Stephen Eric Bronner. A Rumor about the Jews: Antisemitism, Conspiracy, and the Protocols of Zion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 177 pp. $12.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-19-516956-0. Reviewed by Gordon Fisher Published on H-Antisemitism (June, 2000) The fagrant forgery known as the Protocols conspiracy by a group of Jews (the "Elders of of the Elders of Zion (and variants of this, e.g. with Zion") to "enslave Christian civilization under a "Learned Elders" or "Wise Men" in place of just new world order run by the leading elder of Zion" "Elders") surfaced sometime in the last decade of (p. 5). the nineteenth century, apparently in Russia. It In Chapter Three, the author gives a brief dis‐ seems to have been frst published, in Russian, in cussion of varieties of antisemitism in general, 1903. However, its exact origin and its authors re‐ which provides a context for discussion of the in‐ main clouded in mystery, despite numerous ef‐ fluence of the Protocols. forts over the past 80 years or so to track them In Chapter Five, the author considers the con‐ down. The document was definitively shown to be nection of the Protocols with the anticommunist a forgery in 1921, for example by Philip Graves in political movements which followed World War I, a series of articles in the Times of London. Since and dissemination and support of the Protocols in then, there have been many works examining the a number of countries by reactionary forces, such sources for the forgery, and predecessors for the as threatened monarchies and nobilities. fantastic theory which it elaborates. There is a consideration as well of perhaps Those interested in the etiology and prove‐ the most notorious believers in the truth of the nance of the forgery will fnd a treatment of this Protocols, namely, Adolf Hitler, various of his offi‐ subject in Chapter Four of the present work. In cials, and many other Germans. As to the influ‐ Chapter Two, the author gives some excerpts ence of the Protocols on the Holocaust, the author from the Protocols, taken from an English transla‐ cautiously suggests that this sui generis event tion published in 1922. This translation, by Victor transcends the antisemitism of the later nine‐ Marsden, is (rather ominously) easily available in teenth and frst decade or so of the twentieth cen‐ full on the internet today. The central theme of the turies. Of course, it is difficult to estimate the ef‐ Protocols is the announcement of a world wide fect of a single document such as the Protocols on H-Net Reviews something like the course of antisemitism in Ger‐ bringing about of the Russian Revolution by these many and elsewhere, but directly and indirectly it international and for the most part atheistical seems to have had as much influence as a single Jews. It is certainly a very great one; it outweighs document can have. At the least, it can serve, as all others" (p. 107). The formulation of this pas‐ the author says, as a "basis for these reflections on sage suggests convincingly that Churchill based antisemitism" (p. 4). his remarks on the content and "spirit" of the Pro‐ The author is interested in explaining and tocols, if not the exact text. In Chapter Six, the au‐ conjecturing about why the Protocols had such a thor speculates on the nature of antisemitism to‐ powerful political and social effect in numerous day, especially as contrasted with the period be‐ societies and nations during the frst half of the fore the end of World War II. On the whole, the twentieth century. Bronner quotes Hannah author is rather optimistic. For example, he says Arendt (p. 122): " ... if a patent forgery like the "The world is different than it was in the interwar "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is believed by so period: antisemitism is no longer either an ideolo‐ many people that it can become the text of a gy dealing with the destiny of mankind or a pre‐ whole political movement, the task of the histori‐ text. ... The overwhelming attempt to destroy the an is no longer to discover a forgery. Certainly it is Jews turned into its opposite: the holocaust left in not to invent explanations which dismiss the chief its wake a Jewish people more existentially, if not political and historical fact of the matter: that the necessarily politically, unified than ever before. forgery is being believed. This fact is more impor‐ The destruction of fascism initiated what has be‐ tant than the (historically speaking, secondary) come a strengthened commitment to the values of circumstance that it is a forgery." The author the liberal state ...." (p. 134). Still, as the author adds: "The point is not whether they are true, but notes, the Protocols, and content based on them, rather whether the antisemite believes them to be knowingly or not, can be found in considerable true" (p. 122). In fact, those who try to prove to be‐ quantity on the Internet. The author suggests, lievers in the truth of the Protocols that they are however, that promotion of material based on the false will customarily fnd themselves on the Protocols, and analogous material, is the work of wrong track. A "true" antisemite can always fnd people who are "on the fringe", and that "its use reasons to believe in the "essential" truth of the by extremist groups actually helps antifascists Protocols, even in the face of overpowering evi‐ and humanists track them and their activities" (p. dence to the contrary. 138). The document is so palpably a forgery in the Finally, the author reflects on such matters as minds of many people that it can become for the relationship of so-called postmodernist and them a problem of considerable interest and anti-Enlightenment attitudes toward anti‐ depth to try to discover why it has had the influ‐ semitism, on the extent to which "Antisemitism is ence it has had. For example, no less a person the stupid answer to a serious questions: how than Winston Churchill wrote in 1920 (before does history operate behind our backs?" (p. 140), Graves's exposure of the forgery) "this worldwide and "if antisemitism is no longer a threat in the conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization and terms of times past, what does this imply for Jews for the reconstruction of society on the basis of ar‐ and for Judaism?" (p. 147). rested development, of envious malevolence, and Copyright (c) 2000 by H-Net, all rights re‐ impossible equality has been steadily growing ... served. This work may be copied for non-profit there is no need to exaggerate the part played in educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ the creation of Bolshevism and in the actual 2 H-Net Reviews thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ tact [email protected]. If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-antisemitism Citation: Gordon Fisher. Review of Bronner, Stephen Eric. A Rumor about the Jews: Antisemitism, Conspiracy, and the Protocols of Zion. H-Antisemitism, H-Net Reviews. June, 2000. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=4178 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.