FIRESIDE DISCUSSION GROUP

of the

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
B’NAI B’RITH

No. HI

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE

PROTOCOLS OF THE WISE
MEN OF ZION

Suite 1414-1415-1416-1417
130 North Wells Street
CHICAGO, ILL.
 These latest documents upon which anti-Semitism bases its attacks upon the Jews
are called “ The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.” They consist of twenty-four
documents supposed to be taken from the secret archives of a Jewish conspiracy for world
domination.
These Protocols were translated into many languages and had a world-wide circula­
tion. Various extractions and additions w ere made depending upon the country in w hich
they were to be read.
Czar Nicholas II, the feeble-minded Russian autocrat, whose spirit was already
filled w ith hatred o f the Jew, was sitting on a throne tottering from under him, as a
result of the Russo-Japanese W ar, and naturally was easily influenced to do anything
that would save the Russian dynasty.
It was first General Orzhevsky and later Ratchkovsky, unscrupulous Paris repre­
sentatives of the Russian Okhrana (political secret police departm ent), who conceived
the idea o f fabricating the docum ent w ith w hich to impress the Czar that the Jews and the
Free-Masons were responsible for the revolutionary upheavals in Russia and that they
were also engaged in a conspiracy for w orld dom ination.
The Jews were represented as possessing all the infernal w isdom and the wealth
w hich would enable the revolutionary ideas of the Free-Masons to be realized, thus bring­
ing about the subjugation o f Russia and then of the rest o f the world. To the political
danger of anti-Czarism was added the spiritual danger of the anti-Christ, and the fabrica­
tors of the Protocols strove to persuade Czar N icholas that it was in his power alone to
save the w orld and especially his own dynasty from the threatening forces of disruption
and revolution.
The Czar was inform ed that already in 1901 a “ m ystic saint,” Sergius Nilus, had pub­
lished a deeply religious and pow erful book, “ The Great in Little— The Com ing o f the
Anti-Christ and the Rule o f Satan on Earth.” In 1905 that book by Nilus was reprinted by
the Government Press at Tsarskoye Selo, the home o f the Czar, and the Protocols were
added as a commentary on the Nilus prophecy and as an illustration o f its approaching
fulfillment. Thus appeared the notorious Nilus edition o f the Protocols, a copy o f which
is registered in the British Museum under the date o f August 10, 1906.
Soon after, the Russian Black Hundred organizations, whose program was Jew-
baiting, w ere organized. It was then that Russia adopted a definite anti-Jewish policy of
vengeance— a Pogrom policy.
Sergius Nilus is credited with several versions o f how he had secured the Protocols
and his stories flatly contradict one another. In 1905 he said that the Protocols were given
to him by a prom inent Russian conservative whose name he did not mention, and who in
turn had received them from an unnamed woman who had stolen them from “ one o f the
most influential leaders o f Freem asonry at a close o f a secret m eeting o f the initiated in
France.” Then, several years later, Nilus w rote that his friend h im self had stolen the
Protocols from the “ headquarters o f the Society of Zion in France.” Several years after­
