Bern process

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The so-called Bern Trial was an internationally acclaimed criminal trial that was conducted from 1933 to 1935 on the basis of a criminal complaint from the Swiss Association of Israelites (SIG) and the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Bern for violating the Bern law on cinematography and measures against junk literature from 1916. The focus of the process was on interviews with witnesses and expert opinions on the current use of the anti-Semitic " Protocols of the Elders of Zion " in Switzerland .

The verdict came to the conclusion that this font is a bad work, a plagiarism and a forgery.

Frontist event in the Bern Casino

On June 13, 1933, an event organized by the National Front and the Home Army took place in the Casino Bern with the former chief of staff and frontist Emil Sonderegger as the main speaker. Other speakers at this event were the Swiss officer Arthur Fonjallaz and Heinrich Wechlin, then editor-in-chief of the Berner Tagblatt newspaper . Oberstdivisionär Emil Sonderegger was introduced as the main speaker by Major Ernst Leonhardt , Basel, Gau leader of the National Front. At this event, the National Front offered for sale the brochure Die Zionistische Protocols (imported from Germany) , an edition of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” with a preface and an afterword by the German anti-Semitic editor Theodor Fritsch . In addition, the Association of National Socialist Confederations (BNSE) , which is not one of the organizers, distributed a pamphlet appeal to all homeless and blood-conscious Confederates! with wild insults against Jews as well as the battle sheet of the BNSE ( The Confederation ). On June 26, 1933 , Georges Brunschvig filed a criminal complaint against the district administration of the BNSE and against unknown persons on behalf of the Swiss Association of Israelites and the Jewish Community of Berne, on the grounds that this had violated the ban on bringing trash literature into circulation .

Theodor Fritsch's «Zionist Protocols»

Frontist propaganda declared the " Protocols of the Elders of Zion " to be genuine: These were a secret program written by Jews with the aim of gaining political world domination by all means (e.g. by supporting corrupt politicians, by using Underground railways for bombing, through various economic measures, etc.). In his incriminated edition of the book, Fritsch claimed that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were drawn up by Jews at the first Zionist congress in Basel in 1897. In the foreword, he allegedly provides evidence of this with a misleading quote from Rabbi Marcus Ehrenpreis , who himself took part in the Basel Congress in 1897.

The main hearing begins on November 16, 1933

After preliminary investigations, the main hearing was finally opened against five people: the Zurich architect Theodor Fischer , federal director of the BNSE, as the person responsible for the incriminated pamphlet and as the editor of the BNSE combat paper Der Eidgenosse , in which the slanderous anti-Semitic article Swiss girls watch out for the abusive Jews! by Alberto Meyer, Zurich, was published; in addition, as a representative of the Bern Gauleitung of the BNSE against the businessman Georg Haller, at the time of the event Gauleiter, and the lawyer Johann Konrad Meyer. Silvio Schnell, member of the National Front, local group in Bern, and Walter Ebersold, described in the police report as the “leader of this group”, were on trial for the distribution of publications by the National Front that evening, including The Zionist Protocols . The judge was Walter Meyer. In their statements, Theodor Fischer assumed responsibility for the pamphlet and Silvio Schnell for the distribution of publications of the National Front, while the other accused declined any personal responsibility. Finally, the hearing was adjourned indefinitely with the decision to seek expertise on the authenticity or inauthenticity of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion".

Second main phase of negotiations in October 1934

Summons from Dr. Chaim Weizmann as a witness at the Bern Trial in 1934 (State Archives of the Canton of Bern)

From now on, the process focused on the question of whether the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were genuine or rather plagiarism and forgery. Witnesses had been summoned for the continuation of the main hearing from October 29 to 31, 1934: once a participant in the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, among them Chief Rabbi Marcus Ehrenpreis from Stockholm; Then various Russians living in exile (mostly in Paris) who were able to provide information about a possible drafting of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" on behalf of the Tsarist political police in Ochrana , with the aim of isolating liberal politicians and preventing anti-Semitic feelings at the time of the to stir up notorious Russian pogroms . The alleged complicity between Jews and Freemasons was also an issue, and Bernese Freemasons were heard as witnesses. The question of the extent of Jewish participation in the Bolshevik Soviet government was also discussed. The plaintiffs had called up most of these witnesses and made it possible for these eyewitnesses, who often traveled from abroad, to appear with considerable financial commitment. One of the witnesses was Chaim Weizmann , who later became the first President of the State of Israel . The only witness named by the defendants was Alfred Zander, Zurich, who had written several articles about the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in the newspaper of the National Front, The Iron Broom . Following the testimony, the defendant Fischer filed charges against various witnesses summoned by the plaintiff for allegedly false testimony.

