Put simply, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion blames all of the world’s challenges on Jews. War, poverty, oppression, destruction, and more are all illustrated to be caused by this evil Jewish administration that allegedly has all global power.
Used as antisemitic propaganda by many, including Adolf Hitler, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion creates the unhinged claim that the secret “Elders of Zion” are behind many of the problems in the world. As soon as the book begins, it immediately goes to extremes. In Protocol 1, the third point is that this group wants to govern men with bad instincts with violence and terrorisation, not by academic discussion. Considering the time period when this was written, during the Second Industrial Revolution, when academic discussions and political ideologies like liberalism were encouraged and were seen as the new status quo, this book seemed to clearly go against these ideas, to the point of threatening them. For example, in Protocol 1, one of the group’s goals is to end liberty, and later throughout the text, they often denounce liberalism. These, alongside many other controversial messages, are clearly meant to get a rise out of the audience by attacking the things they find important and necessary, like education (Protocol 2), and the Press (Protocol 12), while also enforcing the things that are seen as a threat to society, like war (Protocol 7) and poverty (Protocol 3). As the book goes on, the claims continue to be shocking and extreme, further pushing these conspiratorial ideas.
Even the structure of the writing itself and the syntax of this book are over the top and aggressive, painting Jews in an even darker and more sinister light. The first, and arguably the most obvious example, is the way the book is split into 24 different sections known as “protocols” that are essentially the meeting minutes that documented what this “secret administration” was planning. Having the writing split into 24 different protocols adds to the fear and unease that the author is trying to convey by making it seem more “realistic.”If the author simply listed the conspiracies with no true story behind them, the effects of the writing would not be as apparent. However, by conveying the conspiracies as direct plans from the secret meetings themselves, the writing seems more convincing to some because they can put a group behind the conspiracies, a group that they can direct their blame to. The use of fully capitalized sentences (and even paragraphs) is also notable in pushing this aggressive and sinister agenda. Multiple times throughout the book, multiple sentences are fully capitalized, specifically sentences that have the most controversial or shocking messages. For example, in Protocol 4, the secret administration is planning to “Destroy God,” which is already shocking and controversial on its own, but further in that section, the most aggressive part is fully capitalized, saying that God will be “torn out” of the minds of gentiles and “arithmetical calculations and material needs” will be put in that place. By capitalizing certain sections of the writing, the shocking message not only catches more attention, but it also conveys a more aggressive narrative.
It is clear how this book has influenced many antisemitic ideas and conspiracy theories ever since it was first published in 1903. Even to this day, many of these ideas are still thrown around in society, many circulating on the internet, often among political discussions that are based on these conspiracy theories. One notable example of this comes from Protocol 10, where this secret administration claims that they are the ones naming the presidents. This idea, alongside the idea that the administration is controlling all of politics, is often pointed out when there are shocking political events. For example, specifically pertaining to this past week’s breaking news, many people were claiming that the many political assassinations, like the assassination of Charlie Kirk, were done by the secret Jewish state to get rid of those who went against them.
Overall, this book has had a very large impact on the Jewish community for over a century, and it has been the backbone for many antisemites, both historically and in the present day. Even though the contents of the book have been proven to be false multiple times, it still has acted as a tool for antisemites. Although to many, including myself, it is clear that this is a false and extremely dangerous narrative, many have been convinced of its claims and continue to defend it to this day.