First-hand evidence in proof of the spurious nature of the so-called “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” was given here by the Rev. Gleb E. Werchovsky, Russian priest and noted artist, who told Gifford Ernest, reporter for the Chicago Daily News, that his father had been on intimate terms with the group which first brought the false document before the public.
“The Roman Catholic priest of the Byzantine-Slavic rite witnessed the introduction of the ‘Protocols’ into Russia,” Ernest writes. “He gave facts having to do with their use as a political weapon against the minister of finance, Count S. J. Witte, whose opponents thought the Count’s financial and economic policy dangerous to the Empire.
“The Count had married a Jewess and among his friends he counted such well known Jewish financiers and bankers as A. Rothschild of Paris and Mendelsohn of Berlin.
HOSTILE TO WITTE
“Father Werchovsky’s father, an architect in St. Petersburg, was on friendly terms with a group of people who were keenly hostile to the policy and personality of Minister Witte.
“This group was the ‘Sharapoff group,’ characterized by opposition to the gold standard reform which had been introduced and was considered a deadly menace to those who had a mystical faith in the peculiar Russian and Slavic destiny of Russia and its capacity to develop along its own individual lines.
“In the Sharapoff group were intimates of the State, counsellors of the Empire and one George V. Butmi de Katzman, an ex-lieutenant of the Imperial Guards.
AFTER DREYFUS AFFAIR
“In 1895 Butmi went to Paris, where he established a contact with the French anti-Semites. This took place soon after the Dreyfus affair. On coming back he brought a manuscript which was in French and which was actually the original of the now famous ‘Protocols.’
“The manuscript was circulated in St. Petersburg among the friends and acquaintances of Butmi and his group, and a Russian translation was begun immediately.
“Butmi’s wife, Nadezda Vasilievna, and Father Werchovsky’s own mother helped Butmi in the work of translation, which by the way, progressed rather slowly and with many interruptions.
“But it was finally published under the title of ‘Enemies of the Human Kind.’ Some four editions appeared in succession, the last in 1907.
“The artist-priest…said that the ‘Protocols’ produced practically no impression in Russia until one ‘Nilus’ gave them international fame. Butmi made no mention of the alleged Basle Zionist congress as the source of the ‘Protocols.’
“The business of pinning them on the congress of Jews at Basle is the original invention of this man ‘Nilus.’
“The Rev. Werchovsky continued to meet Butmi ever after the priest left St. Petersburg. He saw him the last time in 1913 near the Tuchakoff bridge and talked with him. The priest clearly recalls talking to Butmi of the circumstances under which the ‘Protocols’ were brought into Russia. He, however, never thought to ascertain who the original French authors were.
“There is one thing of which Father Werchovsky is certain, and that is that the ‘Protocols’ are a clever forgery, too clever in fact for any members of the Russian Okhrana (secret police) to concoct.”
Meno Burg was one of the very few Jews who attained the rank of major in the Prussian army during the 1840’s.
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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.