wards, in a new edition of his book, Nilus said that the Protocols came from Switzerland
and not from France. This tim e he named his Russian conservative friend, Sukhotin,
who had died in the meantime. He added that the Protocols w ere not Jewish-Masonic
but Z ionistic documents secretly read at the Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897.
The anonym ous Am erican editor o f the Nilus book gave the follow in g inform ation
about Nilus:
“ Serge Nilus, in the 1905 edition o f whose book was first published the Zionist
Protocols, was as he states, born in the year 1862, o f Russian parents holding liberal opin­
ions. His fam ily was fairly well known in Moscow, for its members were educated people
who were firm in their allegiance to the Czar and the Greek Church. On one side he is
said to have been connected by m arriage with the n obility o f the Baltic provinces. Nilus
him self was graduated from the U niversity of M oscow and early entered the civil service,
obtaining a small appointment in the law courts. Later, he received a post under the
Procurator of a provincial court in the Caucasus. Finally, tirin g o f the law, he went to
the Governm ent of Orel, where he was a landowner and a noble. His spiritual life had
been tumultous and full o f trouble, and finally he entered the Trotsky-Sergevsky Monas­
tery near Moscow. ‘In answer to his appeal fo r pardon, Saint Sergei, stern and angry,
appeared to him tw ice in a vision. He left the M onastery a converted man.’
“ F rom 1905 until the present, little is known o f his activities. Articles are said to
have appeared from tim e to time in the Russian press from his pen. A returning traveller
from Siberia in August, 1919 was positive in his statement that Nilus was in Irkutsk
in June o f that year. W hat his final fate was is n ot known.”
“ D irectly after the Protocols, com es a statement by Nilus that they are ‘signed by
representatives of Zion o f the 33rd degree.’ These Protocols were secretly extracted or
*
were stolen from a whole volumue of Protocols. All this was got by my correspondent out
of the secret depositories of the Head Chancellery of Zion. This Chancellery is at
present on French territory.”
In the edition of 1917 Sergius Nilus w rote:
“ My book has already reached the fourth edition, but it is only definitely known to
me now and in a manner w orthy o f belief, and that through Jewish sources, that these
Protocols are nothing other than the strategic plans for the conquest o f the world under
the heel of Israel, and w orked out by the leaders o f the Jewish people— and read by the
‘ P rince o f E x ile ’-— T h eod ore H erzl, during the first Zionist Congress, sum m oned by him
in August, 1897, in Basle.”
The Russian and German anti-Semites have maintained that the Protocols were the
m inutes o f the secret proceedin gs o f the first Z ion ist C ongress at Basle, held in 1897,
presided over by Dr. Theodore Herzl. Dr. A lfred Rosenberg, the Nazi idealist o f anti-
Semitism and translator o f the Protocols into German, declared that they w ere the work
o f the Zionist leaders, Herzl, Nordau and Achad H a’am.
W hile the Russian fabricators and forgers o f the Protocols could not agree on any
one version o f how and when the P rotocols reached Russia, and under whose sponsorship
the spurious anti-Sem itic document first made its appearance there, they all sought to
identify the Protocols w ith the first Zionist Congress held in Basle in 1897.

