Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1930-1972 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
c 550 frames
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
The fortnightly anti-Semitic periodical, Weltdienst, was founded by Ulrich Fleischauer, a retired German lieutenant, in Erfurt on 1 December 1933. August Schirmer, who, having already been employed at Weltdienst in the 'American Section', took over publication of the periodical in July 1939. Shortly afterwards he announced the relocation of the offices to Frankfurt am Main, where all anti Jewish 'research establishments' under Alfred Rosenberg's direction were concentrated. Schirmer resigned in August 1943, at which time Weltdienst was published in 18 languages.
Weltdienst continued well into 1944. Kurt Richter, the new publisher, was also director of an 'International Institute for the Enlightenment of the Jewish Question', also called 'Weltdienst'. This institute organised gatherings of European antisemites 'with a view to securing an exchange of ideas and experiences designed to steadily strengthen the common European defence action against Jewry'.
In 1934 Weltdienst was given the task of rounding up Russian émigré experts to defend the veracity of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, at Bern. This anti-Semitic forgery came under public scrutiny in June 1933, when a right wing Swiss nationalist organisation known as the National Front began distributing it during a demonstration in Bern. A group of leading Swiss Jews filed a suit against the distributors, contending that the document, which described a Jewish plot to take over the world, fell under the ban on 'indecent writings'.
Repository
Archival history
According to a letter at the beginning of the collection, the first part of the collection came via a Jewish lawyer involved in the prosecution of Boris Toedtli , one of the most important Weltdienst men in Switzerland, who was tried for espionage. It is believed that one of the prosecuting lawyers obtained the documentation and subsequently handed it to JUNA, the Jewish press agency of the Swiss Jewish Community. The provenance of the second part is unknown.
GB 1556 WL 540 1930-1972 Collection level c 550 frames Schwed , P; Weltdienst
The fortnightly anti-Semitic periodical, Weltdienst, was founded by Ulrich Fleischauer, a retired German lieutenant, in Erfurt on 1 December 1933. August Schirmer, who, having already been employed at Weltdienst in the 'American Section', took over publication of the periodical in July 1939. Shortly afterwards he announced the relocation of the offices to Frankfurt am Main, where all anti Jewish 'research establishments' under Alfred Rosenberg's direction were concentrated. Schirmer resigned in August 1943, at which time Weltdienst was published in 18 languages.
Weltdienst continued well into 1944. Kurt Richter, the new publisher, was also director of an 'International Institute for the Enlightenment of the Jewish Question', also called 'Weltdienst'. This institute organised gatherings of European antisemites 'with a view to securing an exchange of ideas and experiences designed to steadily strengthen the common European defence action against Jewry'.
In 1934 Weltdienst was given the task of rounding up Russian émigré experts to defend the veracity of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, at Bern. This anti-Semitic forgery came under public scrutiny in June 1933, when a right wing Swiss nationalist organisation known as the National Front began distributing it during a demonstration in Bern. A group of leading Swiss Jews filed a suit against the distributors, contending that the document, which described a Jewish plot to take over the world, fell under the ban on 'indecent writings'.
According to a letter at the beginning of the collection, the first part of the collection came via a Jewish lawyer involved in the prosecution of Boris Toedtli , one of the most important Weltdienst men in Switzerland, who was tried for espionage. It is believed that one of the prosecuting lawyers obtained the documentation and subsequently handed it to JUNA, the Jewish press agency of the Swiss Jewish Community. The provenance of the second part is unknown.
P Schwed
Part I comprises papers relating to the Bern trial of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' including a list of Weltdienst subscribers; correspondence and affidavits relating to the identity of defendants' witnesses, in particular Sergei Sergiejewitsch Nilus, son of Sergei Alexandrowitsch Nilus (1862-1929), responsible for the original publication of the 'Protocols'; verdict and judgement in the case. Part II comprises the correspondence of 'Weltdienst'.
Arranged into two groups: Bern trial material; Weltdienst material.
Open
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
German, English
Microfilm
Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.
Wiener Collection, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Williams, Robert C., 'Tödtli, A Bern Defender of the Protocols', Wiener Library Bulletin, vol XXIII , (Wiener library, 1969).
Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn. Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. October 2007 Administration of justice Antisemitism Bern Communication process Europe Weltdienst Jews Legal procedure Nazism Persuasion Political doctrines Propaganda Racial discrimination Religious groups Switzerland Tödtli , Boris , b 1901 , leader of the Russian National Socialists in Switzerland Third Reich Totalitarianism Western Europe
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
P Schwed
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Part I comprises papers relating to the Bern trial of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' including a list of Weltdienst subscribers; correspondence and affidavits relating to the identity of defendants' witnesses, in particular Sergei Sergiejewitsch Nilus, son of Sergei Alexandrowitsch Nilus (1862-1929), responsible for the original publication of the 'Protocols'; verdict and judgement in the case. Part II comprises the correspondence of 'Weltdienst'.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged into two groups: Bern trial material; Weltdienst material.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
German, English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Notes area
Note
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English