Knowra The Protocols of the Elders of Zion The Protocols of the Elders of Zion The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fabricated text, first published in the Russian Empire in the early 20th century, that falsely portrays a Jewish conspiracy for world domination. Exposed as plagiarism, it has been repeatedly used to promote antisemitism.
Russian Empire : A state spanning Eastern Europe and northern Asia that existed from 1721 to 1917. The forgery emerged amid political upheaval and antisemitism in the late empire.
The Times of London : A British daily newspaper founded in 1785. Its 1921 investigation demonstrated extensive copying from Joly's work.
Antisemitism : Hostility, prejudice, or discrimination directed against Jews as Jews. The Protocols became a reusable vehicle for portraying Jews as a collective enemy.
The Dreyfus Affair and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion : A historical study comparing the Dreyfus affair, antisemitism, and the forgery's emergence and reception. Historical analysis distinguishes documented antisemitism from the fabricated conspiracy the text asserts.
Textual criticism : The scholarly analysis of a text's wording, sources, transmission, and variants. Comparing versions and borrowed passages establishes how the Protocols was assembled.
Sergei Nilus : A Russian religious writer who published an influential edition of the Protocols in 1905. His edition helped present the forged text as evidence of a secret Jewish conspiracy.
Philip Graves : A British journalist who exposed the Protocols as a plagiarism in The Times in 1921. His side-by-side comparisons made the text's borrowed passages publicly undeniable.
Blood libel : The false accusation that Jews murder non-Jews, often children, for ritual purposes. Like older antisemitic myths, the Protocols recasts fabricated claims as proof of Jewish menace.
Maurice Joly : A French satirist and lawyer who wrote The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu. Joly's identifiable text is a source the Protocols copied, not a record of its alleged plot.
Propaganda : Communication designed to shape beliefs or behavior in service of a political cause. The forgery's publication history raises questions about who disseminates falsehoods and why.
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