List of witnesses

Witnesses to Tsarist Russia

Participant in the First Zionist Congress

Witnesses to Freemasonry

  • Theodor Tobler , Bern (chocolate manufacturer, freemason)
  • Eduard Welti, Bern (Freemason)

Witness for the defendant

Witnesses who did not appear

  • Philip Graves , London (submitted a written testimony to the court)
  • Armand Kaminka , Vienna / Jerusalem (summoned but prevented)
  • Alberto Meyer, Zurich (author of the incriminated anti-Semitic article Swiss girl ... in Der Eidgenosse )

Third main phase of negotiations in 1935

From left: Judge Walter Meyer, Carl Albert Loosli and the expert for the Jewish plaintiffs, Arthur Baumgartner (standing).

In the continuation of the main hearing from April 29 to May 13, 1935, three experts appeared: Carl Albert Loosli , Bern-Bümpliz, as the expert named by Judge Walter Meyer, Arthur Baumgarten , Basel, as the expert named by the plaintiffs and Lieutenant Colonel a. D. Ulrich Fleischhauer , Erfurt , as the (anti-Semitic) expert from Germany named by the defendants. The named experts had to answer the following questions from judge Walter Meyer:

  1. Are the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (as detailed above) a forgery?
  2. Are you plagiarized?
  3. If so, what are your sources? What is their origin and authorship?
  4. How do you relate to the Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897?
  5. From a literary point of view, do the protocols fall under the concept of junk literature?

The claimants formulated additional questions for the attention of the experts. No further witnesses were summoned during this main hearing in 1935. While the experts Carl Albert Loosli and Arthur Baumgarten described the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as plagiarism and as a forgery made by the helpers of the Russian political police in Ochrana, as well as junk literature, the German expert Ulrich Fleischhauer said the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were written by the Jewish author Achad Ha'am and passed by Jewish Freemasons at a secret meeting of the B'nai B'rith held in 1897 (parallel to the First Zionist Congress in Basel) .

Judgment of May 14, 1935 and revision of the 1937 judgment

Finally, the defendants Theodor Fischer and Silvio Schnell were convicted by Judge Walter Meyer, while the three other defendants were acquitted. The pronounced punishments were, however, of a more symbolic kind: Theodor Fischer, found guilty of violating Article 14 of the law on cinematography and measures against junk literature by distributing the appeal to all loyal and blood-conscious Confederates , by promoting the brochure The Zionist Protocols in several numbers the newspaper Der Eidgenosse and by publishing the article Swiss Girls Beware of the violent Jews! , was sentenced to a fine of 50 francs and Silvio Schnell, found guilty of violating Article 14 of the law by selling the brochure The Zionist Protocols , was sentenced to a fine of 20 francs. However, the convicts had to bear a substantial part of the state costs of the trial as well as part of the costs of the plaintiff. In his oral justification for the judgment, Walter Meyer stated that, based on his assessment of the testimony and expert reports, he had come to the conclusion that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were plagiarism and "trash literature" within the meaning of the Bernese law, which slandered a minority and possibly incite crimes.

Theodor Fischer himself and Silvio Schnell's lawyer (Hans Ruef, Bern) immediately declared that they would appeal and appeal to the Bern Higher Court (as a second instance). On November 1, 1937, in the appeal hearing under Chief Justice Otto Peter, the Bernese Higher Court acquitted the two defendants, Theodor Fischer and Silvio Schnell, who had been convicted in the first instance, for formal legal reasons, because the term “junk literature” in the Bern law was not applicable to “political publications” was, but according to the will of the legislature only on "immoral and morally endangering (obscene) writings". However, the court refused to accept the party costs of the defendant, who had been acquitted in the appeal, on the grounds: "Whoever puts such hateful articles on the market has to bear the resulting costs himself."

Appearance of National Socialist middlemen

The defense costs of the defendants in the trial were partly covered by National Socialist agents acting on behalf of the German government. Ulrich Fleischhauer, the expert appointed by the defendants, himself worked internationally as an anti-Semitic organizer with his world service and also took on intelligence tasks for the benefit of National Socialist Germany abroad. Ulrich Fleischhauer intervened in 1935, when he spoke to the then Federal President Rudolf Minger to complain about the disrespectful remarks made by the expert Carl Albert Loosli about National Socialist Germany. The plaintiffs, the Swiss Association of Israelites (SIG) and the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Bern, were represented in court by Bern lawyers Hans Matti and Georges Brunschvig (assisted by Emil Raas). The plaintiff assumed a substantial part of the costs for the appearance of the witnesses in court and for the preparation of the expert reports by Arthur Baumgarten and Carl Albert Loosli.

