10—Friday, August 12, 1966
Laqueur's 'Russia and Germany' Reveals Anti-Semitic
Kinship, Exposes Propagandists' Resort to 'Protocols'
"Russia and Gerinany: A Cen-
tury of Conflict," by Walter La-
queur, published by Little, Brown
and Co. (34 Beacon, Boston 6), is
an impressive study of the relation-
ship between the two countries, and
is revealing from many points of
view. It shows how Russia had in-
fluenced Germany, especially with
the fuel it provided for anti-Semit-
ism, and it also indicates how the
Russians idolized the Germans.
It was only after World War II
that a new atmosphere became evi-
dent, that the old interdependen-
cies vanished. But in the latter
part of the last century there had
begun a camaraderie in the joint
anti-Semitic efforts. Russia con-
tributed towards the developing of
German anti-Semitism, then Russia
commenced to look to the Germans
as guides in reactionary movement,
while there also existed that eager-
ness to emulate German industrial,
scientific and cultural progress.
In the course of these manipu-
lative actions the lies of the
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
became major instruments in
the spread of hatred against
Jews in which the reactionaries
and. the bigots among both peo-
ples had a strong kinship, and
it is in his analysis of the emer-
gence of the Protocols as well as
011 the evils they spread that the
Laqueur book is so important.
The evil -spirit of the Nazi con-
fidante of Hitler, Alfred Rosen-
berg, is in evidence in the entire
account of the anti-Semitic cam-
paign in Germany and the use that
was made of the Protocols. Describ-
ing the rise of National Socialism
in Germany, Laqueur traces the
history of the Protocols, the activ-
ities of the Russian Black Hun-
dreds, the organization of a Union
of Christian Socialists whose motto
was "Anti-Semites of all peoples
and countries, unite !"
When the first Congress of what
became known as the anti-Semitic
International was convened in 1882,
the Russians had the encourage-
ment and advice of Germand,
Stoecker and others; and the anti-
Semitic cry that stemmed from
Russia was taken up by Germans
and the hate ideas were "taken up
in the pamphlets put out by the
indefatigable Theodor Fritsch, the
Nestor of German anti-Semitism."
It was in the latter part of the
last century that the fictitious
Speech of the Chief Rabbi first
was printed. It was reprinted in
Germany in 1901. "It became
several decades later the 'Prot-
ocols of the Elders of Zion.' "
At the beginning of this century,
the Chief Rabbi's Speech already
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was distributed in millons of copies.
Rosenberg began to equate Zionism
with Bolshevism. (What irony
that very recently the Communists
at the UN tried to equate Zionism
with Nazism )
Laqueur refers to one writer in
the period of Rosenberg's adop-
tion of German nationality, after
leaving Russia, who said "the real
German anti-Semites are now com-
pelled to take loans from their
Russian colleagues !" And La-
queur asks: "Had the roles been
reversed?" Indeed, they were in
many respects identical roles.
Analyzing the nonsense of the
"Protocols," pointing to their false-
hoods, indicating how they were
utilized in anti-Semitic campaigns
first by the Russians, then by the
Germans, spreading to other coun-
tries, Laqueur then posed a ques-
tion and provided an explanation,
writing in his analysis of the,
"Protocols:"
"How can one explain the enor-
mous success of the 'Protocols?'
Forty years on it seems inexplic-
able that such a primitive fake
could have been taken seriously
by so many people for so long a
time. One is inclined to forget the
specific post-w a r background
against which the Protocols were
read and believed. After many
years of peace and prosperity the
general optimism of Europe had
been rudely shaken. To many, the
First World War came like a bolt
from the blue; millions had died in
a senseless- slaughter and there
had been unprecedented material
destruction. Many millions found
themselves without means at the
end of the war and without much
hope for the future. The war was
followed almost everywhere by un-
rest, revolution, civil war, and ec-
onomic disasters such as inflation
and unemployment. In these cir-
cumstances many were looking for
an answer, if possible a clear and
easily intelligible answer, to their
searching questions about the j
causes of these catastrophes and !
the unrest in the world in general.
