Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Rating:
Summary: Required reading.
Review: "Warrant For Genocide" declares that, whilst only about one third of all civilians killed by the Nazis were Jews, it was the Jewish people that were uniquely marked out for extermination.

It further declares that the Jewish people were not just simply killed or worked to death, but were sought out, humiliated, hunted, persecuted and tortured with an intensity of hatred uniquely reserved for them alone.

This even though the Jews as a people did not constitute a belligerent nation, or even a nation at all, but lived scattered in their own communities throughout Europe, yet suffered a hatred beyond any scope of normality and totally disproportionate to their number or any perceived threat.

This book investigates some issues which might serve to explain some of that hatred. A hatred that unfortunately still exists to this day. A hatred that not only still affects the Jews that still reside in European or international communities, but also those Jews who now live in their own homeland of Israel. A hatred that is perhaps now more prevalent than at any time since the aforementioned Nazi regimes that murdered so many.

The author here examines the myth of Jewish world conspiracy and the notorious forgery known as the `Protocols of the Elders of Zion' and the effects of these myths upon society, public opinion, anti-Semitism and pertaining to the Holocaust itself.

At the Berne trial in 1935, being shown as a proven hoax, the "Protocols" still sold 120,000 copies in Germany in the period of just one year. With some 17 million Germans casting their votes to the Nazis in 1933, the author shows how the absurd myth of a Jewish conspiracy combined with a prevalent racist ideology did much to produce the Holocaust.

The author points out that these abhorrent myths have not died out and their resultant hatreds still raise their ugly heads. Even today, some areas of the Middle East grant official state approved media publication to these same issues that have caused so much animosity and bloodshed.

Highly recommended read to assess the impact of these myths, their historical and present perspectives and anti-Semitism as an issue in it's own right.

Rating:
Summary: A good book about an important subject.
Review: Cohn's study of the creation and the effect of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is enlightening, disturbing and at times maddening. He traces the beginnings of the myth, moves on to how it developed and then ends with its use. As an historical piece this book is worth reading, but its real strength is in explaining how a patently unbelievable story could have had such a devesting effect on so many people. The effected were not just the peasants of Russia but the educated class of Germany, France and other parts of Europe.

When one first understands thesis of the myth the reaction is how could anyone have believed this .... It would be akin to convincing a nation that Alice in Wonderland is an accurate description of a little girls journey. However, the historical truth is that thousands if not millions relied on the myth as a framework that led to the holocaust. Nations used the myth as a framework for policies and laws. What becomes clear is that no matter how unbelievable the story is that many believed it and acted on it. Given this historical fact, Cohn's book can best be seen as a warning and reminder to think before one believes.

This is a good book about an important subject.

Rating:
Summary: Compare with Lies, lies, and damnable lies...
Review: In spite of the claims on the back cover, this is anything but a scholarly study. It is journalistic in manner and nature, tending to the sensational, relying on secondary sources; it can be accused of bias, especially towards the Catholic Church, and its view of the social reasons for the rise of Nazism in Germany are mechanical, unperceptive and unexplaining (so the lower bourgoisie was being squeezed to death by big business - was that happening in Germany alone?). Cohn gleefully notices that two successive Popes honoured an elderly French churchman guilty of anti-Semitic scribblings with the title of Protonatary Apostolic, but does not tell us - or perhaps he does not know - why this honorary title was awarded, and how much of politicking and Buggins' Turn there is about these appointments. Nor does he say anything about the increasingly determined stand of Pius XI, who opposed Nazism and squashed Action Francaise: if one were to judge by this book, this firm and obstinately independent Pope could be taken to be a sort of useful idiot for Mussolini and Hitler. My interest in the Catholic Church, to which Cohn is moderately but unmistakably hostile, certainly colours my views; but it is not the only way in which Cohn tends to misrepresent the facts, always in the direction of excessive simplicity. To give one instance, he says that the Nazi murder squads "went blithely about their business" with no evidence of any revulsion; in point of fact, there is plenty of evidence that instinctive, physical revulsion had to be suppressed again and again. According to Trevor-Roper, the horrors of the cattle trucks drove their attendants mad; and I read that the soldiers' toilets in concentration camps had grabbing bars for any soldier who, overcome by the horror of his duties, should need to vomit.
There is no denying Cohn's basically journalistic attitude. Not that there is anything wrong with being journalistic, so long as it is not taken for anything more profound. This is not one of the great studies of Nazism; it will not give you the nuanced and profound insights of Kershaw, Fest or Bullock, the detail and personal view of Shirer, or the literary magnificence of Trevor-Roper. It is perfectly serviceable for what it is, an account of a peculiarly successful forgery that played an important part in the successive bouts of anti-Semitism that convulsed the lunatic fringe in recent European history, and that once, in 1933, got lucky in Germany.
An underlying problem must be pointed out: Cohn's language, if not everything he says, often seems to imply that the PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION were themselves a force in what happened, rathern than a symptom; he often almost speaks as though they were a positive agent in the spread of anti-Semitism, almost like a bacillus that works by infection. No, obviously; if the people who read this trash had not been willing to hate in the first place - if they had not sought a target for their own need to justify their own failings - the PROTOCOLS would have had no effect, as indeed they did not have any on the vast majority of sane mankind.