Fortunately, there has been found docum entary evidence, subm itted by the anti-
Semites themselves, in their desperate effort to prove the authenticity o f the first Russian
version o f the Protocols, that they w ere brought to Russia in 1895. This date happens
to be two years before the first Zionist Congress ever met.

This docum entary evidence furnishes the m issing link in the chain o f incontrovertible
evidence establishing the falsity o f the Protocols and the sinister m otives of the anti-
Jewish forgers. It also confirms the fact that officials close to the Czar’s fam ily partici­
pated in the launching o f the Protocols in Russia.
Several years ago the Library of Congress, of W ashington, had purchased a collection
of books belonging to the library of the Czar N icholas II. That collection, as yet uncata­
logued, is now in a vault in the Department o f Rare Books and Manuscripts.
R ecently an exam ination was made of the volum es of the Czar’s library and there was
found am ong the volum es the 1906 edition of Butm i’s book, “ The Enemies of the Human
Race,” dedicated to the Union of the Russian People (T h e Black H undreds) and con­
taining the Protocols. The special binding bears the Im perial Crest o f the Russian
Empress. Butm i’s forew ord to that edition dated St. Petersburg, Decem ber 5, 1905, offers
the follow in g explanation:
"T h e Protocols, being secret, were obtained with great difficulty, in fragm entary
form, and translated into Russian on Decem ber 9, 1901. It is almost im possible to get
again at the secret depositories where they are hidden, and therefore they cannot be
reinforced by definite inform ation concerning the place, the day, or the month, where and
when they w ere composed. This circum stance m ight arouse suspicion as to the genuine­
ness o f the P rotocols.”
“ In January, 1917, Nilus had prepared a second edition, revised and documented,
for publication. But before it could be put on the m arket the revolution o f March, 1917
had taken place, and Kerenski, who had succeeded to power ordered the w hole edition of
Nilus’ book to be destroyed. In 1924 Professor Nilus was arrested by the Cheka in Kiev,
im prisoned and tortured; he was told by the Jewish president o f the court, that this
treatment was meted out to him ‘for having done them incalculable harm in publishing
the Protocols.’ Released for a few months, he was again led before the G. P. U. (C h ek a),
this time in M oscow and confined. Set at liberty in February, 1926, he died in exile in
the district o f V ladim ir on January 13, 1929.
“ A few copies o f Nilus’ second edition w ere saved and sent to other countries where
they w ere published: in Germany by Gottfried zur Beck (1919); in England by the Britons
(1 9 2 0 ); in France by Mgr. Jouin in La Revue Internationale des Societes Secretes, and
by Urbain Gohier in La V ieille F rance; in the United States by Small, Maynard and Com.
pany (Boston, 1920), and by the Beckwith Company (N ew York, 1921). Later, editions
appeared in Italian, Russian, A rabic and even in Japanese.
The authors o f the Protocols had evidently no idea o f the hopes, the ethical aspira­
tions, the religious traditions, the historical destiny o f Judaism and the Jew. Every
intelligent reader o f the Melange o f ignorance and venom contained in the Protocols must
recognize that the w riter o f these calumnies had never read a Jewish or even an authori­
tative non-Jewish book dealing with Jewish history. None of the plans, ideas and aspira-
s
tions outlined in the Protocols, none of the political conspiracies are, in any detail, based
on Jewish psychology or Jewish history.
Recently the notorious P rotocols o f the W ise Men of Zion have had their day in the
courts o f justice. In August, 1934, the libel suit o f the Rev. A. Levy of Port Elizabeth,
South A frica, against H arry V ictor Inch, Johannes von Strauss von M oltke and David
Hormanns Olivier, Jr., three anti-Sem itic Grey Shirt Leaders, w as decided in favor of
the plaintiff and damages w ere awarded against the Grey Shirt leaders w ith costs. The
decision rendered by Sir Thom as Graham and Justice Gutsche, o f the Supreme Court,
contained the follow in g statement concerning the Protocols:
“ The Protocols are an im pudent forgery, obviously for the purpose of anti-Jewish
propaganda.”
L ike all anti-Semitic myths o f old, the new anti-Jewish legends are bound to destroy
themselves. The truth w ill prevail. Israel has no secret protocols, no hidden designs.
Its dream is still o f peace, of justice, and o f human brotherhood. A fter all the centuries
the w ord that came from Sinai and the message o f the prophets o f old are still enshrined
in its heart. The H oly Scriptures are the only authentic P rotocols of the W ise Men
o f Zion.

THE BERNE TRIAL - CONCERNING

THE “PROTOCOLS OF THE
ELDERS OF ZION”
Fourteenth Session, Tuesday, M a y 14, 1935, P. M . T he Decision
of the Swiss Court Has Been Reached. The “ Protocols of the Elders
of Z io n ” A re a F orgery, a Plagiarism and Ridiculous Nonsense.

B efore a very large crow d, spectators and jou rn a lists, the P resident o f the Court
opened the session at 4 :0 0 p. m. in ord er to pron ou n ce sentence, after tw o w eeks of
cou rt proceedings.