The Russian Revolution, an omi-
nous and threatening event, had
given rise to a great deal of brood-
ing and speculation. And now a
document had emanated from the
very country in which these apoca-
lyptic events had taken place—suf-
ficient reason for many people to
accept these startling explanations.
So many disasters could not pos-
sibly have been unconnected and
unplanned; surely there must have
been a hidden hand somewhere
behind it all. That the forgeries
were primitive and unconvincing
did not really matter in the last
resort. The ignorant believed them
because they were - ignorant, and
the partially intelligent because it
was for the good of the reactionary
cause to do so.' If the 'Protocols'
were widely read and partly be-
lieved in the countries that had
emerged victorious from the war,
their success in the camp of the
defeated—from the White armies
of Russia to Weimar Germany—is
all the more understandable. A
scapegoat had to be found for the
defeat. Who had really brought
about the downfall of Czarist Rus-
sia? Who had stabbed the unde-
feated German armies in the back?
Was it not a fact that after the
First World War the Jews were
suddenly found in prominent posi-
tions in German and Russian pa-
itics as well as in the economic and
cultural life of these countries?
Russian and German right-wingers
found that they did not have to
blame themselves and their own
shortcomings for their defeats, but
an outside enemy—a solution that
had psychologically much to rec-
ommend it.
"But the 'Protocols' offered
more than an explanation; they
were also a political slogan, a battle
cry. Hitler did not believe in
Christ; unlike Nilus he was cer-
tainly not afraid of the Antichrist.
But he was shrewd enough to re-
alize the enormous propagandist
potential of the basic ideas of the
`Protocols.' He refers to them in
WORDS
Language students differentiate
between the terms, jargon, cant
and slang, which are often used
interchangeably.
Slang is vernacular and ephem-
eral language that is understood
universally or at least over a large
area.
Cant is a vernacular language
designed to be understood only
within a definite group, as thieves'
cant.
Jargon is the specialized lang-
uage of a particular occupation
or way of life.
`Mein Kampf;' much of what he
says in his 'magnum opus' is based
on this book. Some observers have
gone further and argued that in
his constructive program, Hitler
was in effect a pupil of the Elders
of Zion. Was not Hitler's convic-
tion that might is right, his belief
in dictatorship and terror, his op-
postion to democracy and constitu-
tionalism closely modelled on the
pattern of the Elders? Did not the
`Protocols' in effect offer a key to
Nazi policy? These parallels seem,
however, somewhat far fetched.
Hitler needed the 'Protocols' for
his struggle against the Jews, not
as a blueprint for Europe's future."
One must indeed wonder how
the fakes called "Protocols" could
gain ground, how they could be ac-
cepted so readily — just as the
ritual murder lie has spread even
in our own time — and why the
"Protocols" should still be in use
today. Only a few days ago we re-
ceived a copy of a Gerald L. K.
Smith circular announcing the
availability of "The International
Jews," the pamphlet based on the
"Protocols" fakes, • and Smith's
propaganda stated that the offered
pamphlet was "originally published
by Henry Ford I." The Fords have
repudiated it, but the anti-Semitic
lies still are being broadcast !
And when the New York Times
published the obituary of Boris
Nicolaevsky (Feb. 23) , attention
was called to the fact that the
Russians had testified at Berne, in
1934, about the falsehoods in the
notorious documents! So impor-
tant is the issue related to the
"Protocols" that its 'emergence is
never ignored.
*
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*
Laqueur's "Russia a n d Ger-
many" has an immense additional
value for its resume of the events
that led to the Russian-German
pact, for the accord between the
Communists and the Nazis, and the
eventual break.
it is significant as history, as an
account of an important episode in
the last world conflict.
And it does not ignore the fact
that the ignominious "Protocols"
found believers even in England,
before they were exposed and
thoroughly discredited in the Lon-
don Times series of articles in
1920. And currently Colin Jordan
and his British Nazis again are re-
sorting to "Protocols" fakes in
their propaganda.
Thus, for the expose of the
"Protocols" alone—not to speak of
the other values emanating from
his book—Laqueur's "Russia and
Germany" serves a valuable • pur-
pose in setting historic facts
straight.
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