General Erich Ludendorff, former German war lord, suffered another blow to his prestige today as a result of his Jew-phobia when the court at Gotha found him guilty of defamation in a libel suit brought against the general by Count von Dohna, the aged former grand master of the German Masons. The court fined Ludendorff 500 marks and costs with the alternative of ten days in prison. Count von Dohna was also authorized to have the verdict published in Ludendorff’s paper, Volkswarte, at the general’s expense.
The suit grew out of a charge made in January 1928 by Ludendorff that Count Dohna knew as far back as 1911 of a “Jewish Free Mason’s plot” to murder the Austrian crown prince, Franz Ferdinand, in order to provoke a world war, but had done nothing to prevent it and therefore was guilty of high treason.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
