Protocols of the Elders of Zion: (The Story of One Forgery) Book discrediting “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” written by a Russian Jew Istoriya odnogo podloga

The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.

Yakov Lazarevich Yudelevsky (later Jacques Delevsky, 1868-1957) was born in Pruz︠h︡any, Russia (now Pruz︠h︡any, Belarus), to Lazer (Louis) Yudelevsky and his wife. Yakov may have been educated at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Saint Petersburg University and possibly received training as an engineer. Yakov later married, and the couple had at least one child. Yakov came to be known by his pseudonym, Jacques Delevsky, and was a prominent writer, historian, and member of the anti-tsarist movement in Russia. Delevsky was imprisoned for his political and revolutionary activities, and was later exiled to northeastern Siberia for five years. During this time, he found work as a teacher. After his exile ended, Delevsky immigrated to France and settled in Paris. He likely returned to school and graduated from the Mathematics Faculty of the Sorbonne. Delevsky maintained a strong interest in the social and political activities of Russia and was a well-known member of the Russian-Jewish intelligentsia and the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party. The 1917 Russian Revolution led to the Bolshevik-led overthrow of the imperial government and a lot of military and political chaos. These changes prompted Delevsky to reconsider some of his earlier, revolutionary views and eventually oppose the Bolshevik regime. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, Delevsky wrote more than 20 works in multiple languages. Among these was Delevsky’s 1923 book identifying “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” as a forgery. His was one of the first Russian-language books to do so, though many other Europeans were writing to discredit the “Protocols” at the same time. The “Protocols”, originally written in Russian in the late 1800s, is a fabricated, antisemitic text that supposedly documents the secret meetings between Jewish leaders conspiring to dominate the world. The widespread publication of the work helped popularize the antisemitic myth that Jews use their power and influence to manipulate and control world governments. This canard became a key component in Nazi ideology as it took root in Germany during the 1930s. Delevsky was committed to fighting antisemitism, and following the 1927 founding of the International League Against Antisemitism, he became a member. As a critic of antisemitic propaganda, a member of the Jewish intelligentsia, and a political leader Delevsky would have been very aware of the worsening conditions for Jews within Germany and the lands that it occupied during this time. During the late 1930s or early 1940s, Delevsky’s wife passed away. He immigrated to the United States at the beginning of World War II (1939-1945). Delevsky eventually settled in New York City, New York, and corresponded with scholars at a range of US universities while looking to find a potential teaching position or related job within academia. He also applied for support from the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars between 1941 and 1944. He petitioned for US naturalization in August 1949, at which time he legally changed his name to Jacques Delevsky, a variation that he had been using for many decades. By 1950, Delevsky was working as a teacher at a private school and living in the Bronx.

The publication was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz family.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.