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Belief in an international Jewish conspiracy or world Jewish conspiracy has been described as "the most widespread and durable conspiracy theory of the twentieth century" and "one of the most widespread and long-running conspiracy theories". Although it typically claims that a malevolent, usually global
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
circle (International Jewry) conspires for
world domination World domination (also called global domination or world conquest or cosmocracy) is a hypothetical power structure, either achieved or aspired to, in which a single political authority holds the power over all or virtually all the inhabitants ...
, the conspiracy theory's content is extremely variable, which helps explain its wide distribution and long duration. It was popularized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century especially by the antisemitic forgery ''
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...
''. Among the beliefs that posit an international Jewish conspiracy are
Jewish Bolshevism Jewish Bolshevism, also Judeo–Bolshevism, is an anti-communist and antisemitic canard, which alleges that the Jews were the originators of the Russian Revolution in 1917, and that they held primary power among the Bolsheviks who led the revo ...
, Cultural Marxism,
Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory The Judeo-Masonic conspiracy is an anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic conspiracy theory involving an alleged secret coalition of Jews and Freemasons. These theories were popular on the far-right, particularly in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ger ...
, and
Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...
. The Nazi leadership's belief in an international Jewish conspiracy that it blamed for starting World War II and controlling the Allied powers was key to their decision to launch the
Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...
.


History

Belief in an international Jewish conspiracy for world domination can be traced back to the thirteenth century, but increased in the second half of the nineteenth century under the influence of writers such as Hermann Goedsche, a Prussian ''agent provocateur'' promoting a new ideological antisemitism. The invention of the newspaper invited the new accusation that Jews controlled the press. Goedsche's novel '' Biarritz'' was plagiarized in the antisemitic forgery ''
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...
'' published at the turn of the twentieth century. ''The Protocols'' appeared in print in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
as early as 1903, published as a series of articles in ''
Znamya ''Znamya'' ( rus, Знамя, p=ˈznamʲə, a=Ru-знамя.ogg, lit. "The Banner") is a Russian monthly literary magazine, which was established in Moscow in 1931. In 1931–1932, the magazine was published under the name of ''Lokaf'' ("Лок ...
'', a Black Hundreds newspaper. The forgeries were possibly creations of the Okhrana secret police. The Protocols popularized the belief in an international Jewish conspiracy such that this belief became essential to modern antisemitism. According to Armin Pfahl-Traughber, the Protocols are "the most significant document for propagating the myth of a Jewish world conspiracy". Belief in this conspiracy increased following the Russian Revolution, spread at first by frustrated
Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...
exiles. A popular British conspiracy theorist
Nesta Webster Nesta Helen Webster (née Bevan, 24 August 1876 – 16 May 1960) was an English author who promoted antisemitic canards and revived theories about the Illuminati.Who are the Illuminati? ''Independent on Sunday'' (London) 6 November 2005. S ...
recycled the older
Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on ...
conspiracy theories with a new emphasis on the role of Jews to explain the revolution. In the second half of the twentieth century, as overt antisemitism became increasingly unacceptable, many conspiracists found detours to avoid explicitly referencing Jews while retaining conspiracy theories descended from the Protocols and earlier beliefs of a Jewish world conspiracy. The
Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory The Judeo-Masonic conspiracy is an anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic conspiracy theory involving an alleged secret coalition of Jews and Freemasons. These theories were popular on the far-right, particularly in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ger ...
asserts that Freemasons are the agents of an international Jewish conspiracy.
Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...
presupposes the existence of a massive Jewish conspiracy that (according to Holocaust deniers) perpetrated the biggest hoax in history in order to scam money out of Germany and found the state of Israel. This conspiracy may be present either implicitly or explicitly in Holocaust denying works. As of the 1970s, the expression Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG) has been used by antisemites to refer to the supposed illegitimate Jewish control over
Western countries The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
.