Archive material in the case files

The various documents in the court files and the minutes of the trial of the question of the creation of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are now considered to be important sources for researchers and historians. Of particular interest are the so-called «Russian files», which the expert Carl Albert Loosli has given to the expert Carl Albert Loosli for exclusive personal use by the Moscow lawyer (and author of a book on the Beilis trial ) Aleksandr Tager (1888–1939) with the permission of the Soviet government have been. These are original documents from the Tsarist police and administration, the authenticity of which was confirmed by a few expert witnesses in 1934. Born in Russia, the Bernese lawyer Boris Lifschitz (1879–1967) had contacts with the Soviet administration and played an important role in obtaining the “Russian files” and summoning exiled Russian witnesses. Elias Tcherikower (1881–1943), who emigrated from Berlin to Paris after Hitler's seizure of power, served as the contact person for the plaintiffs to the Russian witnesses who emigrated to France at the Bern Trial in 1934 (all of whom were against Bolshevism ).

literature

  • Hadassa Ben-Itto : «The Protocols of the Elders of Zion». Anatomy of a fake. Translated from the English by Helmut Ettinger and Juliane Lochner. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-351-02470-3 .
  • Norman Cohn : Warrant for Genocide. Serif, London 1967/1996, ISBN 1-897959-25-7 .
  • Norman Cohn: "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion": The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy. With an annotated selection bibliography by Michael Hagemeister. Elster-Verlag, Baden-Baden / Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-89151-261-9 .
  • John S. Curtiss : An Appraisal of the Protocols of Zion. Columbia University Press, New York 1942.
  • Rudolf Gafner: Subject «The Elders of Zion». 100 years of "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and no end - although 70 years ago it was exposed as "ridiculous nonsense" . In: The Bund . May 13, 2005 ( online (PDF file; 245 kB)).
  • Urs Hafner: conspiracy, counter-conspiracy. In: Swiss National Science Foundation: Horizons. June 2008, pp. 22-24 ( online (PDF file; 370 kB); on Michael Hagemeister's research, with photos of the process).
  • Michael Hagemeister : Russian Emigrés in the Bern Trial of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" (1933-1935). In: Cahiers Parisiens / Parisian Notebooks. 5, 2009, pp. 375-391.
  • Michael Hagemeister: Bern trial of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". In: Wolfgang Benz (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus. Vol. 4: Events, Decrees, Controversies. De Gruyter, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-598-24076-8 , pp. 49-51.
  • Michael Hagemeister: The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in Court. The Bern trials, 1933-1937. In: Esther Webman (Ed.): The Global Impact of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". Routledge, London / New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-415-59892-7 , pp. 241-253.
  • Michael Hagemeister: Carl Albert Loosli and the Bern Trial of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In: Gregor Spuhler (Ed.): Anstaltsfeind and Judenfreund. Carl Albert Loosli's commitment to human dignity. Zurich: Chronos 2013, pp. 95–115. (Publications from the Archives for Contemporary History at ETH Zurich; 8)
  • Michael Hagemeister: The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in court. The Bern Trial 1933–1937 and the «Anti-Semitic International». Zurich: Chronos 2017. (Publications of the Archives for Contemporary History of the ETH Zurich; 10) ISBN 978-3-0340-1385-7 .
  • Sibylle Hofer: judge between the fronts. The judgments of the Bern trial of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" 1933-1937. Helbing Lichtenhahn, Basel 2011, ISBN 978-3-7190-3144-2 .
  • Carl Albert Loosli : baiting Jews . Edited by Fredi Lerch and Erwin Marti. Rotpunktverlag, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-85869-335-8 ( Works. Vol. 6).
  • Carl Albert Loosli: The «Secret Societies» and Swiss Democracy. Bern 1935 (Reprint from the official report of the non-partisan judicial expert in the Bern trial regarding the “Zionist Protocols”).
  • Urs Lüthi: The myth of the world conspiracy: The agitation of the Swiss frontists against Jews and Freemasons, using the example of the Bern trial of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1992, ISBN 3-7190-1197-6 .
