In the war’s aftermath the Jews are being blamed by the minions of autocracy and reaction for all the ills that have befallen mankind. Some blame them for the war, and others for the peace. Some attack them for the defeat of the German military machine, and others for the victory of the allies. In Germany they are attacked by the Junkers for having opposed the submarine warfare and thus assured Germany’s defeat; while in some of the allied countries the Jews are denounced for constituting “the brains of Germany.” All the revolutionary leaders of Germany are credited to the Jews, and bolshevism, which has as little in common with Judaism as it has with Christianity, is branded as a Jewish movement; and there are Jew-baiters who in their blind madness have gone so far as to declare that ex-Kaiser Wilhelm was not only influenced by the Jews but is himself of Jewish descent, and for this reason did not defend Germany as loyally as he should have done. He conspired against the Hohenzollern dynasty and undermined it. He destroyed his own throne because he was serving the secret Jewish world organization. On such absurdities have people been fed, since the armistice, in civilized countries by antisemitic agitators and their dupes, while Jews have been slaughtered in the Ukraine, in Poland and in Hungary. I submit in this little book the documentary evidence showing how the so-called “Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion” on which this new crusade is predicated, were forged._ HERMAN BERNSTEIN. _New York, February, 1921._ CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORD 3 CHAPTER ONE THE MYSTERIOUS PROTOCOLS The Lie of a Jewish World Conspiracy—Is There a Jewish Conspiracy?—Anonymous Accusations—The Mysterious “Protocols” of Sergei Nilus—How did “Nilus” Secure Them?—Contradictory Explanations—Who is “Nilus”? How his Sponsors Disagree—What Russian Publicists Say 7 CHAPTER TWO THE STORY FROM WHICH THE PROTOCOLS WERE FABRICATED Essence of “Protocols” Was German Fiction of “Sir John Retcliffe”—Who Was “Retcliffe”?—His Infamous Record—His Bloodcurdling Story—The Meeting in the Cemetery—An Avowed Myth—Meeting Every Hundred Years Attended by “Representatives of the Twelve Tribes of Israel”—The “Son of the Accursed” Also Attends and Provides Comic Interludes 16 CHAPTER THREE FICTION FORGED INTO “FACT” The Lie in its Second Stage—The Tale Becomes “Fact”—The “Rabbi’s” Speech—Its Authenticity Vouched for by “Retcliffe”—An Illuminating Footnote—A Dedication to The Russian “Black Hundreds”—The Imaginary “Speech” Bears Witness to Authenticity of “Protocols,” Themselves Based on “Speech”—Three Stages of the Lie 43 CHAPTER FOUR THE RUSSIAN SPONSORS OF THE FORGERY