Rating:
Summary: journalistic and limited, but useful
Review: In spite of the claims on the back cover, this is anything but a scholarly study. It is journalistic in manner and nature, tending to the sensational, relying on secondary sources; it can be accused of bias, especially towards the Catholic Church, and its view of the social reasons for the rise of Nazism in Germany are mechanical, unperceptive and unexplaining (so the lower bourgoisie was being squeezed to death by big business - was that happening in Germany alone?). Cohn gleefully notices that two successive Popes honoured an elderly French churchman guilty of anti-Semitic scribblings with the title of Protonatary Apostolic, but does not tell us - or perhaps he does not know - why this honorary title was awarded, and how much of politicking and Buggins' Turn there is about these appointments. Nor does he say anything about the increasingly determined stand of Pius XI, who opposed Nazism and squashed Action Francaise: if one were to judge by this book, this firm and obstinately independent Pope could be taken to be a sort of useful idiot for Mussolini and Hitler. My interest in the Catholic Church, to which Cohn is moderately but unmistakably hostile, certainly colours my views; but it is not the only way in which Cohn tends to misrepresent the facts, always in the direction of excessive simplicity. To give one instance, he says that the Nazi murder squads "went blithely about their business" with no evidence of any revulsion; in point of fact, there is plenty of evidence that instinctive, physical revulsion had to be suppressed again and again. According to Trevor-Roper, the horrors of the cattle trucks drove their attendants mad; and I read that the soldiers' toilets in concentration camps had grabbing bars for any soldier who, overcome by the horror of his duties, should need to vomit.
There is no denying Cohn's basically journalistic attitude. Not that there is anything wrong with being journalistic, so long as it is not taken for anything more profound. This is not one of the great studies of Nazism; it will not give you the nuanced and profound insights of Kershaw, Fest or Bullock, the detail and personal view of Shirer, or the literary magnificence of Trevor-Roper. It is perfectly serviceable for what it is, an account of a peculiarly successful forgery that played an important part in the successive bouts of anti-Semitism that convulsed the lunatic fringe in recent European history, and that once, in 1933, got lucky in Germany.
An underlying problem must be pointed out: Cohn's language, if not everything he says, often seems to imply that the PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION were themselves a force in what happened, rathern than a symptom; he often almost speaks as though they were a positive agent in the spread of anti-Semitism, almost like a bacillus that works by infection. No, obviously; if the people who read this trash had not been willing to hate in the first place - if they had not sought a target for their own need to justify their own failings - the PROTOCOLS would have had no effect, as indeed they did not have any on the vast majority of sane mankind.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for our time
Review: The New York Times of October 26, 2002 tells us, in a front-page story, that "Anti-Semitic 'Elders of Zion' Gets New Life on Egypt TV." So now, almost 60 years after the downfall of Hitler, his favorite book and his favorite mania are once more resurrected. What to do ? The first thing surely is to consult the most scholarly study of the topic, by a namesake of mine (but no relative). I first purchased this volume in a Pelican edition back in 1976. Since then I have read much on the notorious "Protocols," but nothing else can compare to this outstanding treatment by one of the great historians on the 20th century.

Rating:
Summary: Compare with Lies, lies, and damnable lies...
Review: There is a book that purports to expose an exposé of the anti-gentile Babylonian Talmud by fabricating quotes from it and calling them lies. It is an amazing book of propoganda, effectively used for many years to hide the truth about the Babylonian Talmud. This book reminds me of that one.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: When you read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion the first thing you wonder is how could anybody have taken them seriously. Yet that's exactly what thousands of people did - and not only ignorant Russian peasants but also scholars and intellectuals from all kinds of backgrounds and nationalities. The origins of the myth of the Jewish world-conspiracy and its devastating effects are clearly explained by Norman Cohn in this fascinating book. What originated as a fabrication concocted by a few obscure fanatics, eventually became a major influence in the treatment Jews received in Russia and Germany. Jewry, imagined as a closely organised, world-wide political power was seen as an embodiment of modernity, a symbol of all those forces in the modern world that the most reactionary members of society feared and hated.