  • Catherine Nicault: Le procès des «Protocoles des Sages de Sion». Une tentative de riposte juive à l'antisémitisme dans les années 1930. In: Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire. No. 53 (Jan-Mar 1997), pp. 68-84 ( online ).
  • Jacques Picard : Switzerland and the Jews 1933–1945. Swiss anti-Semitism, Jewish resistance and international migration and refugee policy. Chronos Verlag, Zurich 1997, ISBN 978-3-905311-22-8 .
  • Emil Raas, Georges Brunschvig : Destruction of a forgery. The trial of the invented "Elders of Zion". The design, Zurich 1938.
  • Stephan Vász: The Bernese misjudgment about the protocols of the Elders of Zion: A critical consideration of the process of proceedings. U. Bodung-Verlag, Erfurt 1935.
  • Walter Wolf: Fascism in Switzerland. The history of the front movement in German-speaking Switzerland 1930–1945. Flamberg-Verlag, Zurich 1969.
  • Bern picture book from the Zionist trial of the «Protocols of the Elders of Zion». U. Bodung-Verlag, Erfurt 1936.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See wording Art. 14–16 .
  2. ↑ More on Wechlin's biography in: Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland 1848–1945 . Benteli-Werd, Bern 1994. Vol. 12 = 1937-1938, p. 1095-1097 (PDF file; 817 kB) ISBN 3-7165-0846-2 ; on September 10, 1940, after the defeat of France, Wechlin was received by Federal President Marcel Pilet-Golaz at the so-called frontist reception.
  3. ↑ Cf. Theodor Fritsch (ed.): The Zionist Protocols. (PDF file; 496 kB) Hammer Verlag, Leipzig 13th edition 1933.
  4. ↑ See the reprint of this appeal in Der Eidgenosse , Staatsarchiv des Kt. Bern, documents on the process.
  5. ↑ Quotation from the appeal : «We National Socialist Confederates hold firmly to the knowledge that behind all symptoms of illness in our organic national body, behind Marxism and class struggle, behind defeatism, pacifism and refusal to serve, behind a consciously anti-national art and science establishment , behind the godless movement, behind the systematic disruption of down-to-earth economic life, behind immoral literature, wrong education and party corruption, there is a single pathogen: the international Jew. "
  6. ↑ There are personal documents (PDF file; 62 kB) by Theodor Fischer in the Archives for Contemporary History at ETH Zurich .
  7. ^ Wording of this article . The article recalls analogous slander in the striker by Julius Streicher . State Archives of the Canton of Bern, documents on the Bern process.
  8. ↑ Georg Haller, businessman, Bern, b. 1879; Dr. iur. Johann Konrad Meyer, lawyer, Bern, b. 1907. Georg Haller, who was temporarily Gauleiter, was a lieutenant colonel in the Swiss Army and the son of a pastor at the Bernese Heiliggeist Church . At the main hearing in 1935 he gave some lengthy information about himself, cf. Stenonographic protocol (PDF file; 4.69 MB), State Archives of the Canton of Bern, documents on the process.
  9. ↑ The copies of the brochure offered for sale were stamped “Book Department of the National Front”.
  10. ↑ See police report of June 28, 1933 ; Walter Ebersold, architect, Bern, b. 1894; Silvio Schnell, musician, Bern, b. 1909
  11. ↑ See the minutes of the first main hearing (PDF file; 531 kB) of November 16, 1933.
  12. ↑ Weizmann did not take part in the First Zionist Congress in Basel because he was too poor at the time, as he himself explained. However, many of his friends were participants in the congress. In Bern in 1934, Weizmann gave an overview of the various currents in Judaism and Zionism that was worth reading and also addressed the question of the representation of Judaism in the Bolshevik Party of Russia .
  13. ↑ The French-born Alexandre Armand de Blanquet du Chayla fought during the First World War in the Russian and after the October Revolution in the Russian Civil War in the White Army (Don Army).
  14. ↑ Sliosberg published memoirs that give a good insight into Jewish life during the Tsarist era .
  15. ↑ See the publications: Russia and its crisis (1905) by P. N. Miliukov; Russia, to-day and to-morrow (1922) by P. N. Miliukov.
  16. ↑ See portrait and cyber memorial Mayer Ebner
  17. ↑ Following the statements of the expert Ulrich Fleischhauer about Freemasonry as a secret organization, Tobler sued against Fleischhauer.
  18. ↑ For more details see Martin Näf: Alfred Zander 1905–1997. Pedagogue, frontist, traitor ( memento of the original from July 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Traverse, Zeitschrift für Geschichte - Revue d'histoire No. 3, 2003, pp. 144–159. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.martinnaef.ch
  19. ↑ cf. engl. Wikipedia Ulrich Fleischhauer .
