Chronology of
a Jew-hating forgery:
The Protocols of
the Elders of Zion

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion fabricated the minutes of a secret council of יהודים YEHUDIM and presented world politics, finance, journalism, education and social conflict as instruments of Jewish control. This chronology follows the forgery's publication, exposure, defense, translation and reuse. It distinguishes circulation of the text from later conspiracy arguments that merely resemble it.1

The forgery preceded Nazism. Nazi propagandists adopted and amplified it, but they did not create it. Later Arabic, Persian, Christian and Islamist uses likewise require evidence of their own. The presence of the Protocols in one publication does not establish that every related movement, institution or speaker possessed the same ideology or relationship to Nazism.

י״ח באלול ה׳תרס״ג 18th 𝑜𝑓 Elul, AM 5663Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

Pavel Krushevan's newspaper Znamya began serializing the earliest publicly known version of the forgery under a headline meaning The Jewish Programme for the Conquest of the World.

י״ח באלול ה׳תרס״ג 18th 𝑜𝑓 Elul, AM 5663: Pavel Krushevan's newspaper Znamya began serializing the earliest publicly known version of the forgery under a headline meaning The Jewish Programme for the Conquest of the World.2

ה׳ בסיון ה׳תר״פ 5th 𝑜𝑓 Sivan, AM 5680Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent began The International Jew, a newspaper series that presented the Protocols and accusations of coordinated Jewish power as factual reporting.

ה׳ בסיון ה׳תר״פ 5th 𝑜𝑓 Sivan, AM 5680: Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent began The International Jew, a newspaper series that presented the Protocols and accusations of coordinated Jewish power as factual reporting.3

ל׳ בסיון ה׳תרפ״ז 30th 𝑜𝑓 Sivan, AM 5687Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

Henry Ford retracted and apologized for publishing the Protocols and related Jew-hating material.

ל׳ בסיון ה׳תרפ״ז 30th 𝑜𝑓 Sivan, AM 5687: Henry Ford retracted and apologized for publishing the Protocols and related Jew-hating material.

כ״ט בכסלו ה׳תרצ״ה 29th 𝑜𝑓 Kislev, AM 5695Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

The Arabic newspaper al-Difaʿ circulated Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg's false defense of the forgery as authentic.

כ״ט בכסלו ה׳תרצ״ה 29th 𝑜𝑓 Kislev, AM 5695: The Arabic newspaper al-Difaʿ circulated Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg's false defense of the forgery as authentic.4

ח׳ באייר ה׳תרצ״ה 8th 𝑜𝑓 Iyar, AM 5695Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

The Arabic newspaper Falastin reported evidence from the Bern trial identifying the forgery's dependence on Maurice Joly and rebutting the Nazi expert Ulrich Fleischhauer.

ח׳ באייר ה׳תרצ״ה 8th 𝑜𝑓 Iyar, AM 5695: The Arabic newspaper Falastin reported evidence from the Bern trial identifying the forgery's dependence on Maurice Joly and rebutting the Nazi expert Ulrich Fleischhauer.5

י״א באייר ה׳תרצ״ה 11th 𝑜𝑓 Iyar, AM 5695Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

The Bern court ruled that the Protocols were a forgery.

י״א באייר ה׳תרצ״ה 11th 𝑜𝑓 Iyar, AM 5695: The Bern court ruled that the Protocols were a forgery. Its judgment did not prohibit publication throughout Switzerland, and the later statutory reversal did not authenticate the text.

י״ט בתמוז ה׳תרצ״ח 19th 𝑜𝑓 Tamuz, AM 5698Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

Charles Coughlin's Social Justice began sustained American serialization of the forgery and related conspiracy accusations.

י״ט בתמוז ה׳תרצ״ח 19th 𝑜𝑓 Tamuz, AM 5698: Charles Coughlin's Social Justice began sustained American serialization of the forgery and related conspiracy accusations.6

AM 5727–5728Precision: range · Basis: not-assessed

ʿAjjāj Nuwayhiḍ published the first edition of his two-volume Arabic conspiracy work Burūtūkūlāt ḥukamāʾ Ṣahyūn.