PROCEEDINGS
The Ju dge sum m arized the eviden ce in the case in a few short sentences and
then declared that he w ill pron ou n ce sentence as a ju rist and m an o f sch oolin g.
T he suit o f the private plaintiff w as directed against the loca l adm in istration
o f the League o f the N ational S ocialist Swiss Citizens and against unknow n persons.
It was the police w ho m ade a search fo r the respon sible on es and w ho placed the
five defen dan ts on the w itness stand. The accused, F isch er, from the beg in n in g had
assum ed the resp on sib ility fo r “ A u fr u f” and fo r the “ E idgen essen,” w hile Silvio
Schnell declared h im self respon sible fo r the distribu tion o f the “ P r o to c o ls ” as the
m anager o f the book departm ent o f the “ N ational F r o n t.” T h e oth er defen dan ts
from the b egin n in g had protested th eir in n ocen ce and declin ed all respon sibility.
F or reasons o f legal p roced u re the trial o f all o f the five defen dan ts w as in evitable
in this case. A separate trial fo r som e o f the defen dan ts is im possible accord in g to
Berne legal procedu re.
The Ju dge now devoted the tim e to a discu ssion o f the “ P r o to c o ls.” The
“ P ro to co ls” can be divided in to a forew ord , the text o f the “ P r o to c o ls ” and an ap­
pendix. The plaintiffs alleged that the “ P r o to c o ls” are fo r g e d and a plagiarism .
This prom pted the Ju dge to dem and the op in ion o f an expert w ith regard to the
frau dulent ch a ra cter o f the “ P r o to c o ls .” The Ju dge declared that he w as satisfied to
4
have had the opin ion o f experts, because the op in ion o f the experts has m ade clear
the evidence in the case in such a strik in g m anner. The con trov ersy betw een the
attorneys on both sides, w hich w as to p rove the genuineness or the frau du len t
ch a ra cter o f the “ P r o to c o ls,” was o f no con cern to the Judge.
The Ju dge w as obliged to ren der an unbiased d ecision and th erefore he was
fo rce d to order w hat w as necessary fo r finding o f the ob je ctiv e truth.
W h at has the eviden ce sh ow n ? T h eod ore F ritsch , the pu blish er, in his attem pt
to prove the genu in eness o f the “ P r o to c o ls ” su rprisin gly referred to C h ief R abbi
Ehrenpreis in the fo llo w in g m ann er: that Dr. E hrenpreis in a speech he m ade at the
Herzl M em orial celebration had adm itted the genu in eness o f the “ P r o to c o ls .” C hief
R abbi Dr. E h renpreis, h ow ever, in his testim ony b e fo re the B ern e Ju dge, raised
v igorou s o b je ctio n s and protested against the allegation s o f T h eod or Fritsch . W ith
solem n m ien Court P residen t, Dr. M eyer, declared that the w ord s o f Dr. E hrenpreis
as a w itness b efore the a u th orities o f this co u rt had m ade an extrem ely em phatic
and con vin cin g im pression upon him . F ritsch w as fru strated in his attem pt, there­
fo re , to p rove the genu in eness o f the “ P r o to c o ls ” by w ron gly ca llin g the co u r t’ s
atten tion to statem ents m ade by Dr. E hrenpreis, “ A man o f Dr. E h ren preis’ calibre
speaks n oth ing but w hat is tru e.”
N ow , w ith rega rd to fu rth er ev iden ce? Th ose w ho ad vocate the genu in e ch a r­
acter o f the “ P r o to c o ls ” con tin u ally speak o f a m anuscript that som ew h ere and at