By country


Germany

In his first recorded political speech in 1919,
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
claimed that there was an international Jewish conspiracy plotting to weaken the
Aryan race The Aryan race is an obsolete historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people of Proto-Indo-European heritage as a racial grouping. The terminology derives from the historical usage of Aryan, used by modern I ...
and Germany. In documenting the appearance of fascism from the end of WWI to end of WWII, the historian Michael Kellogg noted that adherents of the "sinister world-wide Jewish" conspiracy theory included monarchist emigres who formed the Aufbau Vereinigung, a conspiratorial anti-Semitic group that sought to re-establish a Tsar in Russia while perpetrating right-wing terrorism in Germany. The Aufbau cooperated with, and included as members, early German Nazis such as
Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter Ludwig Maximilian Erwin von Scheubner-Richter ( Lettish: ''Ludvigs Rihters'') ( – 9 November 1923) was a Baltic German political activist and an influential early member of the Nazi Party. Scheubner-Richter was a Baltic German from Russia ...
. The group, with its emphasis on claiming a ''Protocols''-like myth, would influence the ideologies of Hitler and
Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head o ...
, mainly from 1918 to 1923, when Scheubner-Richter died during the Beer Hall Putsch. The leaders of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
believed that
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
was a conflict pitting Germany against a massive conspiracy secretly engineered by Jews and fronted by the Allies. According to this conspiracy theory, Franklin Roosevelt,
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, and
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
were merely puppets for the Jews.
Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...
repeatedly accused "International Jewry" of starting and extending the war and plotting the extermination of Germany. Hitler and other Nazi leaders repeatedly stated that they would "exterminate" Jews before the Jews had a chance to enact this alleged plot. Nazi propagandists drew on earlier Jewish conspiracy tropes and updated ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' with prominent individuals from Europe and North America. According to historian Jeffrey Herf, it was the Nazis' conspiratorial beliefs about Jews, rather than older antisemitic beliefs, that caused them to resort to extreme anti-Jewish violence. "The desire for a Final Solution to the Jewish question was inseparable from the Nazis’ view of the Jews as an internationally organized political power that was playing a decisive role in the events of World War II." According to historian Jeffrey Herf, the Nazis used the purported international Jewish conspiracy to answer "such seemingly difficult questions as, Why did Britain fight on in 1940 rather than negotiate? Why was it likely that the Soviet regime would collapse like a house of cards following the German invasion of June 1941? Why did Franklin Roosevelt oppose Hitler? Why did the anti-Hitler coalition remain intact as the Red Army continued to push toward Central Europe after spring 1943?" Nazi belief in a powerful, international Jewish conspiracy pulling the strings of world affairs was not dispelled by the ease with which the German Jewish community was expropriated and forced into exile.


Malaysia

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has repeatedly asserted that Jews control the world by proxy.


Turkey

In 2007, the bestselling book in Turkey was '' Musa'nın çocukları Tayyip ve Emine'' by Ergün Poyraz. Poyraz claims that there is an international Jewish conspiracy pulling the strings behind the world, including installing
Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep may refer to: People Surname * Aziz Recep (born 1992), German-Greek footballer * Sibel Recep (born 1987), Swedish pop singer Given name * Recep Adanır (born 1929), Turkish footballer * Recep Akdağ (born 1960), Turkish physician and polit ...
as prime minister of Turkey.


United States

In " The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem", American industrialist
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...
largely recycled the Protocols and did more than any other American to promote them. During the
First Red Scare The First Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left movements, including Bolshevism and anarchism, due to real and imagined events; real events included the R ...
, United States Congress investigated the veracity of the Protocols. ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' were well received by some conservative evangelicals in the 1920s and 1930s. However, even those evangelicals who believed that there was an international Jewish conspiracy against Christianity did not consider themselves anti-Jewish and hoped that Jews would convert to Christianity. By the end of the 1930s, the belief in an international Jewish conspiracy came to be discredited in conservative evangelical circles as it was seen as inconsistent with world events, especially the rise of Nazi Germany. In 2020, pro-Trump campaigner Mary Ann Mendoza was removed from the schedule of the Republican National Convention after she retweeted a thread asserting a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. In 2021, it was reported that almost half of
QAnon QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...
followers believed that there is a Jewish plot to take over the world.


See also

* Zionist Occupation Government conspiracy theory *
New World Order (conspiracy theory) The New World Order (NWO) is a conspiracy theory which hypothesizes a secretly emerging totalitarian world government. The common theme in conspiracy theories about a New World Order is that a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda ...


References

;Sources * * * * * * * * * * * *{{cite book , last1=Waddington , first1=Lorna , title=Hitler's Crusade: Bolshevism and the Myth of the International Jewish Conspiracy , date=2007 , publisher=Bloomsbury Academic , isbn=978-1-84511-556-2 , language=en, doi=10.5040/9780755623822 Conspiracy theories involving Jews