The Judeo-Masonic conspiracy is an

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and anti-Masonic

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

involving an alleged secret coalition of

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and

Freemasons Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

. These theories are popular on the

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

, particularly in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

, and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, with similar allegations still being published.

''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion''

The Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory merges two older strains of conspiracy claims: Masonic conspiracy theories claims and antisemitic conspiracy claims. It was heavily influenced by publication of ''

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

'', a fabricated document that appeared in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

purporting to be an exposé of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. The Protocols claim that the Jews had infiltrated Freemasonry and were using the fraternity to further their aims. Adherents of the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy took the claim made by the Protocols to extremes and claimed that the leaders of Freemasonry and the leaders of the Jewish plot were one and the same. An example was the Spanish Roman Catholic priest

Juan Tusquets Terrats Juan Tusquets Terrats (March 31, 1901 – October 25, 1998) was a Spanish priest, author of the best selling book ''Orígenes de la revolución española''. Turned into a fierce antisemite and even fiercer antimasonic hate speaker during the Spani ...

, whose ''Orígenes de la revolución española'' and other works built on the ''Protocols'', which he translated, to claim that Jews used Freemasons and

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

to undermine

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and Spanish civilisation, providing a justification for the Francoist régime, which expanded the threat to an international Judeo-Masonic-Communist conspiracy (''see also'':

Jewish Bolshevism Jewish Bolshevism, also Judeo–Bolshevism, is an antisemitic and anti-communist conspiracy theory that claims that the Russian Revolution of 1917 was a Jewish plot and that Jews controlled the Soviet Union and international communist moveme ...

Conceptual influence

According to Danny Keren, a member of the Department of Computer Science at

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

, the "conceptual inspiration" of the

Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

was the 1797 treatise, '' Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism'' by the French priest Augustin Barruel, which claimed the Revolution was a Masonic-led conspiracy with the aim of overthrowing the moral teachings of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. According to Keren: According to the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon website: French Masonry of the time was exclusive, denying initiation to Jews and many other classes of people.

Barry Domvile and The Link

Retired admiral Barry Domvile, founder of British pro-Nazi association The Link, coined the title "Judmas" for the alleged Judeo-Masonic conspiracy.Domvile,
From Admiral to Cabin Boy
', p80. Domvile claimed that the "activities of Judmas are confined to a small section of both Jews and Masons: the large majority have no idea of the work undertaken behind the façade of Judmas."Domvile, ''From Admiral to Cabin Boy'', p81. Domvile alleged that "the aim of these international Jews is a World state kept in subjection by the power of money, and working for its Jewish masters"Domvile, ''From Admiral to Cabin Boy'', p82. and that "Masonry is the executive partner for the conduct of Jewish policy."Domvile, ''From Admiral to Cabin Boy'', p83. Domvile said that he first started thinking about a Jewish-Masonic theory as a result of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. Domvile referred both to ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'', and to ''The Secret Powers Behind Revolution'' by

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

Léon de Poncins. Domvile was aware that ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' had been denounced as a forgery, but regarded their authorship as "immaterial".

Post-Soviet Russia

The Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theories found new currency among the various marginal political forces in post-Soviet

, where widespread destitution created fertile ground for conspiracy theories, combined with

blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...

and

Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...

. These viewpoints are also voiced by several antisemitic writers, notably by Oleg Platonov, and . An opinion poll conducted in Moscow circa 1990 has shown that 18% of Moscow residents believed that there is

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

conspiracy against Russia and further 25% did not exclude such a possibility.

Link to the Bilderberg group

Contemporary conspiracy theorists, who hew to theories centered on the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg Meeting (also known as the "Bilderberg Group", "Bilderberg Conference" or "Bilderberg Club") is an annual off-the-record forum established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally ...

and an alleged impending New World Order, often draw upon older concepts found in the Jewish-Masonic conspiracy theory, frequently blaming the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...

or "international bankers". Because of the use of themes and tropes traditionally viewed as antisemitic, these contemporary conspiracy theorists tend to draw the ire of groups sensitive to antisemitic terminology, such as the Anti-Defamation League.

In popular culture

The conspiracy is mentioned in

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

's novel '' The Prague Cemetery''.

Gallery

File:Achille Lemot-1902-5.jpg, Catholic France driven by Jews and Freemasons. Drawing by Achille Lemot in Le Pèlerin, 1902. File:Judeo-Masonic Conspiracy.jpg, German poster from 1935, saying, "World politics – World revolution. Freemasonry is an international organisation beholden to Jewry with the political goal of establishing Jewish domination through world-wide revolution."

References

Citations

Sources

External links

"The Judeo-Masonic Conspiracy"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Judeo-Masonic Conspiracy Theory Alt-right Anti-Masonry Anti-Marxism Antisemitic tropes Conspiracy theories involving Jews Conspiracy theories involving race and ethnicity Conspiracy theories involving religion Far-right politics Francoist Spain Italian fascism Nazi Germany Right-wing antisemitism