The Protocols originated in France but found their most ardent adherents in Russia - a country with a well established anti-Semitic tradition - and later in Germany, where Hitler found in them a "rational" explanation for his beliefs and a justification for his actions. Save in Britain, the unmasking of the forgery in 1921 made little difference and they ultimately became a warrant for genocide during WWII, when millions of Jews were systematically exterminated by the Nazis. As Mr. Cohn puts it: "Behind the massacre as a whole there was a blind fanaticism which was largely inspired by the Protocols and the myth of the Jewish world-conspiracy."

Norman Cohn's book is populated with obscure, half-crazy, half-criminal political adventurers who used this ridiculous fake as a device for obtaining influence, privilege and power. His well documented and brilliantly written analysis of the origins and effects of the Protocols is an essential work for understanding the extreme anti-Semitism that led to the murder of millions of people.

Rating:
Summary: The History of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion".
Review: _Warrant for Genocide_ by Norman Cohn provides the reader with an excellent history of the notorious forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", the myth of the Jewish world conspiracy, and a general history of some of the antiSemitic movements. Ever popular among occultists, antiSemites, fringe politicals, NeoNazis, and conspiracy theorists, the infamous "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" have an intriguing history. Norman Cohn begins by tracing the idea of Jewish world conspiracy to early nominally Christian apocalyptic movements. To the orthodox Christian, apocalypticism represents a heretical movement which seeks to give rise to the Kingdom of God on Earth. During the French Revolution, rumors abounded concerning mysterious groups of "Illuminati" initiates and Freemasonic cults. The French Jesuit, Abbe Barruel, wrote about his experiences with the Illuminati, and the Freemasonic lodges were blame for the terror of the French Revolution. Basing their philosophy on Enlightenment principles and rejecting the authority of tradition, the monarchy, and the Catholic Church, the Freemasons and the Illuminati were notorious for their role in instigating subversion. It was against this background of paranoia that various antiSemitic pamphlets began to circulate many of which attempted to link the Jews with the Freemasons in a plot for world conquest. For instance, mysterious letters from various rabbis were produced which claimed that the Jews should infiltrate Christian European society so as to further their own schemes for world domination. Traditionally seen as an agent of Satan, the Jews were an easy target for various antiSemitic European individuals who often concocted such "letters" as a joke. It was amidst this environment of antiSemitism and hostility towards Jews and Freemasons that the "Protocols" document was forged. Between 1903 and 1907, the "Protocols" document circulated among the Russian intelligentsia and among the Russian press. In his book _The Great in the Small, the occultist Sergey Nilus provided his theories on the Jewish conspiracy and the imminent arrival of Antichrist as well as including a copy of the "Protocols". Norman Cohn explains how the "Protocols" document is a historical forgery which may have been based on the text of _Dialogue aux Enfers entre Montesquieu et Machiavel_ by the French lawyer Maurice Joli. The "Protocols" basically outline a plan for Jewish infiltration of Christian society and eventual take-over based upon the philosophy that "Might is Right". Cohn then proceeds to outline how the Russian tsarist secret police, the Okrhana, developed an interest in the "Protocols" and explains the rise of a pre-fascist movement, the Black Hundreds, in Russia. Interestingly, the swastika symbol was used among initiates in the Black Hundreds movement as a symbol of opposition to Jews. When the Tsar and Tsaritsa were found dead, a copy of the book _The Great in the Small_ and a drawing of the swastika symbol was found among the Tsaritsa's personal effects. Instances such as these led to many populist uprisings. In the showdown between the Russian "Whites" (loyalists to the tsar and the empire) and the Bolsheviks in the Russian revolution, the "Protocols" played an important role among the reactionary Whites. Cohn then proceeds to show how the "Protocols" reached Germany and eventually made their way around the world. Propagated by such individuals as Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi theorist and writer of the book _The Myth of the Twentieth Century_, during the Nazi era, the "Protocols" played an important part in the ideology of the Nazis and were used by Hitler in his schemes for constructing the Third Reich. Other individuals associated with the "Protocols" or antiSemitism including the American industrialist Henry Ford, who wrote the notorious book popular among Nazis _The International Jew_ (although he later would repent of his antiSemitism), and the Depression era Catholic priest Father Charles Coughlin. Norman Cohn's book provides an interesting history of the various subversive movements which used the "Protocols" to further their own brand of hatred. Also, the book is interesting for its understanding of the phenomenon of antiSemitism. Norman Cohn includes a chapter in which he analyzes the role of paranoia and antiSemitism in the mental instabilities of different individuals and entire cultures. Antisemitism may indeed be a form of psychological aberration. In today's world, the "Protocols" have again by ressurrected by different occult and conspiracy groups as well as NeoNazis and Islamic extremists seeking to justify their terroristic activities. Whatever the "Protocols" may indicate about the nature of the human animal, it is most likely something very sinister and disturbing. This is a good book which might provide an understanding and a bridge towards development away from antiSemitism.

Also recommended: Nicholas Goodrick-Clark and Hannah Arendt's _The Origins of Totalitarianism_.