"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in Court: The Bern Trial (1933-1935) and the "Antisemitic International"

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Between 1933 and 1935, a trial was held in Bern against members of the Swiss extreme right-wing National Front who had distributed “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a widely disseminated antisemitic publication that spread lies about Jews. The real target of the Jewish organizations that initiated the trial, however, was the pamphlet itself, its origin, its dissemination, and its use in Europe's fascist movements.

During the course of the trial, both sides received ample support in the form of material assistance and propaganda. The defendants and their supporters in Nazi Germany were able to rely on an extensive network that had been established in the early 1920s to combat “Judaeo-Bolshevism.” This conspiratorial “Antisemitic International” united German völkisch circles, Italian fascists, Russian monarchists, and French conspiracy theorists. On the other side, the plaintiffs actively sought to expose the “Protocols” as a forgery in the hope that this would counteract their impact.

In this lecture, Michael Hagemeister will use the Bern trial as a case study of Jewish legal self-defense in order to shed light on both the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and the concerted efforts against the “Antisemitic International” in the 1930s, which have received little attention from historians.

Read more about Michael Hagemeister's research on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. 

About the Speaker

Michael Hagemeister is a historian and Slavist. He has published widely on Russian philosophy and intellectual history, apocalyptic and utopian thought, Russian antisemitism, neo-fascism, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” and the life and work of the Russian religious and apocalyptic writer, Sergei Nilus. He has taught at universities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. He is currently involved in a research project at the University of Bochum on anti-Western and anti-modern thought in Russia. His publications include Die Fiktion von der jüdischen Weltverschwörung. Zu Text und Kontext der “Protokolle der Weisen von Zion” (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2012, together with Eva Horn); Die “Protokolle der Weisen von Zion” vor Gericht. Der Berner Prozess 1933–1937 und die “antisemitische Internationale” (Zurich: Chronos, 2017, 2019); and The Perennial Conspiracy Theory: Reflections on the History of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (London and New York: Routledge, 2022).