History of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion''. Told in comic strip format, it details the origins and promotion of the forgery.<ref>[http://www.willeisner.com/library/plot.html "The Plot" at the Will Eisner Library]</ref>

==See also==
*''[[Behold a Pale Horse]]'': Chapter 15
*[[Blood libel]]
*[[Explanatory Memorandum]]
*[[Goy]] — The plural form is used repeatedly throughout the book, and depending on the edition, every single use of the word may be followed by "(non-Jews)" for some bizarre reason. Why does a supposed handbook for a Jewish conspiracy need to repeatedly define a basic Hebrew term? 
*[[Henry Ford]] - A devoted fanboy of the book.
*[[Illuminati]]
*[[International Jewish Conspiracy]]
*[[New World Order]]
*[[QAnon]] — part of the conspiracy map
*[[Zionism]]

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060111062256/http://ddickerson.igc.org/The_Protocols_of_the_Learned_Elders_of_Zion.pdf Translation of the ''Protocols'' by Victor Marsden]
*[http://www.notbored.org/dialogue-in-hell.html ''Dialogue in Hell'' online text (English)]
*[http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/protzion/DelaCruzProtocolsMain.htm Protocols Project page at UC Santa Barbara]

==Sources==
*Cohn, Norman. ''Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish world-conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.'' London: Serif, 1996.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, The}}
[[Category:Antisemitism]]
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Categories: Antisemitism, Books, Conspiracy theories, Documents, Hoaxes, Pseudohistory, Unified conspiracy theory, Scapegoating