The verdict handed down by the court in Berne yesterday declaring the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” a forgery, is a blow not only to the Nazis in Switzerland but to the entire anti-Jewish propaganda conducted by Nazis all over the world.
The verdict once and forever puts an end to the legend which was invented thirty years ago by officials of the Czarist Secret Political Police, that the Jews have mapped a definite program to dominate the world. Although everyone knew the legend to be false, anti-Semites throughout the world did not hesitate from time to time to revive it.
With the rise or #itlerism in Germany, the “Protocols” became the Bible of the Nazi propaganda against the Jews. Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s right hand man, saw to it personally that the “Protocols” should be spread all over the world in order to justify the Nazi anti-Jewish persecutions.
A MYTH AND THE TRUTH
Something had to be done to show the world that the “Protocols” are nothing but an invention on the part of anti-Semites. This has been accomplished now in Switzerland by Jewish leaders who had determined to bring the case to court. By suing a number of Swiss Nazis for spreading the “Protocols”, the Jewish leaders have demonstrated that they had nothing to fear as to the alleged authenticity of these notorious documents.
The verdict which the court issued yesterday undermines the entire Nazi theory about “Jewish domination”. It is a direct slap in the face to the Nazi government, and it is therefore no wonder that the German government made an attempt at the eleventh hour to intervene through the government of Switzerland, seeking to influence the court to bring in a verdict which would not be unfavorable to Germany.
THE THREE QUESTIONS
The verdict was based upon three questions put by the court to the experts at the trial. The three questions were:
1. Are the so-called “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” genuine, not genuine, or forged?
2. Do they constitute a plagiarism, a literary theft?
3. Do they fall under the description of obscene literature, that is to say, are they designed by content or form, or both, to incite to crime, or to lead to the endangering of public order, to arousing a sense of disgust, or in some other way to give cause for brutal revulsion?
THE ANSWERS GIVEN
Of the three experts who appeared before the court, two definitely established that the “Protocols” are forged, that they constitute a plagiarism and that they fall under the category of obscene literature. One of the two was Dr. Loosli, the official expert retained by the court.
Even Col. Fleishchauer, the Nazi “expert” who publishes the “Protocols” in Germany, could not prove that this notorious anti-Jewish document is genuine. His entire “expert” analysis was based solely on the contention that it had never been proven that the “Protocols” were not genuine.
A GREAT VICTORY
Yesterday’s verdict of the Berne court will go down in Jewish history as an important victory over bigotry and falsehood. The London Times, after an investigation, long since established the falsity of the notorious “Protocols”. Now this falsity has been officially established in a court. The verdict will remain the best argument of the Jews against all those who have been trying to utilize the “Protocols” for their anti-Semitic purposes.
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.
