Whats the story with the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”?
Dear Straight Dope: I’d like to know about the history of that infamous forgery “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.” Who wrote it, and more importantly (to me anyways), why is it that so many people, even today, refer to it as fact? That Nazis and their bretheren are knuckleheads is no big surprise, but it seems a lot of otherwise even minded people believe the text is legitimate. Any ideas? — DG, Cambridge, Mass I don’t know that we can really answer why so many believe it, other than to say some people have beliefs that are simply immune to facts–for example, Holocaust deniers. To a rabid anti-Semite it makes no difference that the Protocols have been debunked countless times. I question whether somebody who believes in the Protocols is “otherwise even minded”–simple minded is more like it. The thing is so far out there it defies belief. The Protocols are the classic statement of the old notion of an international Jewish conspiracy. They purport to be the text of discussi