  20. ^ Fleischhauer was named as a replacement for the German National Socialist "Pastor a. D. » Ludwig Münchmeyer , whom the defendants initially named as their expert, but who could not be found by the German post when his summons was sent in Oldenburg. Prof. Hausherr, an orientalist at the University of Zurich, who was desired by the defendants as an expert, canceled. Ulrich Fleischhauer was the only expert to publish his expertise (PDF file; 11.59 MB) in book form.
  21. ↑ See the plaintiffs' questions to the experts , State Archives of the Canton of Bern, documents on the process.
  22. ^ Walter Meyer was a member of the Swiss Social Democratic Party .
  23. ↑ See stenographic protocol, grounds for judgment (PDF file; 5.72 MB), State Archives of the Canton of Bern, documents on the process.
  24. ↑ Fischer's lawyer Heinrich Büeler, Zurich, did not have an advocacy patent for the canton of Bern, so Fischer himself wrote an application for the appellation. See the documents on Büeler (PDF file; 66 kB) in the Archives for Contemporary History at ETH Zurich.
  25. ^ Advocate Hans Ruef was a member of the Bern Citizens' Party (now the Swiss People's Party ); later during the Second World War he was a member of the City of Bern Parliament as the only elected representative of the farmers' homeland movement ( young farmers ). Werner Ursprung, Zurzach, also worked for the defendant's party. Origin was a lawyer for the National Front.
  26. ↑ See the reasons for the judgment of the Bern Higher Court (PDF file; 9.13 MB), p. 50, State Archives of the Canton of Bern, documents on the process.
  27. ↑ The Volksbund leader Ernst Leonhardt sued Carl Albert Loosli because in 1935, as an expert on the trial, he had described the fronts as being (materially) “endured” by the Third Reich. In 1937 the frontist relations with Germany were revealed. See Willy Bretscher : Frontist morality . Editorial Neue Zürcher Zeitung of October 1, 1937, reprinted in: In the storm of crisis and war. Neue Zürcher Zeitung 1933–1944. Seventy editorials by Willy Bretscher. Verlag NZZ, Zurich 1987, pp. 169–174 ISBN 3-85823-192-4
  28. ↑ Cf. the numbers of the anti-Semitic World Service deposited with the court files , State Archives of the Canton of Bern: September 1, 1934 (PDF file; 3.61 MB), October 15, 1934 (PDF file; 4.03 MB) , March 15, 1935 (PDF file; 2.95 MB), April 1, 1935 (PDF file; 3.08 MB).
  29. ↑ Fleischhauer's role as an informant for the German National Socialist government became clear when the police found the correspondence of the Swiss frontist Boris Tödtli (1901–1944) during a house search in 1936. The Russian-Swiss Tödtli was an admirer of Hitler's Germany and was convicted of a spy by a Bernese court in 1938 (in absentia). Cf. Catherine Arber: Frontismus und Nationalsozialismus in der Stadt Bern , Bern 2002. Tödtli is named in a police report as a participant in distributing the incriminated appeal of the BNSE on June 13, 1933 in Casino Bern, but he does not appear as a defendant of the Berner Zionist trial.
  30. ↑ See the remarks by Judge Walter Meyer on Fleischhauer's intervention in the stenographic protocol 1935 (PDF file; 163 kB), State Archives of the Canton of Bern.
  31. ↑ Raas wrote a book about the Bern Trials in collaboration with Georges Brunschvig, which can be considered a first-hand source and contains many details; the anti-Semitic opposing side published a book by Vász about the trial as early as 1935.
  32. ↑ Important source material on the process can now be found in the Archives for Contemporary History at ETH Zurich under the holdings of the SIG (PDF file; 54 kB) and the personal files of Georges Brunschvig (PDF file; 63 kB)
  33. ↑ Now (partly with German translation) deposited in the Archive for Contemporary History ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the ETH Zurich. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.afz.ethz.ch
  34. ↑ Boris Lifschitz (1879–1967) was legal advisor to the Soviet Mission in Bern during the general strike in 1918 and was involved in foreign exchange transactions; After Tödtli's correspondence was confiscated by the federal police in 1936, Lifschitz was brought in to translate the Russian letters, and he passed some explosive letters to the Swiss press. The daughter of the expert CA Loosli was employed in Lifschitz's office.
  35. ↑ Cf. Michael Hagemeister : Russian Émigrés in the Bern Trial of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' (1933–1935). In: Cahiers Parisiens / Parisian Notebooks. 5, 2009, pp. 375-391, here: pp. 382-383; Encyclopaedia Judaica , Second Edition: sv Tcherikower, Elias . Thomson Gale, Detroit 2007, Vol. 19, p. 563.