What conspiracy theory did many Germans believe about the end of World War One?
Answers
Answer:
In 1919, Erich Ludendorff, one of Germany’s top military leaders, announced that Jews were one of several groups responsible for the nation’s defeat. By 1922, he was focusing almost entirely on Jews as “the enemy.” He wrote, “The supreme government of the Jewish people was working hand in hand with France and England. Perhaps it was leading them both.” As proof, he cited the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a document supposedly containing the minutes of a secret meeting of Jewish leaders—the so-called “Elders of Zion”—held at the turn of the twentieth century. At that supposed meeting, the “Elders” allegedly plotted to take over the world.
In fact, the Protocols is a forgery; Russian secret police wrote it in the early 1900s to incite hatred against Jews. At the time, few people paid much attention to the document, but after World War I, it became a worldwide sensation. Many believed that the Protocols explained seemingly “inexplicable” events—the war, the economic crises that followed the war, the revolutions in Russia and central Europe, even epidemics. Myths regarding a “Jewish conspiracy” had been around for centuries, but the Protocols gave them new life, even after the document was exposed as a hoax in 1921. For many people, the war and the earthshaking events that followed it confirmed the Protocols’ authenticity, no matter what evidence was offered to the contrary.
Answer:
In 1919, Erich Ludendorff, one of Germany’s top military leaders, announced that Jews were one of several groups responsible for the nation’s defeat. By 1922, he was focusing almost entirely on Jews as “the enemy.” He wrote, “The supreme government of the Jewish people was working hand in hand with France and England. Perhaps it was leading them both.” As proof, he cited the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a document supposedly containing the minutes of a secret meeting of Jewish leaders—the so-called “Elders of Zion”—held at the turn of the twentieth century. At that supposed meeting, the “Elders” allegedly plotted to take over the world.
In fact, the Protocols is a forgery; Russian secret police wrote it in the early 1900s to incite hatred against Jews. At the time, few people paid much attention to the document, but after World War I, it became a worldwide sensation. Many believed that the Protocols explained seemingly “inexplicable” events—the war, the economic crises that followed the war, the revolutions in Russia and central Europe, even epidemics. Myths regarding a “Jewish conspiracy” had been around for centuries, but the Protocols gave them new life, even after the document was exposed as a hoax in 1921. For many people, the war and the earthshaking events that followed it confirmed the Protocols’ authenticity, no matter what evidence was offered to the contrary.
In August 1921, the Times of London showed how the authors of the Protocols had copied long passages from several fictional works to create the document. As a result of that exposé, the British company that originally published the English version of the Protocols refused to print or distribute additional copies, and some newspapers no longer gave the document publicity. But neither action damaged the popularity of the Protocols. In recent years, studies have shown that efforts to debunk a lie often leave people more convinced than ever that the lie is true.