som e time m igh t have been fou n d , stolen or oth erw ise produ ced by som eone. W h ere
is this m anu script? W h at are the nam es o f the A gen ts w ho in som e tow n betw een
Basle and F ra n k fo rt, the nam e o f w hich is n ot g iven , have c op ied the " P r o to c o ls ” ?
“ The ad vocates o f the ‘ P r o to c o ls’ are o f the opin ion , it seem s, that the m ore
insanely absurd a th in g is, the m ore prone w ill the popu lace be to believe in it.”
The P residen t o f the C ou rt called ou t to the C ou rt: “ B ring m e som eth in g that is still
m ore absurd and I sh all believe in it .”
A n d n ow it has been proven w ith the utm ost clarity that the “ Z ion istic P roto­
co ls ” had been copied from M aurice J oly ’ s “ D ialogu es.” A lso, w ith utm ost proba­
bility p ro o f is given that the “ P r o to c o ls” w ere forg ed in ord er to gain influence at the
Czar’ s C ourt and to create antagonism against the Jew s and F reem asons.
The h earings o f the w itnesses and the experts’ op in ion s have fu rn ish ed these
p roofs. Since as early as 1921 it has been know n that the “ P r o to c o ls ” are copied
fro m Joly. The editors o f the “ P r o to c o ls ” m ost certain ly had k n ow led ge o f the
article by G raves in the L on d on Tim es. H ow ever, J oly w as never m en tioned in all
the edition s up to the 15th (th e latter in clu d ed ) and surely he w ou ld n ot have been
m entioned in all fu rth er edition s if in this trial con clu siv e eviden ce o f plagiarism
w ould n ot have been given fo r all tim e. This already m eans great success. Today,
(i. e. after the O ctober, 1934, t r ia l), a new ed ition — the sixteenth— has been pub­
lished, w h ich to be sure does n ot keep silent about Joly bu t stam ps him as a Jew.
It m akes no differen ce w hether Joly is Jew or G entile because there is no dou bt about
w hat w as intended to be con veyed in his “ D ialogu es.” They w ere a pam ph let against
the dictatorsh ip o f N apoleon III and n oth in g else. It is m ost lik ely that the anti-
Sem ites w ill con tin u e to in vestigate and w ill certain ly go so far as to stam p M achia-
velli as a Jew.
H ow ab ou t A ch ad H a’am , w ho in the latest version, is presented as the probable
origin a tor o f the “ P r o to c o ls ” ? A nd all w itnesses w ho w ere qu estion ed a b ou t this
point agreed that A ch ad H a ’am u n der n o circu m stan ces is lik e ly to be the author.
No one w ho is in the least acqu ainted w ith this grand person ality, or one w ho is w ell
versed as fa r as his w ritin gs are con cern ed , can con sider this su spicion as oth er than
absurd. In a d dition , the attem pt to w ron gly form u late eviden ce, that the “ P r o to c o ls”
w ere w ritten if n ot at the Z ion ist C ongress then at the secret m eetin g o f the B ’nai
B’ rith, w hich is supposed to have taken place at the same tim e as the Z ion ist Con­
gress, has failed entirely. The su rvivin g participan ts in the F irst Z ion ist Congress,
called as w itnesses h ere, have w ith all distinctness testified that th ere w ere no secret
meetings at the Z ion ist C ongress. P articipan ts in the F irst Z ion ist C ongress w ere
to be found in ord er that th ey m igh t testify, but w h y w ere n o p articipan ts fo u n d w ho
