Bern process

In Switzerland, Jewish organizations opposed the publication of the Protocols by a local Nazi organization and sued the publishers. At the trial, which took place in Bern in October 1934 and May 1935 , an investigation was conducted into the origin of the Protocols. The process aroused great interest throughout the world, and was attended by numerous journalists.

Among the witnesses were called, among others, Russian emigrants who had contacts at the end of the 19th century with workers in the Paris bureau of the Russian Security Department .

According to the testimony of Catherine Radziwill , the Protocols were fabricated at the direction of the head of the Paris branch of the secret police, Peter Rachkovsky . Catherine Radziwill claimed that the Russian journalist Matvey Golovinsky showed her at her Paris residence a copy of the “Protocols,” which he wrote in 1904-1905 with the help of Rachkovsky and Manuilov . (Subsequently, the version of Golovinsky's authorship was confirmed by other researchers ^{[1] [2]} ). This version, however, contradicts the fact that the first version of the Protocols appeared in print in 1903 in the journal Znamya.

One of the coordinators of the Berne process, the historian-archivist Boris Nikolayevsky wrote in a private letter that “Rachkovsky under no circumstances could have been involved in the preparation of the protocols,” however, he did not express his opinion in court, as “it would be a stab in the back for Russian experts would objectively disorganize the campaign against Hitler . " ^{[3] [4]}

The court, by its decision, recognized that the “Protocols” were falsification and plagiarism, and thus this work fell under the Berne Law on “Obscene Literature” ^[5] .

Due to an inaccurate interpretation of the word “obscene” by the Berne court, the sentence was partially canceled by the court of appeal in Zurich in November 1937. At the same time, the court of appeal denied the defendants damages, and in the final speech the judges confirmed the fabricated nature of the “Protocols” ^[6] .

Leonid Katsis points out that the statement by the supporters of the authenticity of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” that the decision of the court in Bern, which established their falsity, as if it had been canceled by a higher court, is untrue. He claims that only 1 point out of 11 was canceled - on the ban on their distribution. ^[7]

Vladimir Burtsev , one of the witnesses at the Berne trial, published the book “Protocols of the Zion of the Sages. The proven forgery ”, where he again cited evidence that the“ Protocols ”are fabricated falsifications and have no historical authenticity ^[8] .

• Gustloff, Wilhelm
• Frankfurter, David

• Skuratovsky V. The problem of authorship of the “Protocols of the Zion of the Sages”. - K .: Spirit and Literature, 2001 .-- 241 p. - (Library of the Institute of Jewish Studies). - ISBN 966-72-73-12-1 .
• Burtsev, Vladimir Lvovich . "Protocols of the Zion of the Wise." Proven forgery. - Paris, 1938.