AM 5727–5728: ʿAjjāj Nuwayhiḍ published the first edition of his two-volume Arabic conspiracy work Burūtūkūlāt ḥukamāʾ Ṣahyūn.7

AM 5730–5731Precision: range · Basis: not-assessed

Zayn al-Abidin al-Rikabi compiled Sayyid Qutb's Our Struggle with the Jews with editorial notes that appealed to the fabricated Protocols.

AM 5730–5731: Zayn al-Abidin al-Rikabi compiled Sayyid Qutb's Our Struggle with the Jews with editorial notes that appealed to the fabricated Protocols.8

AM 5740–5741Precision: range · Basis: not-assessed

The second edition of Nuwayhiḍ's work recommitted the publication to the forgery after scholarship exposing it was well established.

AM 5740–5741: The second edition of Nuwayhiḍ's work recommitted the publication to the forgery after scholarship exposing it was well established.9

ה׳ באלול ה׳תשמ״ח 5th 𝑜𝑓 Elul, AM 5748Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

حماس ḤAMĀS's covenant invoked the Protocols as evidence of a worldwide conspiracy by יהודים YEHUDIM.

ה׳ באלול ה׳תשמ״ח 5th 𝑜𝑓 Elul, AM 5748: حماس ḤAMĀS's covenant invoked the Protocols as evidence of a worldwide conspiracy by יהודים YEHUDIM.10

AM 5759Precision: year · Basis: not-assessed

The Iranian magazine صبح SOBH serialized excerpts from the forgery in two issues; the surviving checked source supports only year precision.

AM 5759: The Iranian magazine صبح SOBH serialized excerpts from the forgery in two issues; the surviving checked source supports only year precision.

י׳ בניסן ה׳תש״פ 10th 𝑜𝑓 Nisan, AM 5780Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

The International Union of Muslim Scholars published Hassan Yashu's essay treating the Protocols as an authentic confession and using them to accuse יהודים YEHUDIM of originating rumors and controlling the press.

י׳ בניסן ה׳תש״פ 10th 𝑜𝑓 Nisan, AM 5780: The International Union of Muslim Scholars published Hassan Yashu's essay treating the Protocols as an authentic confession and using them to accuse יהודים YEHUDIM of originating rumors and controlling the press.

כ״ב בשבט ה׳תשפ״ו 22nd 𝑜𝑓 Ŝʾvat, AM 5786Precision: day · Basis: not-assessed

The International Union of Muslim Scholars published Muhammad Wathiq al-Nadwi's essay presenting the Jeffrey Epstein case as confirmation of the forgery and alleging a Jewish plan to control the world.

כ״ב בשבט ה׳תשפ״ו 22nd 𝑜𝑓 Ŝʾvat, AM 5786: The International Union of Muslim Scholars published Muhammad Wathiq al-Nadwi's essay presenting the Jeffrey Epstein case as confirmation of the forgery and alleging a Jewish plan to control the world.

Footnotes

  1. USHMM, An Antisemitic Conspiracy,
  2. De Michelis, The Non-Existent Manuscript, 7–8; USHMM, An Antisemitic Conspiracy,
  3. USHMM on Henry Ford and The International Jew,
  4. al-Difaʿ, بروتوكولات حكماء صهيون,; USHMM, An Antisemitic Conspiracy,
  5. Falastin, قضية بروتوكولات حكماء صهيون,
  6. Father Coughlin and the Jews,
  7. Nuwayhiḍ, Arabic Protocols, vol. 2,
  8. Jansen on Qutb's posthumous collection, ; Al-Umaym on the edition history of Qutb's collection,
  9. Nuwayhiḍ, Arabic Protocols, vol. 1, ; Nuwayhiḍ, Arabic Protocols, vol. 2,
  10. Hamas, Covenant, article 32; USHMM, An Antisemitic Conspiracy,