had participated in th e secret B 'n a i B ’rith C on g ress? In deed, it w ou ld h ave been
trem endously stupid if the Zionists had called a m eetin g o f con sp irators at the same
tim e and at the sam e place w here the official Z ion ist C ongress was being held. At
that time Basle was a very sm all com m u n ity, so that in any case it w ou ld have becom e
know n if in addition to the Z fonist C ongress the sm allest m eetin g m igh t have been
held. The Judge did not, indeed, consider the Jews to be as stupid as that.
W hen no leg a lly relevan t p r o o f cou ld be fu rn ish ed, the anti-Sem ites tried to
present the so-called p roof o f “ in ner tru th ” . It w as alleged that the “ P r o to c o ls”
contain Jew ish spirit and c o n fo rm to the prin cip les o f the T alm u d ic doctrin es. To
this the Judge rem arked that he had not k now n w hat the T alm u d is u ntil Chief
S
R abbi, Dr. E h renpreis had spoken in an im pressive m anner a b ou t the Talm ud, and
le ft a lasting im print on the m ind o f the Judge. A ll his life the Ju dge w ill rem em ber
the grand figure and the eloq u en ce o f C h ief R abbi Dr. E hrenpreis. The Germ an
translation o f the T alm u d com prises th irty-six fo lio volum es. H u ndreds or even
thousands o f persons had w ork ed on the T alm u dic w ritin gs to com p ile the w ork.
T h ey had w ork ed and com m en ted on the T alm u dic w ritin gs fo r centuries upon
centuries. In con trast to this, the “ P r o to c o ls ” by P ritsch contain firty-seven pages.
Indeed, on these fe w pages (fifty -sev en ) th e spirit o f the Talm ud is supposed to be
contained. Shaking his head the Ju dge declared, “ This is too m uch fo r m e.”
R eg a rd in g the expert op in ion s rendered by F leisch h au er, the P residen t o f the
C ourt expressed h im self in a few stron g w ord s: “ Mr. F leisch h au er has brou g h t a
great num ber o f Q uotations in ord er to fu rn ish p r o o f fo r th e presen ce o f the Jewish
spirit in the ‘ P r o to c o ls ’ . I in deed have grea t respect fo r th e in du stry and w ork in g
pow er o f Mr. F leisch h au er, but Mr. F leischh au er, I am fo r ce d to pity you. Y ou r
m ethod seem s to con sist en tirely in con su ltin g all sorts o f b ook s fo r and against the
Jew s and u tilizin g on ly th ose p ortion s w h ich are u n fa v ora b le to th e Jew s. I ex­
pressly state that on e can indeed p rove everyth in g b y qu otation s as w ell as by sta­
tistics. I state th at p roof, as fa r as th e genu in eness o f th e ‘P r o to c o ls ’ is concerned,
has n ot been fu rn ish ed .”
In the new edition , w h ich has been published since the O ctober, 1934, session, is
again fou n d a great num ber o f deviation s; also in the p reface and in the appendix,
alth ough the appendix is signed by T h eod or F ritsch and dated 1924. F ritsch , to be
sure, died tw o years ago.
The P residen t intim ates by these rem arks that he con siders th e new ed ition of
the “ P r o to c o ls” as a new fo r g e r y o f the form e r fo rg e ry . E v id en tly in the preface
and the appendix som e esp ecially stron g den un ciations o f the Jew s h ave been om itted
so that one w ou ld n ot v iola te the articles o f the la w against offen sive litera tu re by
its pu blication . T h erefore, these changes also are to be listed as results o f the
Berne trial.

