Perennial Conspiracy Theory: Reflections on the History of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" by Michael Hagemeister (review)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:

• Perennial Conspiracy Theory: Reflections on the History of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" by Michael Hagemeister
• Claus Oberhauser (bio)

perennial conspiracy theory: reflections on the history of "the protocols of the elders of zion"
Michael Hagemeister
Routledge
https://www.routledge.com/The-Perennial-Conspiracy-Theory-Reflections-on-the-History-of-The-Protocols/Hagemeister/p/book/9781032060156
148 pages; Print, $24.95

Reading research reviews on conspiracy theories or following experts on television talking about them, it is noticeable that historians are in the minority. Furthermore, the phenomenon of conspiracy theories is often reduced to contemporary issues such as the impact of social media and the dangers to democracy. However, the study of historical conspiracy theories can help to understand these current concerns better.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an essential text of Western conspiracy thinking and is considered one of the most important antisemitic publications of all time. Norman Cohn, the author of an influential book on the Protocols, called them a Warrant for Genocide (1967). To this day, researchers have yet to identify the author or the exact context of their origin. Were they passed down orally as early as the 1890s, or were they written around 1902? Were they a reaction to the publication of Theodor Herzl's The Jewish State (1896)? The more answers historical research provides, the more new questions arise.

For a long time now, the reception of the Protocols has been detached from its historical origins, and nowadays one can read entire graphic novels dealing with them. But their content is as mysterious as their origins. The reader needs to find out where the action takes place. It is a reproduction of speeches at several meetings. In a loose way, one learns about a long-planned conspiracy to dominate the world with the help of Freemasons and other actors. In the end, the reader has to deal with a negative utopia. The goal of the conspiracy is a new society without social conflict. The state controls an ignorant populace, and people are happy and content. [End Page 41]

How could this poorly written text have such an impact? Hagemeister's essays, now available in English, are everything one would want from a historical study of conspiracy theories: they are based on sources, place the actors in the historical context, attempt to interpret the content of the Protocols in a historical-critical manner, and show which networks were involved in their creation and reception. Hagemeister's slim book is thus a much-needed corrective to research that has long chased a myth. Moreover, it should be the starting point for many future studies and new interpretations of the Protocols. In addition, Hagemeister's writing style deserves special praise. He calmly states the most important facts and corrects many false assumptions of earlier research.

Hagemeister recounts in detail all that is known about the first publication of the Protocols in 1903. He shows how Russian emigrants, faithful to the czar, carried the text first to Europe and a few years later to the United States. The text was quickly translated into English, French, and German. Hagemeister reconstructs the actions of an antisemitic international network that, in the English-speaking regions, is known to have been strongly supported by Henry Ford and Leslie Fry. The latter's actions concerning the dissemination of the Protocols open new avenues for research. Tracing these antisemitic networks shows how diverse the communities were that were interested in distributing the Protocols. Fry's network included members of the Ku Klux Klan as well as Christian fundamentalists. What unified this network was the conviction that a grand conspiracy of Freemasons, Illuminati, and Jews against Christianity was on the rise. It is not surprising that members of groups belonging to "white Christian nationalism" hold similar beliefs today.

In addition to the historical context, the paratexts push the Protocols in a particular direction. Editions of the Protocols usually include antisemitic prefaces and footnotes that frame the text. While the well-known 1905 version by Sergej Nilus, which became the textual basis for many of the following editions, provided an apocalyptic frame, this religious dimension was abandoned in Western...