90 Years Since the Berne Trials

The Berne Trials took place between 1933 and 1935 in the city of Bern, Switzerland. Representatives of the Jewish communities in Switzerland filed a civil lawsuit against the National Front, a far-right party, for distributing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion—a text describing a “Jewish conspiracy” to overthrow all the world’s governments and replace them with a centralized Jewish rule.[1]

The Protocols originated in the early twentieth century, during the first Russian Revolution (1905), when monarchists sought a common enemy against whom to unify the divided Russian people. The authorities, who hoped to preserve the status of the Tsar, and far-right elements who opposed liberalization, portrayed the Jews as a threat: anarchists leading the revolution by manipulating liberal leaders at will.[2]

The Protocols became a central theme in far-right propaganda during the years of the Russian Revolution (1918–1920), gaining popularity within the ranks of the White Army. After their defeat, White Army officers brought the Protocols with them as they fled Russia and dispersed across the world. In this way, the text spread widely, selling hundreds of thousands of copies and being used to incite crowds at political rallies.[3]

In Germany in particular, the Protocols found fertile ground, at a time when the German people were desperate for an explanation for their defeat in the First World War and the suffering that followed. Unlike in other countries, in Germany the text received support and financial backing from various circles within the government. It was reported that even the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II believed wholeheartedly that the Elders of Zion were responsible for his downfall.[4]

The lawsuit by the Union of Jewish Communities was filed in June 1933. Dr. Alfred Wiener, founder of the Wiener Library, took part in preparing the case. Already at that time, he was systematically collecting and preserving all documents relating to antisemitism, in a collection now housed at the Wiener Archive. The plaintiffs sought to prove that the Protocols were a forged document and to prevent their continued distribution.[5]

The Bench of Prosecutors, photograph, 1935. From the Hadassa Ben-Itto Collection, Wiener Library for the Study of the Nazi Era and the Holocaust, Tel Aviv University.

After 17 months of proceedings, the verdict was issued on May 14, 1935. Judge Walter Meyer stated:

I hope that a time will come when nobody will understand how in the year 1935 almost a dozen sane and reasonable men could for 14 days torment their brains before a Berne court over the authenticity of these so-called Protocols, these Protocols which, despite the harm they have caused and may yet cause, are nothing more than ridiculous nonsense.[6]

Justice Hadassa Ben-Itto, who retired from the Israeli judiciary to devote her time to researching The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, describes in her book The Lie That Wouldn’t Die (1998) how, despite the victory in the Berne Trials, and although more than a century has passed since the Protocols first appeared, the lie whose forgery was proven continues to circulate to this day—and continues to incite hatred of Jews.

Hadassa Ben-Itto, The Lie That Wouldn’t Die: One Hundred Years of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1998).

In addition to the documents collected by Dr. Wiener for the trial, the Wiener Archive holds the estate of Justice Ben-Itto, including the research she conducted for her book. The Wiener Library collection includes many additional materials on the topic of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, including copies of the text in various versions and in multiple languages.