“ IN S W IT Z E R L A N D W E K N O W NO D ISC R IM IN A TIO N A G AIN ST A N Y R E ­

LIGION O R A N Y R A C E . W E H A V E ABOU T 20,000 CITIZEN S OF TH E JE W ISH
CREED, TH ESE A R E ABOUT 0.6% OF TH E E N TIR E POPULATION AND AR E
JUST AS MUCH P R O T E C T E D B Y TH E CONSTITUTION AND L A W S A S A L L
O TH E R CITIZEN S. T H E R E F O R E , IF P R O P A G A N D A IS S P R E A D AG AIN ST THE
JE W S TH E PRO TEC TIO N O F TH E L A W MUST BE G IVEN T H E M .”

A rticle 14, o f the B ern e law against offen sive litera tu re, fo r b id s and penalizes
w ritin gs w hose fo rm and con ten t are apt to in cite one to com m it crim e, o r to teach
one to com m it crim e, to en dan ger g o o d m orals or to v iola te gra vely the fe e lin g o f
decency, to exert a corru p tin g influence or oth erw ise to arou se seriou s ob jection s.

The Ju dge declared th at in con form a n ce w ith th e experts’ op in ion o f L oosli and
Baum garten he has reached the con clu sion that the “ Z ion istic P r o to c o ls ” com e under
article 14 o f the law against offen sive literatu re. T h e con clu sion s fr o m the so-called
expert opin ion o f F leisch h au er w ere refu ted by the Ju dge to th eir fu llest extent.
The Ju dge continu ed to ju stify his sentence. A representative o f the D efendant,
Dr. U rsprung, h ere revealed h im self as a p roph et by saying that th ere w ou ld be a
tim e when the expert op in ion o f Mr. F leisch h au er w ill be adm itted to every Swiss
h om e. V isib ly arou sed, the Ju dge sh ou ted : “ I feel sh ock in g ly repulsed at the
th ou gh t o f fu tu re dark ages, as have been p roph ecied by Dr. U rsprung. I am no
prophet, but I wish, to see a future in w hich one w ill be surprised to find that other­
w ise clever people had to break th eir heads fo r tw o w eeks over th e qu estion as to
w hether the ‘ Z ion istic P r o to c o ls ’ are genu in e or forged . I deem th e ‘P r o to c o ls ’ to
be a fo rg e ry , a pla giarism an d silly n on sen se” .
The Ju dge considered the con tested w ritin gs o f Mr. F isch er also as lik ely to
create h atred and enm ity against ou r fellow -citizen s. This, too, holds true as regards
the several num bers o f the "E id g en essen ” . These w ritin gs, likew ise, violate the
ab ove-m en tion ed article 14 o f the la w against offen sive literatu re. R eferen ce to the
prin cip le o f the freed om o f the press is n ot adm itted here. A c co r d in g to the opinion
o f the Judge, th e fre e d o m o f th e p ress ceases w h ere baseness beg in s. This sentence
should be affixed to the corresp on d in g article o f the fed eral con stitu tion con cern in g
the freed om o f the press. Then the Ju dge turned his atten tion to the evidence
presented by the in dividu al defendants. I f one w ou ld be able to have a previous
in vestigation in the crim in al p roced u re o f the police, then the p roced u re against the
defendants, H aller, M eyer and E b ersole, w ou ld already have been elim in ated. Since
this is n ot a llow ed and is th erefore im possible, the th ree defen dan ts w ho w ere to be
exonerated, had to be indem nified. It is a different m atter in sofa r as Mr. Silvio
<
Schnell is con cern ed, fo r Mr. Schnell had assum ed the resp on sib ility fo r the distribu ­
tion o f the “ P r o to c o ls” . Schnell has had a rath er g ood sch oolin g (g y m n a siu m ), and
at the tim e o f the com m itm en t had been a v o te r fo r fo u r years. W h en it is he w ho
distribu tes a pam phlet and recom m en ds it especially, then the C ourt m u st assum e
that he k n ow s its content. A sid e from the qu estion as to w hether the text o f the
" P r o to c o ls ” is a fo rg e ry , the p refa ce and the appendix are in citin g and corru p tin g to
such an extent that even y ou n g Mr. Schnell w ou ld h ave been fo rce d to see this
im m ediately. The case o f Mr. Schnell can n ot be com pa red to that o f a book seller,
w ho w ould also sell the “ P r o to c o ls ” . The b ook seller sells at the requ est o f the
custom er. Schnell tried to popu larize a pam ph let w h ich slanders and besm irch es a
portion o f ou r fellow -citizen s in an offen sive m anner. By this he has assum ed a
certain guarantee fo r the truth o f this pam phlet. T h erefore, Schnell m ust be pun­
ished. Severe punishm ent, h ow ever, is n ot advisable, esp ecia lly becau se o f the lon g
duration o f the trial— alm ost tw o years.
T h eodor F isch er is fo r ty years o f age, w h ich m eans he has attained an ag e at
w hich tim e as a rule people usually becom e sensible. In his new spaper— “ Der
E idgen esse” — he recom m en ded th e “ P r o to c o ls” p a rticu la rly because o f th eir genu in e­
ness. A lso, F isch er has claim to som ew h at m ild er punishm ent w ith rega rd to the
lapse o f time. The pu nish m en t o f the tw o defen dan ts— Schnell and F isch er— results
in this: that they have to assum e the la rg er p ortion o f the cost o f the trial. Likew ise,
they w ould have to bear the trial cost o f the private plaintiffs.
The other defen dan ts— H aller, M eyer, and E b ersold , on p rin cip le have a claim
to indem nity, since they have been caused in con ven ien ce by the n ecessity o f appearing
on the witness stand. The expenses o f the State w hich have been incurred with
respect to these defen dan ts have to be born e by the State. The P riva te P lain tiffs have
to bear the cost o f the d efen se o f the three defen dan ts w h o had been exonerated.
Based on these deliberations, the fo llo w in g sentence is passed b y the J u d g e:
( 1 ) The defen dan ts, H aller, M eyer and E b ersold, are ab solved from the offense
relating to m otion pictu res and m easures against offen sive litera tu re com m itted
through distribution o f the w ritin gs u nder con sid era tion o f the court. T h ey receive
an indem nity as fo llo w s : H aller, 400 fra n cs; E b ersold, 200 fra n cs; M eyer, 50 francs.
A ll m onies to be taken from the State T reasu ry. O ne-sixth o f th e C ourt costs is to
be paid by the State.
(2 ) The private plain tiffs are sentenced to pay the cost o f the d efen se o f the
absolved defendants.
(3 ) The defendant, Silvio Schnell, is fo u n d gu ilty o f the v iola tion o f article 14
o f the qu oted law , because o f the distribu tion o f the pam ph let to w hich ob je ctio n was
filed; nam ely, the “ P rotocols o f the E lders o f Z ion ,” 15th edition , by T h eod or
Fritsch, H am m erverlag, and is sentenced to pay 2 0 fran cs and 5 /1 8 th s o f the Court
costs. In addition, the defen dan t, Schnell, is sentenced to pay th e leg a l expenses o f
the private plaintiffs.
( 4 ) The defendant, F isch er, is declared gu ilty o f a v iola tion o f A rticle 14 o f the
quoted law — by (a ) distribu tion o f the proclam a tion “ T o all Sw iss citizens w ho are
fa ith fu l to th eir native coun try and con sciou s o f th eir b lo o d ,” ( b ) referen ce to the
"P r o to c o ls ” in the paper the “ E idgen essen ,” ( c ) the pu blica tion o f an a rticle in the
“ E idgen essen,” en titled “ G irls o f Sw itzerland, Bew are o f the R a pin g Jew s,” and
sentenced to pay 50 fran cs and 1 0 /1 8 th s o f the C ou rt costs and the leg a l costs o f the
Private Plaintiffs.
( 5 ) A confiscation o f the "P r o t o c o ls ” w ou ld be useless, f o r this w ou ld be valid
only w ithin the bou n daries o f th e can ton o f B erne. I f a certain ed ition w ou ld be
confiscated, one w ould have to expect that im m edia tely th ereafter an oth er edition
with an increased num ber o f v olu m es w ou ld be forth com in g .
A ttorney R u ef in the nam e o f the D efendant, Schnell, filed an appeal. This
appeal was noted and filed by the Court.
In conclu sion , the Ju dge requ ested the defen dan ts, Sch nell and his frien d s, to
acfcept this sentence n ot as an expression o f person al an im osity o f the Court P resi­
dent, but he has ju d g e d them as a ju rist and m an, and w ou ld be ju st as ob je ctiv e if
the defendants w ould h ave called u pon the Ju dge in a su it against on e o f th eir
political adversaries.
E n d o f the C ourt P roceed in g s and w ith this o f the suit in th e first Court.

P R I N T E D IN U . S . A .

7
 PROPERTY OF
RITA & LEO GREENLAND
LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTER
ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE