Mormonism in The New Germany, by Dale Clark

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Part 1 of 3

The Rise of the Nazi Dictatorship and its Relationship with the Mormon Church in Germany, 1933-1939
by Steve Carter
International Journal of Mormon Studies, Volume 3
Spring 2010
©2010 International Journal of Mormon Studies

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On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist party came to power and began to establish a dictatorship in Germany. It was the Nazis' intent to control all facets of life in the Third Reich including the institutional church. The relationship between the regime and the German religious community is complex and controversial. Although Hitler early on assured the churches that Christianity was welcomed in the Reich, [1] the Nazis soon launched a campaign against it. Through a concordat, the German dictator was able to neutralize the Catholic Church. And, aided by the pro-Nazi "German Christians," Hitler went a long way in coordinating the Evangelical Church with party aims. Nazi policy toward the smaller Christian denominations was ad hoc. The Nazis sought to control [2] and eventually eliminate these religious bodies, yet generally tolerated the ones deemed beneficial to party aims. [3] Eventually, many small, non-traditional religions [4] were banned, while the "Free Churches," primarily Baptists and Methodists, were allowed to function because Hitler thought they could be useful to his purposes. [5]

The relationship between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Nazi regime was also complex. At no time during the 1930s was the Mormon Church banned in the Reich; however, it was not completely welcomed either. To be sure, Mormons were affected by Nazi anti-religious policies. This paper will review and analyze the relationship and interaction between the LDS Church and the Third Reich. I argue that Nazi harassment of the Mormons was sporadic and based primarily on the whims of local party officials rather than any formalized national policy. In the end, the Nazi course of action regarding the Latter-day Saints was similar to the regime's policy toward the Free Churches; the Party tolerated Mormons because it believed the LDS could be useful.

The Rise of Hitler and the Formulation of LDS Policy

Prior to World War I the spread of Mormonism in Germany had been slow. During the 1920s, however, the denomination enjoyed impressive growth throughout the country. In 1930 Mormonism claimed over 12,000 followers in Germany; by 1938 this number had passed 13,000. [6] This represented the largest pocket of Latter-day Saints outside the United States. Because of such success, Mormon leaders in the USA were optimistic about the Church in Germany well into the 1930s. [7]

By the middle of 1933, the Nazi regime had busied itself consolidating power in Germany including implementing its policies toward the Catholics and Protestants. At this point, the Nazis began to investigate the smaller denominations including the Mormons. [8]

That summer, both LDS mission presidents— Francis Salzner of the Swiss-German mission and Oliver Budge of the German-Austrian mission— were confronted by Nazi authorities and asked to issue concise written statements regarding Mormon attitudes toward the Hitler regime. [9] Although Church leaders in Utah had advised the mission presidents to "get along" with government officials, they did not provide specifics on how to proceed. [10] As a result, Salzner and Budge, in written statements, had the unenviable task of formulating Church policy with regard to the German state. Their responses to the Nazi inquiries, which became the basis of Mormon policy toward the Third Reich, were nearly identical and will be examined together.

The essence of the mission presidents' statements was to affirm the Church's spiritual mission. Salzner and Budge emphasized that, although Mormons considered themselves "apolitical," the Church taught its followers to be good and law-abiding citizens and to support the "powers that be" in accordance to the Church's Twelfth Article of Faith. [11] They stressed the Mormon belief in religious toleration [12] and asserted that the Church would not attack other denominations including the German Christians. Furthermore, the statements suggested that the Church's lay ministry and self-supporting missionary program brought foreign currency into Germany. [13] Finally, the mission presidents addressed values such as the family that were shared by both parties. [14]

As of 2002, Mormons "constituted 63% of Utah's population ... Virtually all statewide elective offices, from the governor down, are held by Saints ... the state legislature is overwhelmingly made up of white Mormon Republican males. Three fourths of the state judiciary is Mormon. The entire United States Congressional delegation from Utah is Mormon. School boards, city councils, municipal agencies, and mayors offices are dominated by Mormons." The editor of the Salt Lake Tribune summed it up thus: "The fact is, we live in a quasi-theocracy. 80% of officeholders are of a single party, 90% of a single religion, 99% of a single race, and 85% of one gender." (Lawrence Wright, "Lives of the Saints: at a Time When Mormonism is Booming, the Church is Struggling with a Troubled Legacy," New Yorker, January 21, 2002.) The constitutionally mandated separation of church and state is much neglected in Utah. The majority of public junior high schools and high schools have an in-house Mormon seminary which serves for religious studies. This is the Mormon tradition, and it is therefore difficult to imagine that a Romney cabinet would look like America. It might well look more like Utah, where Salt Lake City may well be the most lily-white city on the planet.

-- Just Too Weird: Bishop Romney and the Mormon Takeover of America: Polygamy, Theocracy, and Subversion, by Webster Griffin Tarpley, Ph.D.

There were three goals the mission presidents sought to achieve. First, they wanted to "get along" with the Nazi regime and avoid confrontations that could place the Mormon community in peril. Second, they sought to maintain the Church and its "gains" in Germany. Finally, mission leaders hoped to continue spreading the spiritual message of Mormonism through missionary activity. [15] The German mission leaders' policy was congruent with the prevailing Church accommodation policy toward secular government and the Twelfth Article of Faith established in 1890.

Apparently, the mission presidents' statements satisfied Nazi authorities. There are no immediate reports of harassment of any kind. Commenting on conditions in Germany, the 21 October 1933 issue of the Salt Lake City Deseret News, Church Section, reported, "The German-Austrian mission has been left almost untouched by the revolution in Germany." [16]

Harassment of the Mormons

Although Mormons escaped the initial persecution suffered by other denominations, they did not go unnoticed by Nazi authorities. As Hitler tightened his grip, the Gestapo kept vigil on all religious groups, [17] including the Mormons. On occasion, Gestapo agents monitored LDS worship services, [18] interrogated branch and district presidents, or confiscated branch records. [19] Some requested a list of names of branch members accompanied by their political party affiliation. [20] In their effort to "get along," LDS leaders complied with these demands. [21]

A real concern for branch presidents, though, was that a member might say something that Gestapo agents would consider subversive. Local leaders and American missionaries cautioned their congregations about such dangers and reminded them to follow the Twelfth Article of Faith. [22] Because of these measures, the secret police was unable to detect anything "subversive" about Latter-day Saint meetings. [23]

Elimination of the LDS Scouting Organization

On the national level, Mormons did not experience any pressure from the regime until 1934. In 1933, Hitler had begun the process of dissolving youth organizations or incorporating them into the Hitler Youth including the Boy Scouts. [24] In early March 1934, Nazi authorities notified Mormon officials to incorporate the LDS Scouting program [25] into the Hitler Youth or to disband. For several weeks, Mormon youth leaders corresponded with government officials pleading their case for maintaining the program. [26] Throughout the correspondence, Mormon Scouts continued to function and carry out their activities. [27] Finally, under duress, and desiring to "remain in harmony with" the Nazi regime, the Mormons acquiesced and dissolved its Scouting program on 30 April 1934. [28]

The dissolution of the Scouting program sheds light on Mormon policy toward the Nazi regime. By abandoning the Scouts, the Mormons indicated their willingness to oblige the Nazis. Still, they haggled with the regime and then dissolved their troops rather than incorporate them into the Hitler Youth. The Mormons chose to accept their fate, [29] but in such a way as to avoid direct Party control over their youth.

There were also cases where Mormons were affected by the general prohibitions placed on all religions by the Nazi regime. In 1934, the National Socialists issued a decree that no denomination could use Hebrew words such as "Israel", "Sabbath", "Zion"— words common in Mormon usage. [30] In keeping with the spirit of accommodation, Mormons throughout Germany complied with this decree. [31] The decree also led government officials to ban the book, The Articles of Faith by James E. Talmage, because of its references to "Zion" and "Israel." [32] The Nazis also banned Church tracts, including "Gottliche Vollmacht" ("Divine Authority") and "Signs of the Great Apostasy" which, Party activists claimed, constituted an affront to their own power in Germany. [33]

Nazi officials were also concerned that foreign-based religions might drain the Reich of much-needed currency. [34] This concern led German authorities to monitor LDS financial activities, insist that LDS tithes remain in Germany, and confiscate donation records from branches. [35] In October 1934, as part of Finance Minister Hjalmar Schacht's new economic plan to control foreign exchange, [36] the government withdrew from the LDS missionaries the privilege of purchasing valuable "Registered Marks." [37] Although Mormons were not the primary target of this plan, German officials charged that the missionaries were not paying their own way. Schacht's policy had a profound impact on the Church forcing the missions to curtail many of their activities. [38] In response, the mission presidents [39] in Europe and the First Presidency in Utah worked through the U.S. State Department, the American diplomatic corps, and the American Express Company to resolve this crisis. In March, 1936, the regime let up and restored to the missionaries the privilege of remitting Registered Marks. [40]

The Nazi "Let Up" on the Mormons and the Illusion of "Good Relations"

Between 1934 and 1936, most religious denominations suffered increased persecution at the hands of the Nazis. Both Catholic and Protestant clergymen encountered Nazi harassment and imprisonment. The Nazis also proceeded viciously against the smaller denominations. By contrast, harassment of the Mormons suddenly subsided in mid-1934 as noted by both Mormon and American government officials. In July, Francis Salzner, was questioned about Mormon views of the regime to which he reaffirmed the LDS accommodation policy and positive attitudes toward secular government. After the meeting, a surprised Salzner reported that the Gestapo agent confided to him that the Mormons had nothing to fear from the Nazis. [41] On 31 July, Utah Senator Elbert Thomas met with American Ambassador William Dodd in Berlin to discuss issues relating to Mormon missionaries in Germany. After the meeting, Dodd noted in his diary, "There are a number of Mormons in Germany and Hitler has not dissolved their organizations or expelled their active preachers. There are other than religious aspects to Hitler's let-up on the Mormons." [42]

Some historians have suggested a collaborationist relationship between Mormons and the Nazis based on a conjunction of worldviews including similar beliefs, doctrines and practices. Moreover, they argue that Mormons tried to convey this view to Nazi officials in order to escape persecution. [43]

Historian Douglas Tobler counters this thesis by arguing it was actually a disjunction of worldviews which formed the "foundation of the Nazi-Mormon relationship." According to Tobler, although there was some agreement of peripheral principles, the Nazis were concerned with gaining a "monopoly of power" and considered sectarian theology nonsense. On the other hand, Mormons were interested in their spiritual mission, not political power. [44] Mission documents further bolster this argument. In 1935, for example, mission records indicate "that the German attitude toward the [Mormon] Church, or any church, was that the churches were for the 'soul saving' part of life only, and that the state should develop the youth, and that the churches should not interfere in state affairs." [45]

The Nazis, in other words, found little in Mormonism they considered subversive. The regime seems to have regarded Mormons as "apolitical" and patriotic citizens. They may also have accepted some Mormon beliefs and practices as compatible with their own values. Tobler maintains that "presumably, the Nazis found no specific doctrines like rejection of military service, occultism or total reliance upon God's power in healing the sick" that would cause them concern. [46] Hitler's regime was thus willing to tolerate Mormons while it continued to consolidate power. In many respects, the Nazis' attitude toward the Latter-day Saints resembled their views of the Free churches who desired to retain independence to preach the gospel. [47] The Free Churches advocated separation of church and state, supported themselves financially and had relatively insignificant membership in Germany. Furthermore, many of these denominations had some influence abroad. Therefore, the Nazis, in the interests of foreign relations refrained from blatant harassment of these denominations. [48]

Official tolerance of the Mormons, however, turned out to be a mirage. Douglas Tobler and Alan Keele have described this two-year illusion of harmonious relations as a "fool's paradise." [49] Mormons continued their policy of accommodation with the Nazis, though the regime appears to have paid little attention to them except within the context of an overall policy on religion. [50] Each side was willing to ignore the other as long as it was left alone. As Tobler and Keele assert, "[ b]eing largely oblivious to the thrust of the numerous major events and policy changes going on at the time, Mormons tended to evaluate their circumstances largely in isolation on the basis of their personal well-being and the condition of the Church." [51] Nevertheless, both sides took advantage of opportunities presented by the other to advance their goals.

Doctrinal Parallels and Compatibility

That said, it cannot be denied that Mormons and Nazis did by coincidence rather than design share some common doctrinal ground, and both were aware of the similarities. [52] And it was the parallels that reinforced the illusion held by German Mormons. [53]

Among views shared by the two parties were an emphasis on genealogical research, the family, and the importance of health. Many Mormons also viewed several Nazi programs as resembling their own such as one of Hitler's program known as Eintopf Sonntag or "stew Sundays," in which participants fixed a modest meal and donated what they saved to the Nazi welfare program; a practice similar to the traditional Mormon "Fast Sunday."

Although superficially similar, the goals and objectives of the Mormons and Nazis were quite different. [54] Mormon programs reflected the faith's spiritual mission, while those of the Nazis represented their obsession for political and racial domination. Even so, common attitudes made Nazism more palatable to Mormons and Mormonism less suspect to Hitler's minions. [55]

Contacts with the Government

On 1 August 1934, Roy Welker became president of the German-Austrian mission; his tenure as mission president contributed to the illusion of "good feelings." Before leaving for Berlin, Welker met with President Heber J. Grant to discuss the German situation. Grant simply instructed Welker verbally to "meet the situation as it was," and to "exercise [his] own wisdom." [56] These vague directions left Welker on his own to deal with the Nazi regime. [57] Throughout his presidency, Welker continued the accommodation policy by complying with Nazi requests and investigations [58] which he later asserted was the "best policy." [59]

Welker also sought contacts with government officials. In 1936, he sent copies of Mormon scriptures to government officials including Adolf Hitler himself. [60] Furthermore, Welker met a low-ranking official from the Ministry of Religion who assured the mission president that the Mormons were in no danger. [61] Welker's wife, Elizabeth, also cultivated ties with the regime by occasionally meeting and establishing a working friendship with Gertrude Scholtz-Klink, head of the Nazi women's auxiliary, the NS Frauenschaft. [62]

Although both Welkers believed that their efforts improved the status of the Mormon Church in Germany, there is little evidence to bolster their claims. As Tobler concludes, "Welker apparently was convinced that '...Hitler was very much impressed with the Mormons,' a statement lacking support from other evidence." [63]

Harassment of LDS at the Local Level

While governmental pressure on the Latter-day Saints at the national level subsided considerably during 1934, at the local level harassment became quite intense. [64] In their 1933 year-end reports to Salt Lake City, both Francis Salzner and Oliver Budge wrote that the Reich government had interfered little with the activities of the Church. [65] However, Budge also indicated that zealous party members had harassed both the members and the missionaries; a point alluded to by Salzner. [66] Mission records from 1933 on indicate that local Nazi officials, aided by Catholic and Protestant clergymen, led attacks against Mormons. [67]

The Mormons were not persecuted in Nazi Germany. They felt the hot lash of Nazi disfavor only to the extent that other, ordinary Germans may have experienced harassment if they attracted attention or consorted with foreigners. The incidents described in Table 6 could have occurred in any secular or spiritual realm during the Third Reich. Considering the perceived divine nature of the Mormons’ undertaking and their history of being persecuted, an occasional, nonlethal squabble with the Nazi state was a small price to pay in order to reap God’s eventual glory. In the nineteenth century, because of the specter of polygamy, universal opposition by clerics, and hostility regarding the emigration of marriageable young women and draft-age men, Mormons seemed distinctly out of place in Germany. Weimar democracy gave constitutional rights to both the Mormons and their clerical antagonists, and the Mormons gained a grudging acceptance of their right to coexist in the shadow of the Catholics and Protestants. Under Nazi rule, when ecclesiastical opposition faded, Mormons finally became the kind of ordinary Germans that historian Eric Johnson described:

Most Germans . . . slept soundly at night, worked productively by day and enjoyed their lives during the peacetime years of National Socialist rule. Why should they not have? The economy was improving, most were finding employment, and their country was regaining its pride and was still at peace. . . . They knew there was a strong police presence, a surfeit of laws placing limitations on personal freedom, and potential danger for those who refused to comply with Hitler’s wishes. Many grumbled and complained privately, but most found little difficulty in conforming. . . . Nazi terror posed no real threat to most ordinary Germans.51

-- The Mormons in Nazi Germany: History and Memory, by David Conley Nelson

Nazi persecution on the local level took one of two forms. The first was the harassment of missionaries. In many localities the police limited missionary proselyting activities such as prohibiting going door to door or banning "cottage meetings." [68] Occasionally, police arrested missionaries and searched their apartments for subversive items. Throughout Germany, party officials banned missionaries from their cities. In extreme cases, local brown shirts used physical violence against the missionaries. For example, in April 1933, missionaries in Hindenburg were attacked by a uniformed Nazi who beat them with his belt. Party members also nearly beat Reed Bradford to death for refusal to salute a Nazi flag. [69]

In April 1933 a “uniformed Nazi” assaulted two American Mormon missionaries, P. Blair Ellsworth and Preston C. Allen, while the pair was walking door-to-door, seeking converts in the small town of Hindenburg, located in the Stendal district of northern Germany. The assailant, either an SA “storm trooper” or an older member of the Hitler Youth, removed his belt and began hitting Elder Ellsworth with the buckle end. The attack severely lacerated Ellsworth’s scalp. When the perpetrator and his two victims arrived at the police station, and later when they appeared in court, the Mormon missionaries declined to press charges. After consultation with their mission president, they decided it was “better not to arouse trouble.” The magistrate ordered the Nazi thug to apologize. He refused but received no penalty for either the assault or for violating the court’s order. [1]

This incident marks the only instance recorded in official Mormon mission records of an unprovoked, physical attack on representatives of the LDS Church by anyone connected with the National Socialist government or Nazi Party auxiliary organizations.2 The belt-whipping assault, which appears in the writings of faith-promoting author Gilbert Scharffs and Henderson State University historian Steven Carter, has become part of the lore that involves the Mormons in Nazi Germany.3 Together with the celebrated case of resister Helmuth Hübener and a few other incidents that occurred during wartime, it buttresses the myth that the Mormons were persecuted in Nazi Germany. Quite to the contrary, the Mormon survival strategy of accommodation and ingratiation made life as Latter-day Saints in Nazi Germany as tolerable as it was for other Christians who owed allegiances to both a church and the state.

_______________

Notes:

1 German-Austrian Mission Manuscript Histories, 3 Apr. 1933; German-Austrian Mission Quarterly Reports, Dec. 1933 (year-end report).
 
2 Carter, “Mormons in the Third Reich,” 73. Steven Carter, using an unpublished paper authored by Brigham Young University’s Douglas Tobler, cites an undated incident that did not appear in the official records of the two Mormon missions, a reference to a missionary named Reed Bradford whom “Party members . . . nearly beat to death for refusal to salute the Nazi flag.” The citation also does not reveal the location of that attack.
 
3 Scharffs, Mormonism in Germany, 84; Carter, “Mormons in the Third Reich,” 73. With regard to the belt whipping of missionaries Ellsworth and Allen, Scharffs’ account differs from the contents of the German-Austrian Mission Manuscript Histories and Quarterly Reports. Scharffs said: “Police refused to do anything about it.” The records show that the victims and the assailant appeared before a judge or a magistrate, and that the Mormons declined to press charges.

-- The Mormons in Nazi Germany: History and Memory, by David Conley Nelson

The second technique used by local authorities was to attack the native branches. Agents interrogated local members, confiscated branch records, and disrupted worship services. [70] Usually, members met with the police, explained Mormon activities and the quoted the Twelfth Article of Faith. Most of the time they convinced party officials that their "intentions were in harmony with those of the government" and not subversive. [71] In extreme cases based on "political suspicion," police closed the meeting halls [72] used by Mormons forcing the closure of several branches. [73]

Local harassment of Mormons varied from place to place, and from official to official. In Karlsruhe, Mormons were treated well. [74] On the other hand, branches in Breslau, Dresden and Hamburg suffered intense harassment. In 1935, missionaries were banned in Saxony. [75] This pattern of uneven treatment suggests that local Nazi leaders, not the Reich government, determined policy regarding Mormons.

The 1936 Berlin Olympics

Local harassment did have an effect on missionary proselyting activities. By mid-1935, mission documents state "tracting averages for the missionaries have reached a low point. Plans are being worked out to find a way in which this important missionary activity, in spite of police restrictions, can be increased." [76] Missionaries in both missions turned to unorthodox methods to contact potential converts. In particular, the American missionaries turned to basketball, [77] which President Welker endorsed. [78]

It is impossible to determine the impact of "basketball proselyting" although some missionaries were able to develop a good rapport with the local officials at a time of intense local harassment. [79] One unexpected outcome occurred in 1935 when the German army recruited several missionaries to teach basketball to the soldiers. [80] Later, officials asked several missionaries to train the German Olympic basketball team and help officiate during the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. [81] Mormons saw this representing recognition by national leaders and as a way to improve the religion's status. The Nazis believed that Mormon missionaries could help them in their propaganda effort by achieving a victory for the German basketball team. [82] In the end, however, the German Olympic basketball team exited the tournament early. And although Mormons were involved in such a high profile event, there is no evidence the Olympics improved their image or respectability. [83]

The Olympics, however, did benefit Mormons indirectly as the Hitler dictatorship put forth its best appearance and temporarily relaxed its attacks on religion. [84] Under these conditions, Mormons held their largest youth conference before World War II in Berlin, and missionaries found it easier to proselytize at this time. Mission records from October, 1936, noted "[t]racting and visiting totals continue to show increased activity on the part of the missionaries." [85]

Renewed Harassment

The Olympics represented the climax of a two-year period of seemingly cordial relations between the Mormons and the Nazi regime. Shortly after the Olympics, however, the Nazis renewed their assault on the Christian churches. [86]

Mormons also experienced an intensification of harassment. In Hamburg, Nazis charged district president, Alwin Brey, with spying for the United States. [87] For months, government authorities monitored LDS congregations and missionaries, censored their correspondence, and confiscated records and publications. Moreover, officials informed Brey "[I]f the Church wished to remain in [Hamburg] they must cease all youth activities and gathering." Brey complied with this demand and canceled a proposed "Youth Day." The impact upon the LDS community in Hamburg was chilling. Church reports noted, "[a] decided tension between the government's attitude in this district was everywhere apparent." [88] Similar harassment and "investigations" occurred throughout the Reich. [89]

Many missionaries felt the sting of renewed Nazi persecution. In addition to the usual harassment, a number of missionaries were arrested as suspected American spies and incarcerated for several days. [90] There were incidents of anti-Mormons who denounced the missionaries as representatives of a banned sect. The missionaries would have to prove, through intense interrogations, that this was not the case. [91]

There was always a concern among Mormon leaders that young callow missionaries might do or say something to endanger the Church, [92] and during the late 1930s there were two incidents in which missionaries did offend Nazi sensibilities. In 1937, Alvin Schoenhals was arrested after the Nazis intercepted a letter he wrote criticizing the regime. After a month in jail, Schoenhals was deported. [93] Later, a set of missionaries had to flee to Switzerland after the Gestapo obtained a photo of the two with a party flag wrapped around themselves like a breech cloth. [94]

Mormon leaders in both Germany and Utah took these incidents seriously. During the summer of 1939, the Church sent Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith to Germany in part to investigate these events. [95] Such incidents, no doubt, contributed to the Nazis' growing suspicion of the Mormons. A 1935 Gestapo report on "subversive activities" of religious organizations omitted mention of the Latter-day Saints. [96] Three years later, the Security Service (SD) labeled Mormons "enemies of the state." [97] By late 1937 and early 1938, however, as Hitler was preparing for war and needed national support, the overall church struggle in Germany subsided. [98] This, in part, prevented the Nazis from attacking the Mormons more vigorously. At the same time, not wanting to antagonize the United States unnecessarily, especially while high LDS dignitaries from Utah, including J. Reuben Clark and church president Heber J. Grant, were touring Germany, the Hitler regime "did not look at [the Mormons] as a very serious problem." [99]

The Mormons and the German Media

One of the more controversial events concerning the relations between Mormons and the regime centered on the Church and the media. Ever since the founding of Mormonism, Latter-day Saints faced unflattering accounts in the media at home and abroad. During the Nazi era, however, they experienced both positive and negative media coverage. [100]

Mormons, too, appreciated the media and utilized it in Europe to spread their message. [101] Moreover, LDS leaders sought opportunities to rebut false accounts of Mormonism in local newspapers. [102] It was this activity that led to the appearance of a controversial article in the Volkischer Beobachter in the spring of 1939.

In November, 1938, the Nazis unleashed their most brutal attack on the Jews up to that time. In response to American criticism in the aftermath of Kristallnacht, the Volkischer Beobachter published an article entitled, "The State within a State: An American Parallel to the Jewish Question in Germany." [103] The column, addressed to "fair-minded Americans" compared Nazi treatment of the Jews to the official handling of the "Mormon question" in Missouri and Illinois during the nineteenth century. Both Mormons and the Jews, the writer claimed, were enemies of mankind. [104]

The article outraged Alfred Rees who was the president of the newly formed East German mission. [105] Rees, who believed that his purpose was to work with government officials, had been making contacts with influential Nazi organizations since he arrived in Berlin. As early as November, 1937, he had established a relationship with "a certain influential agency," most likely the Propaganda Ministry. [106] At the time, Rees believed that he had struck a "secret deal" with the Ministry in which the press would refrain from publishing unfavorable articles about the Latter-day Saints. [107] In return, Rees agreed to write "positive" articles about Germany for the American press. [108] Although Rees believed that he had bested the Propaganda Ministry, he did not realize that Goebbel's Ministry had been making quid pro quo agreements with other denominations in exchange for favorable public relations abroad. [109] Furthermore, on 19 April 1939 Rees published an article on Mormonism in the Volkischer Beobachter.

Rees, in his article entitled, "In the Land of the Mormons," favorably compared Mormonism and Nazism and emphasized doctrinal similarities. He also suggested that common experience gave Mormonism a unique understanding of the "new Germany," especially its grievances resulting from World War I. Rees asserted "to a student of Mormonism, recent developments in Germany present a most impressive study." He mentioned J. Reuben Clark, no doubt, reminding the Nazis of Clark's efforts to relieve the financial situation in Germany as president of the Foreign Bondholders' Association. Rees concluded that Mormons exhibited the "application of the German ideal: Community welfare before personal welfare," an allusion to Point 24 of the Nazi Party program of putting "common interests before self-interest." [110]

Rees believed that the article would help the Mormon cause in Germany and even had it published in pamphlet form for missionary use. [111] Douglas Wood of the West German mission, however, opposed the article and objected to Rees' "friendly relationship" with the Nazis. [112] Wood refused to distribute the tract in the West German mission arguing that it linked Mormonism too closely to National Socialism. [113] Ultimately, it was Nazis who restricted distribution of the tract because the swastika on the front cover implied Party sanction of an American denomination. [114]

While Rees intended to spread the Mormon message and to provide safety for the 8,000-9,000 Mormons living in the East German mission [115] he underestimated the ruthlessness of the Nazis and overestimated his ability to deal with them. [116] Rees, rather than help the Mormon cause with the publication of his article in the Volkischer Beobachter, unwittingly tied his religion to the pagan cult of National Socialism.

Conclusions

The outbreak of war a few months after the publication of Rees' article dramatically changed church/state relations in Germany. Hitler, needing national support, let up on the church struggle. In August, 1939 the Mormon Church withdrew its missionaries from Europe leaving more than 13,000 coreligionists in the Third Reich. Both the Hitler regime and the Mormon Church sought to survive the war.

Between 1933 and 1939, Mormons, like other denominations struggled to formulate strategies to deal with the Nazi regime. LDS attitudes were shaped by the mandates of the Twelfth Article of Faith and the accommodation policies developed at the turn of the century. This meant that the Latter-day Saints would concern themselves with spiritual rather than political matters in the Reich. They pledged themselves to be loyal citizens and support the regime that was in power; it was an approach that alleviated Nazi suspicions to a considerable degree. Relations between Hitler's government and the Mormon Church were, therefore, better than those involving most other small denominations. That does not mean that the Latter-day Saints escaped Nazi harassment. Instead a two-tiered pattern developed. On the national level, the Nazis eliminated the Church's Boy Scout organization while the Gestapo monitored LDS meetings and financial activities. During the middle of the decade, Mormons felt optimistic. This was because the Nazis, at the national level, paid very little attention to the Mormons. As long as there was something to be gained internationally, the regime tolerated Latter-day Saints in much the same way it tolerated Baptists and Methodists. After the Olympics, Nazi suspicions of the LDS had grown substantially while toleration had waned considerably.

Locally, Mormons faced continued harassment, and in some places, outright persecution. As with other denominations, grass-roots Party activists determined the degree and nature of this harassment. For example, Nazi officials nearly succeeded in banishing Mormonism in Saxony in 1935. Nevertheless, LDS leaders were willing to tolerate such abuse because of their seemingly "privileged" status nationally.

But overall, the Mormons did not endure the intense persecution suffered by other religions. The Party never banned the Mormons.

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Part 2 of 3

Appendix A

Der Stern
No. 65
14. Juli 1933
Ein aufklarender Brief

Der unter abgedruckte Brief wurde durch die Schwierigkeiten veranlasst, die unsern Missionaren in Darmstadt entstanden waren. Die Behorden hatten die Ausweisung der Missionare verfugt, weil ihre Anwesenheit angeblich nicht im Interesse des deutschen Volkes liege. Unser zustandiger Bezirksleiter, Altester Rudolf A. Noss, nahm sofort die Verhandlungen mit den Regierungsstellen auf, um eine Zuruckziehung der Ausweisungsverfugung herbeizufuhren. Die Verfugung wurde denn auch, wenn zunachst auch nur vorlaufig, zuruckgezogen und das Missionsburo ersucht, eine offizielle Erklarung uber einige die Regierung besonders interessierende Punkte in bezug auf unsre Lehren und Bestrebungen, Stellung zu Staat und andern Kirchen, Organisation, Arbeitsweise usw., belegt mit entsprechenden Unterlagen aus der Kirchenliteratur, abzugeben; auf Grand dieser Erklarung und Unterlagen werde die Angelegenheit eingehend gepruft und eine endgultige Entscheidung getroffen werden. Daraufhin hat das Missionsburo das folgende Schreiben abgefasst und mit zahlreichen Belegen aus unsrer Literatur durch den Bezirksleiter der hessischen Staatsregierung uberreichen lassen. Wie uns Bruder Noss soeben mitteilt, hat die Regierung die Ausweisungsverfugung nunmehr endgultig aufgehoben und ihre Entscheidung dahin getroffen, dass Aufenthalt und Tatigkeit unsrer Missionare nicht mehr beanstandet werden.

Da der Brief uber den Kreis der Betroffenen hinaus von Interesse sein durfte, bringen wir ihn nachstehend auch unsern Lesern zur Kenntnis.

Schriftleitung.
Basel, den 22. Juni 1933.
An die Hessische Staatsregierung zu Handen des
Herrn Staatskommissars Dr. Best
Darmstadt

Betr. Ausweisungsverfugung gegen die Missionare Ryman und Niederhauser. Sehr geehrter Herr Staatskommissar!

Sie hatten die Freundlichkeit, die angefuhrte Ausweisungsverfugung auf Grand einer Besprechung zwischen einem Ihrer Herren Regierungsrate und unserm zustandigen Frankfurter Bezirksleiter, Herrn Rudolf Noss, einstweilen zuruckziehen zu lassen.

Wir danken Ihnen herzlich fur diese Entgegenkommen und geben der Zuversicht Ausdruck, Sie mochten sich an Hand der Ihnen heute zugehenden Unterlagen davon uberzeugen, dass die Bestrebungen unsrer Kirche durchaus geeignet sind, das Wohl des deutschen Volkes zu fordern und dass deshalb die Verfugung endgultig zuruckgenommen werden sollte.

Es wird in diesem Scheiben weder moglich noch erwunscht sein, die Lehre unsrer Kirche in alien Punkten eingehend darzustellen, wir beschranken uns daher im folgenden auf solche, von denen wir annehmen, dass Sie ihnen besondern Wert beilegen, und verwiesen im ubrigen auf die angeschlossene Literatur. Etwa weiter gewunschte Unterlagen und Erklarungen stehen Ihnen jederzeit zur Verfugung.

1.

Unsere Lehre ist das alte, ursprungliche Evangelium Jesu Christi, rein und unverfalscht von irgendwelchen unchristlichen, fremdartigen Einflussen, wie es Christus verkundigt hat. Grundlage ist die Bibel, insbesondere das Neue Testament. Dieses Evangelium ist nach einem jahrhundertelangen Abfall in unsrer Zeit durch Offenbarung der Menschheit von neuem gegeben worden, eine Offenbarung, durch welche die Reformation weitergefuhrt und vollendet wurde. Wir sehen in Martin Luther einen Mann Gottes und den Vorlaufer der in der Schrift vorausgesagten „Wiederherstellung aller Dinge". — Die Hauptpunkte unserer Lehre sind in den 13 „Glaubensartikeln" der Kirche zusammengefasst.

(Beilagen 1.)

Das Evangelium ist uns der grosse Plan des Lebens, dessen Befolgung uns zu bessern Manner und Frauen macht. Wir legen keinen Wert auf theologische Spitzfindigkeiten, gehen allem religiosen Streit aus dem Wege, betonen aber um so starker die Notwendigkeit eines praktischen Christentums, das sich im taglichen Leben des Einzelnen auswirken muss, zu seinem Wohle und zum Wohle des Gemeinwesens, in dem er lebt. Wir erlangen von unsern Mitgliedern Enthaltsamkeit von Rauschmitteln jeder Art und Form, leben also alkohol-und tabakfrei, verponen den Genuss von Bohnenkaffee und Schwarztee und ubermassiger Fleischkost und verpflichten die Mitglieder zu einer einfachen, natiirlichen Lebensweise, wie sie bekanntlich auch der deutsche Volkskanzler Adolf Hitler fuhrt. Dabei halten wir uns frei von Fanatismus und massen uns nicht an, unsre Umgebung bevormunden zu wollen. Vernunftige Belehrungen und unser eigenes gutes Beispiel sollen die andern uberzeugen, dass Gehorsam gegenuber den reinen, unverfalschten Lehren Jesu Christi zu einem wahrhaft befriedigenden, fortschrittlichen Leben fuhrt.

(Beilagen 2.)

2.

Die sittlichen Lehren unsrer Kirche machen diese zu einem eisernen Bollwerk gegen alle Besetzungsbestrebungen. Geschlechtliche Reinheit wird beiden Geschlechtern als eine hochste religiose Pflicht gelehrt, unbedingte Enthaltsamkeit vor der Ehe und lebenslangliche gegenseitige Treue in der Ehe als Oberstes Gesetz verkundigt und Ehebruch als ein Vergehen betrachtet, das an Fluchwurdigkeit gleich nach dem Mord kommt. Reinhaltung der Rasse wird als eine Verpflichtung der kommenden Generation gegenuber mit aller Strenge gefordert, auf korperliche Ertuchtigung durch Arbeit, Sport und Spiel grosser Wert gelegt, und selbstverstandlich alle jene Bersestzungserscheinungen, wie sie sich noch bis vor kurzem in Literatur, Theater, Presse, Film und Funk so widerwartig breitmachten, rucksichtslos abgelehnt und bekampft. Es gibt keine Kirche, die den grossen Volksschaden unsrer Zeit entschiedener zu Leibe ruckt und ihnen den Boden mehr entzieht als unsre. Auf die Pflege des Familienlebens als der Keimzelle des Volkes, und auf die Achtung vor Frau und Mutter als der Mittlerin zwischen Himmel und Erde wird der grosste Nachdruck gelegt. Kurz: es wird eine planmassige Hoherzuchtung und Veredlung des Menschen angestrebt wie sie in der bewuBten Hoherzuchtung von Pflanzen und Tieren ihr niedrigeres aber symbolisches Gegenstuck hat. Auf die Fruchte dieser Bestrebungen darf die Kirche Jesu Christi bei aller gebuhrenden Bescheidenheit doch mit berechtigtem Stolze hinweisen.

(Beilagen 3.)

3.

Die Stellung der Kirche Jesu Christi gegeniiber dem Staat wird durch ihren folgenden Glaubensartikel gekennzeichnet: „Wir glauben daran, Konigen, Prasidenten, Herrschern und Obrigkeiten untertanig zu sein, den Gesetzen zu gehorchen, sie zu ehren und zu unterstutzen."

Die Kirche halt sich von jeder Einmischung in Politik fern. Zwar strebt sie bewusst und mit alien Mitteln darnach, ihre Mitglieder zu tuchtigen Staatsburgern zu machen, die die Forderung des Wohles ihres Vaterlandes  und Volkes als eine heilige Pflicht betrachten, aber sie mischt sich nicht in Angelegenheiten, deren Regelung dem Staat vorbehalten ist, so wenig wie sie mit Parteipolitik je etwas zu tun hatte oder zu tun haben mochte. Ihre Mitglieder sind mundig genug, um von ihren staatsburgerlichen Rechten und Pflichten ohne jede Bevormundung den rechten Gebrauch zu machen; die einzige Bedingung ist, dass dies stets auf dem Boden der christlichen Weltanschauung geschieht, was aber als selbstverstandlich gilt.

Die Mission der Kirche enthalten sich aufs strengste jeder politischen Tatigkeit. Ihre Sendung ist eine rein religiose. Sie verkundigen das wiederhergestellte Evangelium, unterweisen die Menschen darin und arbeiten mit ihnen, dass sie seinen Gesetzen und Geboten gehorchen.

Die Kirche legt grossen Wert darauf, die vaterlandische Gesinnung bei ihren Mitgliedern zu pflegen. Jung und alt werden ermahnt, die guten alten Sitten und Grundsatze ihrer Vater als kostbares Gut treu zu bewahren. Die jetzt endlich wieder zu verdienten Ehren kommende alte Wahrheit „Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz" wird in unsrer Kirche seit ihrer Grundung, also seit uber 100 Jahren, gelehrt und allgemein befolgt. Wir lehren unsre Mitglieder, ihr Volk als eine grosse erweiterte Familie zu betrachten mit all den damit verbundenen Pflichten und Verantwortlichkeiten. Als ein besondrer Beweis fur die Pflege des Heimat- und Volksgefuhls darf die Errichtung des deutschen Kriegerdenkmals in der Salzseestadt in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika durch deutschstammige Mitglieder unsrer Kirche angesehen werden. Wir verweisen angelegentlich auf die hier beiliegenden Nummern des „Salt Lake City-Beobacters", der von der Kirche fur ihre deutschsprechenden Mitglieder in Amerika herausgegeben wird. Die Einweihung dieses Denkmals hat am 30. Mai d.J. im Beisein des deutschen Militarattaches, Generalmajors von Botticher, stattgefunden. Der zweitoberste Fuhrer des Kirche hat dabei das Weihegebet gesprochen. „Der Beobachter" ist die alteste deutsche Zeitung in Westen Amerikas und wurde von der Kirche ins Leben gerufen, um die deutschstammigen Mitglieder der Kirche in ihrem Bestreben, ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum sich auch in Amerika zu erhalten, zu unterstiitzen.

Aus den weiter angeschlossenen gedruckten Unterlagen werden Sie noch manche andre Beweise der gutdeutschen, volkischen Gesinnung und Einstellung unsrer Mitglieder entnehmen konnen.

(Beilagen 4)

4.

Fir das Verhaltnis unsrer Kirche zu andern Kirchen ist unser folgender Glaubensartikel massgebend:

„Wir erheben Anspruch auf das Recht, den allmachtigen Gott zu verehren nach den Eingebungen unsres Gewissens und gestatten alien Menschen das selbe Reche, mogen sie verehren wie, wo oder was sie wollen."

Wie schon hervorgehoben, gehen wir allem religiosen Streit aus dem Wege, denn es ist uns durch Offenbarung ausdrucklich geboten worden: „Kampfet gegen keine Kirche!" Wir anerkennen das Gute, woimmer wir es finden und nehmen Wahrheit an aus jeder Quelle. Unser Fuhrer Brigham Young hat einst den Katholiken einen Bauplatz geschenkt, damit sie in der Salzseestadt in Amerika eine Kirche bauen konnten, und dieser Seit der Duldsamkeit beseelt die Kirche noch heute. Wir glauben, dass jeder Mensch fur sich selbst verantwortlich ist, und dass den Stifter des Christentums nichts so seht betrubt wie die Unduldsamkeit und der Bruderzwist in den Reihen Seiner angeblichen Junger. Deshalb scharfen wir alien unsern Mitgliedern und Beamten ein, andre Kirchen in Ruhe zu lassen, und diese Vorschrift wird auch allgemein befolgt.

(Beilagen 5)

5.

Zur Erreichung der kirchlichen Zwecke und Ziele dient eine Organisation, die der von Christus ins Leben gerufenen entspricht: Profeten, Apostel, Patriarchen, Hohenpriester, Siebziger, Aelteste, Bischofe usw. Sind als Beamte und Lehrer tatig, um die Mitflieder zu unterweisen und die Verwaltungsarbeiten zu erledigen. Ale Beamten uben ihre Tatigkeit ehrenamtlich aus und erhalten keinerlei finanzielle Entschadigung. „Umsonst habt ihr's empfangen, umsonst gebet es auch!" ist ein grundlegendes Gesetz in der Kirche. Da die Organisation sehr reichhaltig gegliedert ist und infolgedessen sehr viele Mitglieder ehrenamtlich tatig sind, kann die Arbeit so verteilt werden, dass sie in der Regel neben der Berufsarbeit getan werden kann, den einzelnen also nicht zu stark belastet. Im Aussendienst sind Missionare tatig, die ebenfalls ohne Lohn oder Gehalt arbeiten, sogar die Kosten ihres Unterhaltes aus eigener Tasche oder mit Hilfe von Angehorigen und Freunden bestreiten mussen. Meist sind es jungere Leute, die sich der Kirche zu diesem Zwecke fur zwei und mehr Jahre freiwillig zur Verfugung stellen und dabei von ihren Eltern unterstutzt werden, soweit ihre eigenen Ersparnisse nicht ausreichen.

Die Kirche huldigt dem Grundsatz der Selbstverwaltung. Die in uber hundert Orten des deutschen Sprachgebietes bestehenden Gemeinden werden meist von einheimischen Mitgliedern geleitet: gewohnlich ist es ein Prasident mit zwei Ratgebern, denen noch eine Priesterschaft, bestehend aus Aeltesten, Priestern, Lehrern und Diakonen, zur Seit steht. Die Priesterschaft besteht ausschliesslich aus einheimischen Mannern. Die Frauen haben ihre eigene Organisation, den sogen. Frauenhilfsverein, der vornehmlich Wohltatigkeits-und Ausbildungszwecke verfolgt und dessen Leitung ganz in den Handen ortsansassiger, deutscher Frauen liegt.

(Beilagen 6)

Wir hoffen, Ihnen hiermit einen Einblick in unsre Lehren und Bestrebungen gegeben zu haben und wurden uns freuen, wenn Sie sich aus der beiliegenden Literatur uber die einzelnen Punkte noch weiter unterrichten wurden. Im ubrigen verburgen sich die Unterzeichneten ausdrucklich dafur, dass sich unsre Korperschaft alien staatlichen Gesetzen und Einrichtungen unterwirft, und dass sich insbesondre unsre Missionare, ihrer rein religiosen Sendung gemass, in keinerlei Weise politisch betatigen.

Wir sehen Ihrer endgultigen Entscheidung nunmehr gerne entgegen und verharren inzwischen in vollkommener Hochachtung.

Schweizerisch-Deutsche Mission

(Unterschrift)  

Google Translate:

The star
No. 65
July 14, 1933
A clarifying letter

The letter below was prompted by the difficulties that had arisen for our missionaries in Darmstadt. The authorities had expelled the missionaries because their presence was allegedly not in the interest of the German people. Our district head, Old Testament Rudolf A. Noss, immediately commenced negotiations with the government authorities in order to bring about a withdrawal of the deportation order. The injunction was then, if at first only provisionally, withdrawn and the mission office requested an official statement on some points of particular interest to the government concerning our doctrines and aspirations, attitude to the state and other churches, organization, working methods, etc. with corresponding documents from the church literature. On the basis of this explanation and documents, the matter will be thoroughly examined and a final decision made. Thereupon the mission office wrote the following letter and handed it over with numerous documents from our literature by the district leader of the Hessian state government. As Brother Noss has just informed us, the government has finally lifted the deportation order and made its decision that the residence and activities of our missionaries will no longer be objected to.

Since the letter may have been of interest beyond the circle of those concerned, we will note it below to our readers as well.

Editorship.
Basel, June 22, 1933.
To the Hessische Staatsregierung at the hands of the
Mr. State Commissioner Best
Darmstadt

Subject. Ausweisungsverfugung against the missionaries Ryman and Niederhauser.

Dear State Commissioner!

They had the kindness to have the referenced deportation ceremony at grand meeting for a time between one of your gentlemen's governmental council and our competent district head, Rudolf Noss, retire for the time being.

We cordially thank you for your concessions and express your confidence that, on the basis of the documents you receive today, you would like to convince yourself that the aspirations of our Church are perfectly suited to demand the good of the German people and that, therefore, the disposal will finally be withdrawn should.

It will neither be possible nor desirable in this discourse to give a detailed account of the doctrine of our Church in all points, and we limit ourselves in the following to those which we suppose you attach special value to, and, moreover, refer to the related literature. Further desired documents and explanations are available at any time.

1.

Our doctrine is the ancient, original gospel of Jesus Christ, pure and undefiled by any unchristian, alien influence, as Christ has proclaimed. The basis is the Bible, especially the New Testament. This Gospel, after a centuries-long decline in our time, has been given anew by the revelation of humanity, a revelation by which the Reformation was continued and completed. We see in Martin Luther a man of God and the forerunner of Scripture's predicted "restoration of all things." The main points of our teaching are summarized in the 13 "Articles of Faith" of the Church.

(Supplements 1.)

The gospel is the great plan of life for us, the fulfillment of which will make us better men and women. We do not emphasize theological sophistries, avoid all religious strife, but emphasize the need for practical Christianity, which must be reflected in the daily lives of individuals, for the benefit and well-being of the community in which they live. We obtain from our members the abstinence of intoxicants of every kind and form, living alcohol- and tobacco-free, perverting the enjoyment of coffee and black tea and excessive meat and obliging the members to a simple, natural way of life, as well known by the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler leads. We are free from fanaticism and do not intend to patronize our environment. Reasonable teachings and our own good example should convince others that obedience to the pure, unadulterated teachings of Jesus Christ leads to a truly satisfying, progressive life.

(Supplements 2.)

Second

The moral teachings of our church make them an iron bulwark against all occupations. Sexual purity is taught to both sexes as a supreme religious duty, unconditional abstinence before marriage, and life-long mutual faithfulness in marriage proclaimed as supreme law, and adultery regarded as an offense that comes to cursing right after the murder.

Brigham was married to his first living and only legal wife, Mary-Ann Angell, in Kirtland, Ohio, in the year 1834. She is a native of New York State, and is still a pleasant, rather good-looking woman, though much saddened by the neglect of her husband, who rarely, if ever, visits her, and lately by the tragic death of her eldest daughter, and the still more recent death of her eldest son, Joseph A. Young, which has broken her very much. She is about the age of her husband, nearly seventy-three, and consequently is counted an old lady, while he is, according to Mormon theory, "a boy." Her mind is somewhat clouded, and this, like her sadness, is caused by the decline of her husband's affections, of whom she is very fond. She has been entirely devoted to him, and gave him as honest love when she married him, long before there was the slightest prospect of his ever occupying the position he holds now, as she has ever felt for him since his elevation to be the leader of the Mormon people; and she is repaid as it might be expected she would be, after listening to one of her husband's sermons to the women of his church.

Said he, on one occasion, when he felt called upon to reprimand the complaining sisters, "The old women come snivelling around me, saying, 'I have lived with my husband thirty years, and it is hard to give him up now.' If you have had your husbands that length of time, it is long enough, and you ought to be willing to give them to other women, or give other women to them; you have no business with your husbands, and you are disobeying God's commands to live with them when you are old." He certainly sees to it that his wife does not "disobey God's commands," which, from his blasphemous lips, means simply his own inclinations. She has moved about to suit her husband's caprice, just as he has chosen to move. They lived first of all in the old white house on the hill, not very far from where the Prophet's buildings now stand. When the Bee-Hive was finished she lived there, but as the number of plural wives increased, she was moved back again to the old house, to make room in the other building for the new-comers. She lived there until quite recently, when her husband had her removed to the old school-house behind the Bee-Hive, a dilapidated, cheerless place, not nearly so good as the house she has left. It is, indeed, little better than a barn, and is furnished very scantily. There she lives, and there she will probably remain until her death, unless some of her children see that she is better cared for.

-- Wife No. 19, the Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Expose of Mormonism and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy, by Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's Apostate Wife

Cleanliness of the race is demanded as an obligation of the coming generation with all severity, great emphasis on physical exercise through work, sport and play, and of course all those phenomena of manifestation, as yet until recently in literature, theater, press, film and Funk so stubbornly dismissed, ruthlessly rejected and fought. There is no church that more resolutely combats the great popular damage of our time and deprives them of more ground than ours. The care of family life as the nucleus of the people, and the respect for mother and wife as the mediator between heaven and earth is the greatest emphasis. In short, a planned hoaxing and refinement of the human being is aspired to as it has its lower but symbolic counterpart in the conscious hovering of plants and animals. The Church of Jesus Christ may, with all due modesty, point to the fruits of these aspirations with justified pride.

After all this preamble, -- the keys committed to Joseph, the relation of husbands and wives under the new dispensation defined, "Celestial Marriage" instituted, and a great many other matters discussed, we come to what was, no doubt, prominent in the Prophet's mind all the while he was dictating the Revelation to Elder Clayton, -- namely, how to manage "the Elect Lady," Mrs. Emma Smith. Accordingly she is made the subject of a special address. She is told to "receive all that have been given to my servant Joseph." She is forbidden to leave the Prophet, as she had threatened to do if he carried out his "celestial" system, and certain other very useful hints are given for her guidance if she would remain in peace. One particular passage is said to refer to a matrimonial scene in which a threat was held out that the life of the Elect Lady should be terminated by poison. She is here commanded to "stay herself, and partake not" of that which Joseph had offered her. It is, however, only right to add that the Mormon exponents of the Revelation say that this passage refers to an offer which Joseph had made to sacrifice his own personal feelings, and to accede to a divorce between Emma and himself. In these few lines more is disclosed of the Prophet's domestic life and difficulties than he probably was aware of. I give these paragraphs in full, that the reader may judge for himself.

20th. "Verily I say unto you, a commandment I give unto mine handmaid Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself, and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham; and that I might require an offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice; and let mine handmaid Emma Smith receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God; for I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my voice; and I give unto my servant Joseph, that he shall be made ruler over many things, for he hath been faithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him.

21st. "And I command mine handmaid Emma Smith to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment, she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law; but if she will not abide this commandment, then shall my servant Joseph do all things for her, even as he has said; and I will bless him and multiply him, and give unto him an hundred fold in this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and crowns of eternal lives in the eternal worlds. And again, verily I say let mine handmaid forgive my servant Joseph his trespasses, and then shall she be forgiven her trespasses, wherein she has trespassed against me; and I, the Lord thy God, will bless her, and multiply her, and make her heart to rejoice."

The concluding clauses speak for themselves. The reader will see that in the twenty-third the Prophet is completely set free from all responsibility, and left at liberty, without let or hinderance, to follow the dictates of his own sweet will. In the two concluding paragraphs the wildest licentiousness is permitted, in the name of "the Lord," to the masculine portion of humanity, -- if believers in Joseph, -- and the weaker sex are sternly warned of the penalties of doubt and disobedience.

23d. "Now as touching the law of the priesthood, there are many things pertaining thereunto. Verily, if a man be called of my Father, as was Aaron, by mine own voice, and by the voice of him that sent me, and I have endowed him with the keys of the power of this priesthood, if he do anything in my name, and according to my law, and by my word, he will not commit sin, and I will justify him. Let no one, therefore, set on my servant Joseph; for I will justify him; for he shall do the sacrifice which I require at his hands, for his transgressions, saith the Lord your God.

24th. "And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood: If any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent; and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto him. For he cannot commit adultery with that which belongeth unto him, and to none else; and if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him; and they are given unto him therefore is he justified. But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world; and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that He may be glorified.

25th. "And again, verily, verily I say unto you, if any man have a wife who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches unto her the law of my priesthood, as pertaining to these things; then shall she believe, and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God, for I will destroy her; for I will magnify my name upon all those who receive and abide in my law. Therefore it shall be lawful in me, if she receive not this law, for him to receive all things whatsoever I the Lord his God will give unto him, because she did not believe, and administer unto him, according to my word; and she then becomes the transgressor, and he is exempt from the law of Sarah, who administered unto Abraham according to the law, when I commanded Abraham to take Hagar to wife. And now, as pertaining to this law; verily, verily I say unto you, I will reveal more unto you hereafter; therefore let this suffice for the present. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega. Amen."

-- Wife No. 19, the Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Expose of Mormonism and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy, by Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's Apostate Wife

(Supplements 3.)

Third

The position of the Church of Jesus Christ on the state is indicated by its following article of faith: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers and authorities, obeying, honoring and sustaining the laws."

The Church abstains from any interference in politics. True, it seeks consciously and by all means to make its members valiant citizens of the state, who regard the demands of the good of their homeland and the people as a sacred duty, but it does not interfere in matters reserved to the state how she ever had or had anything to do with party politics. Its members are verbose enough to make the right use of their sovereign rights and duties without any patronage; the only condition is that this always happens on the basis of the Christian world view, which, however, is considered self-evident.

The mission of the Church is strictly limited to any political activity. Your mission is a purely religious one. They proclaim the restored gospel, instruct people in it, and work with them to obey their laws and commandments.

The Church attaches great importance to cultivating the patriotic sentiments among its members. Young and old are admonished to keep the good old customs and principles of their father as a precious good faithful. The old truth that is now finally coming back to honor, "common good goes to selfishness," has been taught and universally followed in our church since its foundation, over 100 years ago, and we teach our members to regard their people as a great extended family. As a special proof of the care of the home and the people's feeling, the establishment of the German War Memorial in the Salt Lake City in the United States of North America may be viewed by German-born members of our Church Numbers of the "Salt Lake City Beobacters" issued by the church for its German-speaking members in America. The inauguration of this monument took place on May 30, d.J. in the presence of the German military attache, Major General von Botticher. The second highest leader of the church spoke during the consecration prayer. "Der Beobachter" is the oldest German newspaper in western America and was founded by the church to support the German-speaking members of the church in their endeavor to preserve their language and their ethnicity in America.

From the further printed material you will find many other proofs of the good German, national sentiment and attitude of our members.

(Supplements 4)

4th

The relation of our church to other churches is determined by our following article of faith:

"We claim the right to worship the Almighty God according to the promptings of our conscience and allow all human beings the same right, may they worship as, where or what they want."

As already pointed out, we avoid all religious quarrels, for it has been expressly offered to us by revelation: "Fight against no church!" We acknowledge the goodness wherever we find it and accept the truth from every source. "Our guide Brigham Young once gave Catholics a site to build a church in the Salt Lake City in America, and this Since Toleration is still the church today, believing that each person is responsible to himself, and that the founder of Christianity nothing is as troubling as the intolerance and the fraternal conflict in the ranks of His alleged young men, so we urge all our members and officials to leave other churches alone, and this rule is generally followed.

(Supplements 5)

5th

In order to achieve the purposes of the Church, there is an organization corresponding to that instituted by Christ: prophets, apostles, patriarchs, chief priests, seventies, elders, bishops, etc. Serving as civil servants and teachers to teach fellow servants and administrative work to do. All officials perform their duties voluntarily and receive no financial compensation. "In vain you have received it, give it in vain, too!" Is a fundamental law in the church. As the organization is very rich, and as a result many members are volunteers, the work can be distributed in such a way that it usually takes place alongside the ___. In the field service are missionaries working, who also work without wages or salary, even the cost of their maintenance from their own pocket or with the help of relatives and friends have to deny. Most are younger people who voluntarily make themselves available to the Church for this purpose for two or more years, assisted by their parents, unless their own savings are sufficient.

The church pays homage to the principle of self-government. The communities existing in more than one hundred places in the German-speaking area are usually run by local members: it is usually a president with two counselors who still have a priesthood consisting of elders, priests, teachers and deacons. The priesthood consists exclusively of native men. The women have their own organization, the so-called. Relief Society, which primarily pursues charitable and educational purposes and whose leadership is entirely in the hands of resident, German women.

(Supplements 6)

We hope to have given you an insight into our teachings and aspirations, and we would be pleased if you could learn from the enclosed literature on the individual points further. For the rest, the undersigned expressly insist that our bodies submit to all state laws and institutions, and that our missionaries in particular, in accordance with their purely religious mission, in no way engage politically.

We now look forward to your final decision and remain in full esteem.

Swiss-German Mission

(Signature)

Appendix B

September 8th, 1933
State Secret Service Police Office
Service Station Ad. II E, Room 218
Prinz Alberchtstr. 28
Berlin

Gentlemen,

In keeping with our conversation yesterday, and in compliance with your request, I make the following statement concerning THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. The name of the Church is the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," often called "Mormons." Although the word "Mormon" is but a nickname, we recognize it when we hear it. This name is derived from a book by the same name, which book was translated from golden plates on which was engraved a history of the American people. We claim it to be the first authentic history of the American people as far back as 600 B.C. It is particularly the history of the American Indian.

The Church was organized on the sixth day of April in the year 1830 at Fayette, state of New York, United States of America. It is called the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" because we claim that through Christ it was organized. The term "Latter-day Saints" is to distinguish the followers of Christ in this day from those in former days, or in the days of the Apostles.

Our articles of faith are: (quoted article of faith)

The German-Austria Mission of the Church Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comprises the north central and southeast part of Germany, and all of Austria; therefore it is called the German-Austrian Mission.

Our teachings are that those desiring to become members of the Church must be converted of their own free will and choice to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as found in the Bible and is taught by the Church. Before their baptism, or entrance into the Church, individuals must prove themselves worthy of membership; and certainly afterward are they expected, above all else, to be trustworthy, honest, virtuous, kind, and faithful.

If a member, or members, of the Church are known to be engaged in immoral practices, and do not immediately repent and lived in keeping with the teachings of the Church in this respect, they are excommunicated. These members are also taught to be exemplary in their own homes. The man is to make peace with his wife, and a wife is to make peace with her husband, and the parents are to make peace with children. It is expected that love abide in their homes, and that they thank the lord, morning and evening, for every blessing received, and, at the same time, ask for his protection during the day.

It is expected that every eligible member of this Church marry and live first great commandment — "multiplied to replenish the earth" — and that each of the contracting parties be true to themselves and to each other — a single standard of morality. Their children, and their children's children are taught personal cleanliness, and also to keep what we call the "Word of Wisdom," abstaining from the use of tobacco, intoxicating liquors, and other harmful beverages.

They are also taught, especially, to be able to class themselves with the best citizens of the country, and to support, in the full sense of the word, the ordinances and laws of the town, the state, and the country in which they live. The authorities of our Church have no advice to give regarding party politics, leaving the members free to identify themselves with whatever party they choose; but in any event, we teach that the present party in power, and the laws governing the country, be supported by the members of the church.

We have our own Church and own convictions concerning what it advocates, and we expect to carry our convictions through for the sake of our eternal salvation, so long as we do not come in conflict with the fixed laws of the government.

Our organizations are kept up, more or less, by free will donations. Considerable amounts of money come in and from America every year and are spent in Germany by the missionaries of this Church, which money is spent for their traveling, board and living expenses. Not a cent is received by these missionaries from the mission, but they're supported by themselves or by their parents in America.

Our work in this country is headed by an organization called the "Association of the German-Austrian Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," consisting of German citizens. It is a registered corporate body like any other organization in Germany.

Now in conclusion, as to your question concerning my attitude as president of the mission, let me say that nearly 40 years ago I spent three years here in Germany, at which time I learned the language in Berlin and had a splendid opportunity throughout the country to become acquainted with the German people. Therefore, for nearly 40 years, I have studied this people, and not only studied them, but have actually spent six years, all told, in the various cities in Germany, and up to the present time I have been a friend and supporter of the German people in their righteous endeavors. I have, possibly, seen this country at its best and again at its worst. And through it all I can truthfully say that the Germans possess a personal pride that is seldom found in other countries. They're full of vitality and ambition and are workers of the first class. No matter whether they possess much or little, their personal appearance is kept up to the highest degree, clothes pressed, shoes polished, hair combed and all in all, those who desire to live the good life are wholesome to look upon.

Of all the many foreign countries it has been my privilege to visit, give me Germany with its activity and high notions of thrift and prosperity. I have spent many thousands of Marks for railroad fare alone, and have visited many cities time and time again in this beautiful country. I can truthfully say that every courtesy has been accorded me by railroad officials, city officials, traffic officers, and the citizens of the country generally. I most highly appreciate the privilege of spending some time among this great people, representing as I do the Church to which I belong in a most worthy cause for the good and benefit of mankind, as well as for their moral and spiritual uplift.

Any detailed information regarding our faith or general attitude will be gladly furnished.

I thank you for the privilege of making the foregoing statement.

I am
Respectfully yours,
Oliver H. Budge
President of the German-Austrian Mission
Of the Church Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.

PS. I am enclosing a number of cards with the 13 Articles of Faith, and two copies of our magazine, "Der Stern," no. 2 from the volume for the year 1931, and no. 15 from the volume for the year 1933. In the latter number permit me to refer you to the article entitled "A Friend of Justice."  

Translation of illustrated article under the title
"In The Land of the Mormons"
by President Alfred C. Rees

Volkischer Beobachter
Berlin, Germany
April 14, 1939

How would you like to live in a city that is 4,300 feet above sea level; that nestles in a broad valley, surrounded entirely by rugged, picturesque mountains, whose tops are covered with eternal snow, a veritable fortress set up by Nature, apparently intended to defy invasion either by water, land or sky?

Such a place is Salt Lake City, capital of the state of Utah, scenic centre of America, the renowned gathering place and radiating point of the Mormon church; two day's travel from New York, one day from the Pacific Coast.

As any one of us, who have visited that remarkable city, will testify, it is one of the most attractive, beautifully situated cities in all the world; clean, modern, pulsating with life and glowing with hospitality; with a history of achievement that at once challenges out admiration.

And what a tragedy lies back of this outstanding accomplishment! Less than 100 years ago, all that vast, limitless territory, encompassed by the Rocky Mountains, was the very symbol of desolation. Little was known of it. Only a few venturesome trappers entered that forbidding waste. The silence of centuries brooded over that region of violent excesses of heat and cold.

It was in this very valley of threatening starvation and death that a little band of people sought refuge in 1847, after they had been persecuted, pillaged, plundered and driven from their comfortable homes in Eastern United States by mobs of priests and politicians.

Since there were no railroad connections until the late '60s, those who joined the early Mormon forces came by ox-teams and even handcarts. There are still men and women living in Utah, who, as girls and boys, covered that entire distance on foot, sustained and strengthened in all of their trials and tribulations by the knowledge that they were escaping the cruel persecutions that had been heaped upon them on account of their religious beliefs; and by the hope that peace and security awaited them somewhere in the unknown West.

This bitter, historic experience had produced out of the Mormons a deter- mined, practical people, as a result of which, they perhaps, better than many other, can appreciate what the German people endured as they passed through their hardships.

Thus the Mormon people know what persecution and suppression mean. And the German people, who have gone through the shadow of the valley since the World War; and who have been forced to rely upon their own strength and determination, and upon their undying belief in their own ability to restore their self-respect and their merited place among the mighty in the sisterhood of nations, reveal that same progressive character, which does not shun obstacles. For that reason, to a student of Mormonism, recent developments in Germany present a most impressive study.

From the very beginning, the Mormon people took care of their poor. They saw to it that the administration of relief was always in local hands, in order to limit abuses. They provided for an intimate personal acquaintanceship between those who gave and those who received. The result of this system of Mormon relief has brought about the total absence of want and suffering among their people in every community where the established principles and rules of the church are observed. It is upon this deep rooted principle that the Mormon church is now carrying out its widely publicized and praised program of self help at a time when ten million Americans are jobless and idle, due to a departure from America's traditional economic, industrial system.

In order to produce a sound body, Mormons have advocated and practiced, since 1830, what they call the "Word of Wisdom", which calls fro the total abstinence from the use of tobacco, alcohol, tea, coffee, and for the sparing use of meat. Statistics in the United States show that, as a result of close adherence to this formula, the Mormon people are freer from contagious and hereditary diseases, than any other people in the United States; and, in fact, the world. That is why the Mormon people, perhaps, more than any other people in all the world, pay high tribute to the German government for its bold declaration of war against the use of alcohol and tobacco by the youth of Germany.

Mormon people are proverbially practical believers, not only in the sanctity of the home, but also in large families. They are unalterably opposed to birth control, which they view as a contributing factor to the destruction of any race. The industry of men and women throughout Germany is a reminder of the proverbial attitude of the Mormon people toward work. It was Brigham Young who announced that the loafer should not eat the bread of the worker. In fact, the coat of arms of Utah is the beehive, indicative of the industry and cooperative spirit of the people.

Perhaps the outstanding financial system of the world for the maintenance of a religious organization is to be found in Mormonism: It is their Tithing System. A true, faithful Mormon pays to the church one-tenth of his total income for the upkeep of the church and its institutions. This has placed the church on a sound financial basis, and has made possible its remarkable expansion, growth and development and operation of its far flung educational and social institutions, all conducted under church supervision; also in the erection and maintenance of commodious places of worship, which dot and beautify the entire length and breadth of the land, in which the church has a following. Here is the application of the German ideal: Community welfare before personal welfare. Mormons are practical exponents of that wholesome doctrine.

Among these institutions of learning of which the Mormon church is especially proud, is the Brigham Young University, located in Provo, about a two hour's drive from Salt Lake City. That institution was established under the direction of a distinguished German, Dr. Karl G. Maeser, who was born in Meissen, Saxony, joined the Mormon faith, came to Utah, and was charged by Brigham Young with the responsibility of establishing that institution. The Mormon church makes the unique claim of having been established by direct revelation from God, through the instrumentality of a young man by the name of Joseph Smith, who, though unlettered and untutored, laid down principles of conduct in the realm of religion; announced truths in the field of general science; and gave to the world a philosophy of life, that challenge the thinking of every unbiased mind.

Among the Mormons who have make notable contributions to world thought is also J. Reuben Clark Jr., a member of the First Presidency of the Mormon church. He is an acknowledged diplomat, was United States Ambassador to Mexico, and today is the head of the Foreign Bondholders Association, which represents not only the United States government, but all Americans who hold securities of foreign countries. Mr. Clark is a frequent visitor to Berlin.

Perhaps the persistent driving force and the unfailing courage of the Mormon people find explanation in their belief that man is immortal; that he lives be- yond the grave; that he continues in his program of eternal progression; that divinity and complete mastery over all forces is his goal and destiny. In fact, their belief is crystallized thus; "As God now is, man may become." Mormonism sees in God a personal, living Being.

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Part 3 of 3
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Notes:
 
1. Ernst Christian Helmreich, The German Churches Under Hitler: Background, Struggle, and Epilogue (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1979), pp. 128- 132.
 
2. The Nazis controlled Germany through their policy of Gleichschaltung or coordination/regimentation to Party aims.
 
3. Christine Elizabeth King, "Strategies for Survival: An Examination of the History of Five Christian Sects in Germany 1933-45," Journal of Contemporary History 14 (1979), 211; Christine Elizabeth King, The Nazi State and the New Religions (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1982), p. 20.
 
4. Usually the small, non-traditional religions in Germany are referred to as "sects," which carries a pejorative connotation in German.
 
5. King, The Nazi State and the New Religions, pp. 19-20; King, "Strategies for Survival," 211. King argues that such considerations were based on the denomination's use as a propaganda tool, its wealth and influence and the amount of trouble that would be caused abroad if the denomination were persecuted.
 
6. See Table 10 in Jeffrey L. Anderson, "Mormons and Germany, 1914-1933: A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany and its Relationship with the German Governments from World War I to the Rise of Hitler" (M.A. Thesis, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1991), pp. 214- 215.
 
7. Douglas F. Tobler and Alan F. Keele, "The Saints and the Reich: German Mormons under Hitler" (unpublished essay), pp. 3-4. Copy in author's possession.
 
8. Douglas F. Tobler, "The Narrow Line: The Experiences of the American Mormon Missionaries in Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939" (unpublished essay), p. 12. Copy in author's possession.
 
9. For the text of the respective responses to the Gestapo, see Oliver Budge letter to State Secret Police office, 8 September 1933, in "German- Austrian Mission Quarterly Reports, 1930-1937," Archives, Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, entry for "Visit of Secret Service Agent, (hereafter cited as "German-Austrian Quarterly Reports)," and "Ein Aufklarender Brief," Der Stern, 65 (15 July 1933), 214-218. See full text in Appendix A and Appendix B.
 
10. Tobler and Keele, "The Saints and the Reich," p. 8.
 
11. Or in other words whatever regime was in power at the time. Pearl of Great Price, Article of Faith 1:12. "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."
 
12. Pearl of Great Price, Article of Faith 1:11. "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."
 
13. John A. Dahl, "Book Review of Building Zion," typed manuscript, Archive MS 15335, unpublished manuscript dated 14 October 1997, Archives, Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, comment #16, pp. 10-11. Dahl states that "Rudolph Noss ... President of the Frankfurt am Main LDS district ... after clearing with Francis Salzner armed with a briefcase full of all the pamphlets and the Standard Works then used in Germany met with the proper office of the Department of Culture and Education in Darmstadt, Hessen-Darmstadt. He invited them to study this material containing the principles of the gospel which our Elders were teaching freely to those interested in their message; and also to convince them that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were admonished to be law-abiding citizens. He further pointed out that these American Elders would bring in sorely needed US dollars." (Italics added)
 
14. See Appendix A and B.
 
15. Tobler and Keele, "The Saints and the Reich," pp. 6-7.
 
16. Fay Ollorton, "A Visit to the German -Austrian Mission," Deseret News, 2 1 October 1933, Church Section, p. 3.
 
17. Eric A. Johnson, Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews, and Ordinary Germans (New York: Basic Books, 1999), p. 229; John S. Conway, The Nazi Persecution of the Churches, 1933-1945 (New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, 1968), p. 69.
 
18. Many German Mormons have discussed visits to church meetings by the Gestapo. See, for example, Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, Oral History, Interview by Steve Carter, 2 May 1998, Holladay, Utah, Tape Recording/Typescript, 1, Copy in author's possession; Inge Lang, Oral History, Interview by Steve Carter, 28 June 1998, Bountiful, Utah, Tape Recording, Copy in author's possession; Dahl, "Book Review," comment, #14, pp. 9-10; John A. Dahl, Oral History, Interview by Steve Carter, 21 March 2000, Salt Lake City, Utah, Tape Re cording/Typescript, p. 18, Copy in author's possession; Walter H. Speidel, Oral History, Interview by Steve Carter, Tape recording/Typescript, Provo, Utah, 30 April 1998, p. 7, Copy in author's possession. Gestapo monitoring of Mormon meetings varied from place to place. Usually, a plain-clothed agent slipped in and sat quietly in the back of the church. Occasionally, he might solicit information about upcoming "sermons." In these cases, the branch president provided the agent with a list of scheduled speakers for the next couple of weeks. In some branches, Gestapo agents attended meetings on a regular basis, and a few showed some congeniality with Church members. In other areas, there were few Gestapo visits. One German branch president recalled only one encounter with the Gestapo and that the agent left satisfied with what he found.
 
19. Both the Swiss-German Mission Manuscript History and German-Austrian Mission Manuscript History detail incidents where Gestapo agents interrogated missionaries and branch presidents as well as confiscated branch records. Agents usually seized the documents, examined them for a space of several weeks and returned them without explanation to the local LDS leader. See "German-Austrian Mission Manuscript History," Archives, Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Hereafter cited as "German-Austrian MSS History." See also "Swiss-German Mission Manuscript History, 1904-1938," Archives, Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Hereafter cited as "Swiss-German MSS History."
 
20. For instance, see "German-Austrian MSS History," entry for September 1934. German-Austrian mission records state: "The president of the Zwickau District was requested by the police in Plauen to furnish them with a list of the members of his district, and to inform them as to the party membership of each political party." (Italics added)
 
21. Tobler and Keele, "The Saints and the Reich," p. 15.
 
22. Speidel, Oral Interview, 30 April 1998, p. 2; Walter H. Speidel, Oral History, Interview by Steve Carter, Tape recording/Typescript, Provo, Utah, 1 May 1998, p. 7.
 
23. "Swiss-German MSS History" entry for January 1934. "The Police in Germany investigated our case in many branches but apparently did not come to any conclusions about us as no further steps were taken to stop out missionary activity."
 
24. One of Hitler's goals was to indoctrinate German youth in Nazi values which meant control of education and youth organizations.
 
25. In Germany, the Boy Scouts had grown rapidly after its founding in 1911, and by 1914, it numbered over 80,000 members. Scouting attracted many German Mormon youths in part because of the Church's sponsorship of the organization in the United States. In 1911, the LDS Church endorsed Scouting in the US and shortly thereafter adopted it in Germany. Mormon authorities in Europe believed the Boy Scouts could strengthen the LDS youth and bring others into contact with their religion. By the 1930s, the Mormon Church had become a primary sponsor of the German Scout Association. By the end of 1933, the regime had eliminated all Scouting organizations except the two affiliated with the Mormon missions in Germany. At the time, according to mission records, there were 33 local Scout troops in the Swiss-German Mission alone. The German-Austrian Mission reported that over 150 teen-aged boys were registered in Scouts in that mission with another 100 youth who were involved in Scouting activities but were not registered. See Lawrence D. Walker, Hitler Youth and Catholic Youth, 1933-1936: A Study in Totalitarian Conquest, (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1970), p. 8; "The Story of Scouting in the LDS Church," comp. LDS Relationships Boy Scouts of America, http://gemstate.net/scouter/story.htm (28 September 2000); Tobler, "The Narrow Line," p. 15; "German-Austrian Quarterly Report," entry for 30 June 1934; "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for May, 1934; "German-Austrian Quarterly Report," entry for 30 June 1934.
 
26. "German-Austrian Quarterly Report," entry for 30 June 1934. The German-Austrian Quarterly Report contains copies of the letter exchange of March and April, 1934.
 
27. "German-Austrian MSS History," entry for 30 March 1934. The Scout troops from Weimar and Erfurt held a four-day outing. This is the last recorded Scouting activity in Germany before the program was dissolved.
 
28. "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for May 1934; "German-Austrian Quarterly Report," entry for 30 June 1934.
 
29. Although the LDS regretted the end of the Scouting program, many Mormon youngsters joined the Hitler Youth. Some became active participants in the Nazi organization and fondly recalled the experience. Other boys either did not participate or, under pressure, merely went through the motions. Of the latter, many found it difficult to attend Sunday church meetings; still others reported renewed harassment by the Hitler Youth. Mormon girls, too, joined the BDM (Bund Deutsche Model), the female counterpart to the Hitler Youth. And, as with the boys, they had mixed reactions to it. Some were active participants, others were not. See Tobler and Keele, "The Saints and the Reich," p. 13; Fred Gassner and Erich Bernhardt, Oral History, Interview by Justus Ernst, 8 June 1985, transcript, Archives, Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, 26; Rudi Wobbe and Jerry Borrowman, Before the Blood Tribunal (Salt Lake City, UT: Covenant Communications, Inc., 1992), pp. 7-8.
 
30. "Chonik der Gemeinde Karlsruhe," comp. Karl Lutz, (Karlsruhe, Germany: Gemeinde Karlsruhe, Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage, 1997), p. 92. See also Doris L. Bergen, Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1996), pp. 165-171, on the German Christians and Jewish expressions in church hymns.
 
31. Both mission presidents instructed members to avoid such terms in talks and to omit them from church hymns. See Dahl, Oral Interview, pp. 4-5 and Speidel, Oral Interview, 30 April 1998, p. 4.
 
32. "German-Austrian MSS History," entry 1 1 July 1936; Gilbert W. Scharffs, Mormonism in Germany: A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company, 1970), p. 85.
 
33. Kriminalpolizei Blatt no. 1751/54, in "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for January 1934. See also, "German-Austrian MSS History," entry for 5, 25 and 29 January 1934. During the first week of January 1934 the police forbid any further distribution of "Gottliche Vollmacht" in Germany. In both missions, the mission presidents complied with the order and had all copies of the tract either sent to the respective mission offices, turned over to the government officials or destroyed.
 
34. In the mid-1930s, for example, the regime banned the Christian Scientists from sending proceeds from the sale of their literature to the United States. Correspondence between the Christian Science Church and the United Stated diplomatic corps covering the period of 16 July 1936 to 28 July 1937, U. S. State Department Documents, 362. 116. Christian Science Church/8-12, National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
 
35. "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for September 1934.
 
36. The previous month, Finance Minister, Hjalmar Schacht, had launched a new economic policy that sought to impose "strict controls on the allocation of foreign exchange" for the purpose of building up currency reserves. See Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999), p. 576.
 
37. Registered Marks were more valuable than regular Marks and used for international trade. Mormon missionaries had had the privilege of purchasing Registered Marks since the Weimar era. See also "German-Austrian Quarterly Reports," December 1934, entry for October.
 
38. "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for October 1934; "German-Austrian MSS History," entry for 6 October 1934; Tobler, "The Narrow Line," p. 17. The exchange rate for the Registered Mark was 3.31 per dollar, and for the regular Mark it was 2.48. According to Tobler, "the resulting loss of over 30% of the purchasing power of their $25 monthly check was difficult, if not devastating."
 
39. On 1 August 1934, Roy Welker replaced Oliver Budge as president of the East German Mission.
 
40. Correspondence between the LDS First Presidency and the United States diplomatic corps covering the period of 3 April to 13 April 1935, U. S. State Department Documents, 362.1 16.M82/35, 36, National Archives; Correspondence between William E. Dodd and Secretary of State, Corded Hull, and correspondence between U.S. State Department and LDS First Presidency covering a period between 28 May to 21 June 1935, U. S. State Department Documents, 362.1 16.M82/38, National Archives; "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for July 1935. See also Tobler, "Narrow Line," p. 17. The Benevolent Mark was an exchange rate which allowed missionaries to exchange fifty percent of their foreign currency for Registered Marks and fifty percent for Free Marks. "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for March 1936; "German-Austrian MSS History," entry under "During the month of March." According to records, missionaries would have to apply for the privilege of buying Registered Marks. They received an exchange rate of about RM 4 per $1. They could purchase up to 200 Registered Marks per month.
 
41. "Chronik der Gemeinde Karlsruhe," pp. 92-93. President Salzner and his co-worker had a conversation with two officials of the State Police. He reported: 'The NS officials inquired about our work for the Church and requested that we should go to their office the next day for a discussion. I and my co-worker came as requested, were treaty politely and thoroughly questioned. The officials had a pile of newspaper and magazine articles about the Church to which they often referred during the conversation. After we were there an hour, they requested that we write a short history of the Church and describe the organization, goals and dimensions of our work. We complied with the request and presented the document on the following day. The officials informed us they were satisfied and assured us that we had no reason to fear. (Author's translation.)
 
42. William E. Dodd, Ambassador Dodd's Diary: 1933-1938, ed. by William E. Dodd, Jr., and Martha Dodd (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1941), p. 136.
 
43. King, The Nazi State and the New Religions, chapter 3. See also King "Strategies for Survival," pp. 225-228.
 
44. Tobler, "The Narrow Line," pp. 2-3.
 
45. "German-Austrian MSS History," entry for Thursday, 8 August 1935.
 
46. Tobler, "The Narrow Line," p. 3.
 
47. Helmreich, p. 405.
 
48. Ibid., p. 370 and 372.
 
49. Tobler and Keele, "The Saints and the Reich," p. 14.
 
50. Anderson, p. 157.
 
51. Tobler and Keele, "The Saints and the Reich," p. 14.
 
52. Joseph M. Dixon, "Mormons in the Third Reich: 1933-1945," Dialogue: A journal of Mormon Thought 7 (Spring 1972), 74. Dixon, argues that no "connection existed between the two ... but any parallels ... resulted from circumstance rather than plan."
 
53. For a thorough analysis of doctrinal common ground, see William D. Underwood, "Religions are Ordained of God: The Mormon Church in Nazi Germany" (M.A. Thesis, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1992), pp. 40-48.
 
54. Anderson, pp. 154-155.
 
55. Tobler, "The Narrow Line," pp. 2-3.
 
56. Roy A. Welker, Oral History, interviewed by Richard Jensen, 2-3 February, 1973, Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, pp. 28-29.
 
57. Tobler and Keele, "The Saints and the Reich," pp. 13-14. Grant, more than likely, gave similar instructions to others who served as mission presidents during this period.
 
58. Ibid., p. 15.
 
59. Welker, Oral History, p. 31.
 
60. Scharffs, pp. 86-87.
 
61. "German-Austrian MSS History," entry for "During the Month of July, 1936; "German-Austrian Quarterly Reports," 30 September 1936; Welker, Oral History, pp. 62-64.

62. Several times Elizabeth Welker, when meeting with Scholtz-Klink, found herself in the presence of Hitler. Nevertheless, she never had occasion to speak personally with the dictator, according to her account, because of the language barrier. See Welker, Oral History, pp. 23-25 and 29-30.
 
63. Tobler and Keele, "The Saints and the Reich," p. 15.
 
64. Such harassment on the local level did not affect only the Latter-day Saints. In fact, many groups including other Christian denominations, Communists and Socialists, and Jews faced increased local intimidation during the second half of 1934 going into 1935. See Ian Kershaw, Popular Opinion and Political Dissent in the Third Reich: Bavaria 1933-1945 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 82-83, 165-74, 195-96, 205-06, and 232-38.
 
65. "Swiss-German MSS History," entry December 1933, "General Summary of the Year"; "German-Austrian Quarterly Reports," entry for 31 December 1933.
 
66. Ibid. See both of the above reports.
 
67. Both mission presidents suggest that the Catholic and Evangelical clergy were responsible for much of the action against the Mormons trying to halt their proselyting activities. Ibid.
 
68. For example, see "Swiss-German MSS History," entries for May and June 1933. In Minden, police interrupted a cottage meeting, holding all at gunpoint. After the missionaries explained the circumstances, the police left. See also "German-Austrian Quarterly Reports," entry for 31 December 1933, "October", a cottage meeting in Beuthen was disrupted and all participants taken into custody.
 
69. See "German-Austrian Quarterly Reports," entry for 30 June 1933, "April," and Tobler, "The Narrow Line," p. 12.
 
70. For example, see "German-Austrian MSS History," entry for Wednesday, 18 October 1933. See also "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for December 1934. "The police summoned the appearance of all members of the Goppingen Branch between the 10 and 16 December. The officers apparently wanted to learn the meaning of our meetings, since Germany is at present in an anxious state of political agitation and all meetings are looked upon with suspicion."
 
71. See for example "Swiss-German MSS History," entries for January 1934, April 1934, September 1934.
 
72. In Germany, Mormons rented meeting halls to hold their services. There were only one or two Church-owned chapels in the whole country.
 
73. "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for May 1933. "The Hanau branch was denied the right to hold meetings in the 'Hohelandschule.' The reason being political suspicion." "Swiss-German MSS History," entry July 1933, "Branch Closed." "The Hanau branch was closed due to not having a meeting hall...." See also "German-Austrian Quarterly Reports," entry for 30 June 1933, heading of "May." On 9 May the use of public schools to hold meetings was refused in Stargard. In this case, no reason was given.
 
74. In Karlsruhe, according to the branch president, John Dahl, Mormons were treated well by the Party. See Dahl, Oral Interview, p. 18. Other Mormons and missionaries were able to maintain harmonious relations with local Party leaders or encountered little trouble.
 
75. Efforts by President Welker, European mission president, Joseph Merrill, and the American diplomatic corps to get the expulsion rescinded failed. See Steven E. Carter, "The Mormons and the Third Reich" (Ph.D. diss., University of Arkansas, 2003), pp. 110-112.
 
76. Swiss-German MSS History, entry July 1935, "Tracting Averages."
 
77. It was not uncommon for missionaries in Europe to be using basketball. Missionaries in Czechoslovakia, Great Britain and Sweden all participated in "Basketball Proselyting." See Bruce C. Van Orden, Building Zion: The Latter-day Saints in Europe (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company, 1996), p. 135.
 
78. President Welker, himself, encouraged the use of basketball in proselyting activities and believed that it "did quite a bit of good." Welker, Oral History, p. 59.
 
79. Les Goates, "Mormon Missionaries Train German Basketeers," Deseret News, 7 February 1936, p. 14.
 
80. "German-Austrian MSS History," entries for 8 August 1935 and 26 August 1935.
 
81. Goates, p. 14; Glynn Bennion, "New Ways of Proselyting and the Reason Therefore," Deseret News, 25 January 1936, Church Section 1, p. 7. As German basketball officials, the official Olympic report listed Charles Perschon, Jerome Christensen, Edward Judd and Vinton Merrill. XI Olympiade Berlin 1936, Amtlicher Berricht, vol. II, (Berlin: Organisationskomittee Fur die XL Olypiade Berlin 1936 e.V, Wilhelm Limpert-Verlag, 1936), pp. 1078-1079.
 
82. Bennion, p. 7. "In Germany Herr Hitler has sought the services of the Elders to teach basketball to the teams he hopes will achieve a Nordic victory at the Olympic games to be held this year in Berlin."
 
83. Even within the LDS community there were few German Mormons who were aware that missionaries were involved in the Olympics. Dahl, Oral Interview, p. 20.
 
84. In Berlin and throughout the country, the Nazis relaxed much of their censorship and restrictions they had imposed and did their best to hide anti-Semitic programs, including the Jew-baiting publication, Der Sturmer, and other racial signs from public view. They also let up on their attacks against the Christian churches. For example, they halted the show trials of Catholic priests charged with immorality and currency smuggling. See Duff Hart-Davis, Hitler's Games: The 1936 Olympics (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1986), p. 126 and 129, and Helmreich, p. 279.
 
85. "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for October 1936, "Missionary Activities.
 
86. Conway, p. 168.
 
87. Sanford M. Bingham, Oral History, Interviewed by Douglas Tobler and Alan F. Keele. Provo, Utah, 1974, Typescript, The James Moyle Oral History Program, Archives, Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, pp. 5-6. Alwin Brey had been collecting a list of Mormons in the military from the Hamburg district in order to send them copies of Church publications. Nazi officials believed he was gathering the information to turn over to American intelligence.
 
88. "Swiss-German MSS History," entries for "March 1937: Difficulties in Hamburg District", "April 1937: Government wants Financial Report", and "April 1937: Conferences". The youth gathering was then moved to Switzerland where there was less oppression.
 
89. For example, in the Breslau district, the Walthenburg Branch was closed "on account of so much difficulty in obtaining permission to hold meetings." Moreover, "[p]olice refused the Saints permission to hold 'open' meetings in November the previous year, allowing only two outsiders to one gathering." In April 1937, the Reich and Prussian Minister of Science issued a decree making it unlawful for any religious meeting to be held in public school buildings. This decree affected several branches in the Breslau and Berlin districts that met in schools. "German-Austrian MSS History," entry for "During the Month of January 1936"; "Friday 29 April 1937."
 
90. Scharffs, p. 85.
 
91. Wallace D. Montague, "I was a 'Political Prisoner' of Hitler," The Instructor (March 1963), 90-91.
 
92. Scharffs, p. 90.
 
93. "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for "Missionary Imprisoned," June 1937; Bingham, Oral History, pp. 8-11; Tobler, "The Narrow Line," pp. 19-21.
 
94. Donald M. Petty, Oral History, Interviewed by Douglas Tobler, Salt Lake City, Utah, 6 and 13 August 1985, Typescript, The James Moyle Oral History Program, Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, 50. According to Petty, the missionaries wrapped the flag around them like a "breech cloth;" and M. Douglas & Evelyn N. Wood, interview by Richard O. Cowan & Davis F. Boone, typescript, The James Moyle Oral History Program, Archives, Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, pp. 3-5.
 
95. Petty, Oral History, pp. 50-51.
 
96. Sonderbericht uber die Lage der Protestantischen Kirchen und in den verschiedenen Sekten und deren Staatsfeindliche Auswirkung, 1935, National Archives Microcopy No. T-175, Guide 39, Roll 409, National Archives.
 
97. Sonderbericht uber die Lage der Protestantischen Kirchen und in den verschiedenen Sekten und deren Staatsfeindliche Auswirkung, 1938, referenced in Tobler and Keele, "The Saints and the Reich," p. 22, and Tobler, "The Narrow Line," p. 9.
 
98. Ian Kershaw, Hitler: 'Nemesis (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000), p. 41 and 46.
 
99. See Tobler's comments in Bingham, Oral Interview, pp. 26-27.
 
100. A "positive" article, "A Visit with the Mormons", that explained Latter-day Saint doctrine appeared in the Rheinische Zeitung in February 1933. The following July, the Herforder Zeitung ran an article about the Mormon pioneers in Utah and the "sea-gull miracle." In contrast, a "slanderous" article, entitled "The Mormons Seek to Rule the World" appeared in the Wilhelmshaverner Zeitung in April 1934 and a 1938 Bremen Nachrichten article discussed Mormon "indulgence" in polygamy. See "Swiss-German MSS History," entries for February 1933, "Printed Article"; July 1933, "Newspaper Print Favorable Article"; April 1934, "Newspaper Article"; and October 1938, "Opposition."
 
101. At a 1932 mission presidents' conference held in Prague, then-European mission president, John Widtsoe, encouraged the European Church leaders to use "all forms of publicity" and to organize mission central publicity bureaus. "European Mission Presidents in Conference," The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 25 (August 1932), 536-537.
 
102. For instance, when the article, "The Mormons Seek to Rule the World" appeared in the Wilhelmhavener Zeitung, the missionaries got permission to write a rebuttal that appeared on 20 May 1934. See "Swiss-German MSS History," entry for April 1934, "Newspaper Article."
 
103. "Germany Shifting Her Foreign Policy: Reaction Abroad Criticized," New York Times, 21 November 1938, p. 4. "Chancellor Hitler's own newspaper, the Voelkisher Beobacther, published what it called a history of the ejections of Mormons from the States of Missouri and Illinois, describing it as an 'American parallel to the Jewish problem in Germany.'" See also "West German MSS History," entry for Tuesday, 22 November 1938.
 
104. "West German MSS History," entry for Tuesday, 22 November 1938.
 
105. During the summer of 1937, Heber J. Grant announced that a third German-speaking mission would be created from the German-Austrian mission and the Swiss-German mission. The new missions, West German, East German and Swiss -Austrian missions would be organized on 1 January 1938. A third mission president, Alfred Rees was called at that time and arrived in Germany to help with the transition in the fall of 1937.
 
106. Ralph Mark Lindsey, Oral History, Interviewed by Matthew Heiss, Oakmont, California, 22 April 1990, Typescript, The James Moyle Oral History Program, Archives, Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, pp. 1-2. Lindsey confirms that Rees had connections with the Propaganda Ministry. However, Lindsey states that the scandalous article was on Mormon polygamy. In searching mission records in late 1938 and early 1939, there is no mention of such an article.
 
107. Bingham, Oral History, pp. 25-26.
 
108. Ibid., p. 22.
 
109. Roland Bleich, "Selling Nazi Germany Abroad: The Case of Hulda Jost," Journal of Church and State 35 (Autumn 1993), 807-808. According to Blaich, "Concerned about the impact of a bad press on his foreign policy, Hitler realized that several small American-based denominations could be useful in influencing public opinion abroad. Methodists and Baptists, particularly, wielded considerable influence in America while posing little risk to Nazi totalitarian designs in Germany because of their small membership. These churches, on the other hand, had reasons of their own to collaborate; for in return they could expect toleration by the Nazi state."
 
110. Alfred C. Rees, "Im Lande der Mormonen," Volkischer Beobachter, 14 April 1939.
 
111. After its publication Rees petitioned the Propaganda Ministry to reprint thousands of copies of the article in pamphlets for missionaries to use. The ministry obliged apparently believing that distribution of the pamphlet would also benefit the Party. See Lindsey, Oral History, p. 2.
 
112. This led to a heated debate between Wood and Rees. Tobler, "The Narrow Line," pp. 26-27.
 
113. Ibid.
 
114. Dixon, p. 72.
 
115. Lindsey, Oral History, p. 2.
 
116. Tobler, "The Narrow Line," p. 28.  

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British Israelism
by Stirling
By Common Consent
February 15, 2006

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Photo of Odin from 1937 and 1942 church lesson manuals

In some ways, Joseph and the early Saints set about restoring, not just the practices of early Christianity, but also of ancient Israel. As such, they/we were both Christian and Old Testament “primitivists,” seeking to restore the primitive, and presumably superior, institutions of a previous culture.

Since much of the bible is the story of the relationship of one tribe, ”the Israelites”with God, the primitivist Mormons were intensely interested in that tribe. They prepared for the “literal gathering of Israel,” the Book of Mormon identified a new world people as Israelites, and the European Saints, though non-Israelite “Gentiles,” considered themselves to be spiritually of Israel, or to be of Israel through adoption.

But many Saints came to view themselves as literally of Israel; they believed they were genetically descended from Israel (through Ephraim). The Mormon tendency towards a literal “Israelism” seems to have played out over time. First the Smith family was identified as literal descendants of Israel. Later, as Brigham Young was describing Joseph Smith as a “pure Ephraimite,” many Mormons began to assume that all or almost all of the Saints were Israelites. Mauss and Green show this trend was strengthened in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries as the Saints were influenced by the Protestant religious movement of “Anglo” or “British Israelism.”

Anglo Israelism was the belief that the peoples of Northern European nations were descended principally from the “lost” tribes of Israel who migrated there after Assyria conquered Israel in 877 B.C. British Israelism was a variant on the theme that viewed the British Isles as being populated principally by descendants of the favored tribe of Ephraim.

Did we Mormons become adherents of Anglo Israelism / British Israelism? I suggest that we didn’t formally adopt the belief as official doctrine/theology. But, for a few decades we repeated and extended the claims of British Israelism in sufficient numbers of church-published books, magazines, lesson texts, and sermons, that it could appear we certainly had accepted British Israelism.

After giving some examples below of Mormons preaching British Israelism in the previous century, the questions I’m going to get to are:

1. When was the last time (if ever) you heard British Israelism passed around within Mormonism as a valid concept?

2. I think our literal Israelism is fading, and that as a church we are taking a more allegorical/symbolic/spiritual view of “Abrahamic lineage.” Do you have counterexamples or related anecdotes? Do you disagree?

A quick and incomplete primer on the history of British Israelism:

We Mormons weren’t unique in creating for ourselves a literal Israelite heritage that had a distinctly English air. Other contemporaneous Christian groups had done the same, including the Christian Israelites in England (ca. 1822), Nathaniel Wood and the New Israelites of Middletown, Vermont (ca: 1800), and the followers of London-based Richard Brothers, who in 1794 pronounced himself the “Prince and Prophet of the Hebrews.”

The most prominent early book that preached British Israelism was John Wilson’s 1840 Lectures on Our Israelitish Origin.

By the 1870s, British Israelism had become a formal movement among protestant Christians, complete with societies, chapters, and monthly magazines in both England and the U.S. Many Mormons who had already come to view themselves as Israelites were receptive to the movement. In the 1870s George Reynolds published a series of articles in the Millennial Star that promoted British Israelism using arguments and quotes from the prominent B-I writers of the day, including John Wilson, A. B. Grimaldi, and Charles Smyth. In 1883 George Reynolds published his Israelism writings in a book, Are We of Israel? Reynolds became one of the 7 presidents of the 70 in 1890, and the book went through at least 7 editions; the 1916 edition was published as a class text by the Church’s Deseret Sunday School Union; the last edition was published in 1952 by the church-owned Deseret News Press.

But that was just the first Mormon British Israel work. There were dozens that followed. The high point of excitement for British Israelism within Mormonism seems to have been the middle 1920s through the 1930s, and into the first part, at least, of the 1940s. This follows just a few years after the high point of British Israelism in England, and it roughly matches the timeline of an international interest in lineage and racial “purity.” A few of many examples are found in Mexico (ejecting the Chinese), the United States (think of our immigration laws, our eugenics movement, the racial purity laws), and with hindsight, most strikingly, Germany.

If you grew up Mormon in the first half of the 20th century, you were likely to be taught over and over–in Sunday School, genealogy, and priesthood lessons, in stake and general conferences, in church magazines, books, and pamphlets–that you were literally an Israelite, directly descended from Ephraim. This teaching would come in at least two forms:

1. The teaching one might call “Mormon Israelism” was that Ephraim’s descendants were scattered among all nations, but that almost all Mormons were Ephraimites (for some, even “pure” Ephraimites) because the people that had responded to the missionary message were the select few with Israel in their veins. It was taught (including by Joseph Smith) and assumed by some that the more pure the Israelite blood, the more open a person was to the Mormon message.

2. Somewhat in conflict with this, you would also have been taught Mormon Anglo or British Israelism: that almost all Mormons were Israelites (and to some, pure Israelites), because the Saints were of Northern European stock (largely British), which was the place the not-so-lost tribes (mainly Ephraim) had settled.

In the 20th century, the main church leaders and authors who preached Israelism and British Israelism were Church Historian and Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, apostle and First Presidency member Anthony Ivins, Asst. Church Historian Andrew Jenson, and officers of the Utah Genealogical Society such as Archibald Bennett and James Anderson.

In dozens of articles, books, and general conference talks, these men played a significant role in teaching a couple of generations of Saints that they were literal descendants of Israel, with detailed proofs that the not-so-lost ten tribes had settled either Northern Europe or Great Britain taken directly from the prominent British-Israel works. Anderson, in God’s Covenant Race, From Patriarchal Times to the Present, a 1937 book published by the Deseret News Press, even claimed (incorrectly) Mormon credit for starting the British-Israel Movement through the church’s 1830s missionary work in England (154-155). The 1938 and later editions of the book included an appendix with 127 pages of articles copied verbatim from the “Anglo-Israel Federation” magazine Destiny.

The [University of Virginia] Institute [of Public Affairs] in 1938 also invited one of America's most notorious antisemites, William J. Cameron, who had edited Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent, to present a paper on "The Interdependence of Farm and Industry" at its economic stability roundtable. Cameron had contributed significantly to the Dearborn Independent's vitriolic attacks on Jews during the 1920s. Part of the British Israelite movement that believed the Anglo-Saxons were the real descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Cameron claimed that contemporary Jews were the remnants of a racially distinct and inferior group despised by God. Remaining a top aide to Ford after the Dearborn Independent ceased publication in 1927, he cofounded the antisemitic Anglo-Saxon Federation in 1930 and was elected its president. In 1935 Cameron became director of Destiny, the Anglo-Saxon Federation organ whose diatribes laid the groundwork for the virulently antisemitic Christian Identity movement. Two weeks after the Institute roundtable, Cameron delivered the keynote address at the ceremony the Nazi government arranged for Henry Ford, at which it presented him with the highest honor it could bestow on a foreigner, the Grand Service Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle. [61]

Despite Cameron's long record of disseminating antisemitism, the Institute of Public Affairs leadership declared that it was honored to have him participate in its roundtable. [62] About three months after the conference, the Institute's acting director expressed to Cameron his "great personal satisfaction and the appreciation of the University and the Institute" for what he said was Cameron's "very important" contribution to the session, about which he had heard "many kind words." Gooch told Cameron that both he and university president John Lloyd Newcomb would be "most grateful" for any suggestions that "might be calculated to improve the conduct of the Institute." [63]

-- The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower: Complicity and Conflict on American Campuses, by Stephen H. Norwood

One collection of Mormon British-Israelism teachings was the 1942 Sunday School course book, Birthright Blessings; its 48 lessons included topics such as “The Chosen Race Being Gathered,” “Early Israelite Colonies,” “Mound Builders of Europe,” “Sagas and Civilization of Scandinavia,” “Who Are the Anglo-Saxons?,” “Early Welsh Customs,” ” Ancient Irish Pedigrees,” and “The Royal House of David.”

A very similar collection was the 1937 Junior Genealogy Class manual, Children of the Covenant. Its 40 lessons covered most of the Birthright topics mentioned and others such as “A White and a Blessed People,” “The Day of Ephraim,” and “The New Race of Israel.” The activity for one of the lessons instructed students to “Write a one page explanation, and read it in class or in a public meeting, of the topic: “My Heritage as a Descendant of Ephraim.”

Articles preaching British Israelism and Mormon Israelism were also common in the quarterly journal of the Church’s Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine.

Examples of this were the paired 1930 articles, “Mission of Ephraim,” by Joseph Fielding Smith, and “Children of Ephraim,” by Archibald Bennett. [Bennett, Archibald F. 1930, "The Children of Ephraim," Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 21 (April): 67-85)]

The latter even contained a detailed explanation and ancestral charts explaining how the Norse God Odin (Woden) was ancestor of “most of the kingly and noble races of the north,” and therefore, of Anglo-Saxons and Mormons. Consequently, you can find Mormon family trees from that period that include both Odin and Thor (there’s a current example of this in my extended family). Odin is also discussed in detail in the Birthright Blessings and Children of the Covenant manuals, in a lesson called Sagas and Civilization of Scandinavia that recounts Icelander Snorri Sturluson’s Ynglinga Saga. Both books included a photo of a B.E.F. Fogelberg’s statute of Odin (the graphic at the top of this post).

Returning to the questions:

1. I think our literal Israelism (the belief that most Mormons are genetic descendants of Israel, particularly Ephraim or Manasssah) is fading, and that as a church we are taking a more allegorical/symbolic/spiritual view of “Abrahamic lineage.” Do you have counterexamples or related anecdotes? Do you disagree?

2. When was the last time (if ever) you heard British Israelism passed around within Mormonism as a valid concept?

Sources

Arnold H. Green, “Gathering and Election: Israelite Descent and Universalism in Mormon Discourse,” Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 25 (Spring 99)
Armand L. Mauss, All Abraham’s Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage (University of Illinois Press, 2003), esp. 17-36, 269-272.
Mauss, “In Search of Ephraim: Traditional Mormon Conceptions of Lineage and Race,” Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 25 (Spring 99) 131-173
Mauss, “Mormonism’s Worldwide Aspirations and its Changing Conceptions of Race and Lineage,” Dialogue, 34:3-4 (Fall/Winter 2001) 103-133.
Birthright Blessings: Genealogical Training Class (Deseret Sunday School Union Board, 1942), 48 Sunday School Lessons
Children of the Covenant: A Lesson Book for Second Year Junior Genealogical Classes (Genealogical Society of Utah, 1937), 40 lessons
Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Issues from the 1920s-1940s.

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Mission of Ephraim
by Joseph Fielding Smith
from Doctrines of Salvation, Volume III
Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine
1930

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[Ephraim], because of his faithfulness and integrity to the purposes of the Lord, was rewarded with the births right in Israel … When Jacob blessed Joseph, he gave him a double portion, or an inheritance among his brethren in Palestine and also the blessing of the land of Zion … He also blessed him with the blessings of heaven above, of the deep which lieth under, and of posterity….Jacob also blessed the two sons of Joseph with the blessings of their father, which they inherited…blessings are to be realized in the Latter-days…because of this rebellion the Lord punished him by mixing him among the nations…blessing the people of other nations with the blood of Israel among whom Ephraim "mixed" himself…the tribe of Ephraim, rebellious, proud, and headstrong, which was scattered more than any other among the people of other nations. The chief reason is that it is Ephraim who is now being gathered from among the nations…It is essential in this dispensation that Ephraim stand in his place at the head, exercising the birthright in Israel which was given to him … Therefore, Ephraim must be gathered first to prepare the way…the great majority of those who have come into the Church are Ephraimites…It is Ephraim, today, who holds the priesthood…When the "lost tribes" come…they will have to receive the crowning blessings from their brother Ephraim…receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands… the ten tribes of Israel who had been led away by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, to prepare them for their return…The Book of Mormon came to Ephraim, for Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite…Joseph Smith, father of the Prophet, received the birthright in Israel which he inherited through his fathers back to Ephraim and Joseph and Jacob to Abraham. For that reason the Patriarchal Priesthood was conferred upon him.

-- Mission of Ephraim, by Joseph Fielding Smith

 
EPHRAIM GAINED BIRTHRIGHT IN ISRAEL.

Joseph, son of Jacob, because of his faithfulness and integrity to the purposes of the Lord, was rewarded with the births right in Israel. It was the custom in early times to bestow upon the firstborn son special privileges and blessings, and these were looked upon as belonging to him by right of birth. Reuben, the first of Jacob's sons, lost the birthright through transgression, and it was bestowed upon Joseph, who was the most worthy of all the sons of Jacob.250. 31

When Jacob blessed Joseph, he gave him a double portion, or an inheritance among his brethren in Palestine and also the blessing of the land of Zion -- "the utmost bound of the everlasting hills." He also blessed him with the blessings of heaven above, of the deep which lieth under, and of posterity.251. 32 Jacob also blessed the two sons of Joseph with the blessings of their father, which they inherited, and he placed Ephraim, the younger, before Manasseh, the elder, and by inspiration of the Lord conferred upon Ephraim the birthright in Israel.251. 33

SCATTERING OF EPHRAIM AMONG THE NATIONS.

After the death of Solomon his son Rehoboam was placed upon the throne of Israel, but the 10 northern tribes revolted and set up the kingdom of Israel, with Jeroboam, an Ephraimite, as their king. The southern kingdom, composed of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, became known thereafter as the kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom is frequently referred to in the chronicles and in prophecy as Ephraim. There are passages in the scriptures, however, which have direct reference to descendants of Ephraim and the blessings which were pronounced upon their heads. These blessings are to be realized in the Latter-days.

While the Israelites possessed the land of Canaan they were rebellious and failed to heed the commandments of the Lord. Among these tribes were none who were more guilty of this offense than Ephraim, and because of this rebellion the Lord punished him by mixing him among the nations. It is true that Israelites from the other tribes were also scattered among the nations, but particularly is this true of the Ephraimites. The words of Hosea have direct application to those of the tribe of Ephraim wherein he says: "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned."251. 34

In scattering Ephraim the Lord had two purposes in mind: l. The scattering was to be a punishment to a rebellious people; 2. It was for the purpose of blessing the people of other nations with the blood of Israel among whom Ephraim "mixed" himself. The scattering of other Israelites answered the same purpose.

We have very good reason to believe, however, that it was the tribe of Ephraim, rebellious, proud, and headstrong, which was scattered more than any other among the people of other nations. The chief reason is that it is Ephraim who is now being gathered from among the nations. In these last days the Lord said that Ephraim should not be rebellious as he was formerly, and that now, the rebellious were not of Ephraim and should be "plucked out." 252. 35

EPHRAIM STANDS AT HEAD IN LATTER-DAYS.

It is essential in this dispensation that Ephraim stand in his place at the head, exercising the birthright in Israel which was given to him by direct revelation. Therefore, Ephraim must be gathered first to prepare the way through the gospel and the priesthood, for the rest of the tribes of Israel when the time comes for them to be gathered to Zion. The great majority of those who have come into the Church are Ephraimites. It is the exception to find one of any other tribe, unless it is of Manasseh.

It is Ephraim, today, who holds the priesthood. It is with Ephraim that the Lord has made covenant and has revealed the fulness of the everlasting gospel. It is Ephraim who is building temples and performing the ordinances in them for both the living and for the dead. When the "lost tribes" come -- and it will be a most wonderful sight and a marvelous thing when they do come to Zion -- in fulfilment of the promises made through Isaiah and Jeremiah, 252. 36 they will have to receive the crowning blessings from their brother Ephraim, the "firstborn" in Israel.

LATTER-DAY ISRAEL TO RECEIVE BLESSINGS FROM EPHRAIM.

The leaders of our people from the beginning have looked forward to this great day when Ephraim would be gathered and would stand in his place to crown the tribes of Israel. In an epistle issued by the First Presidency in October, 1852, the following appears:

"The invitation is to all, of every nation, kindred and tongue, who will believe, repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands. Come home: come to the land of Joseph, to the valleys of Ephraim."253. 37

The Prophet Joseph Smith looked forward to the great day when Israel would be gathered. He stated at a conference held in June, 1831, "that John the Revelator was then among the ten tribes of Israel who had been led away by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, to prepare them for their return from their long dispersion."253. 38 President Brigham Young had these same thoughts constantly in mind and frequently spoke of them. "It is the house of Israel, we are after," said he, "and it is the very lad on whom Father Jacob laid his hands, that will save the house of Israel. The Book of Mormon came to Ephraim, for Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite."253. 39

"We are now gathering the children of Abraham who have come through the loins of Joseph and his sons, more especially through Ephraim, whose children are mixed among all the nations of the earth. . . . I see a congregation of them before me today." 253. 40

President Young declares that Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite. This is true, Joseph Smith, father of the Prophet, received the birthright in Israel which he inherited through his fathers back to Ephraim and Joseph and Jacob to Abraham. For that reason the Patriarchal Priesthood was conferred upon him with the commandment that it should be handed down from father to son. 254. 41

Irrationality: A Site to Be Holed, by Tara Carreon

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British Israelism
by Wikipedia
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An 1890 book advocating British Israelism. According to the doctrine, the Lost Ten tribes of Israel found their way to Western Europe and Britain, becoming the ancestors of the British and related peoples.

British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) is a movement which holds the view that the people of England (or more broadly, the people of United Kingdom) are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel.[1] With roots in the 16th century, [British Israelism was inspired by several 19th-century English writings, notably John Wilson's 1840 Our Israelitish Origin.[2] The movement never had a head organisation or a centralized structure. Various British Israelite organisations were set up throughout the British Empire as well as in America from the 1870s; a number of these organisations are still active today. In America, its ideas gave rise to the Christian Identity movement.

The central tenets of British Israelism have been refuted by evidence from modern archaeological,[3] ethnological,[4] genetic, and linguistic research.[5]

Earliest recorded expressions

At the beginning of 1534, the tolerant German town of Munster in Westphalia embarked on an unusual type of Reformation. Radical Anabaptists and Evangelicals (Lutherans) united against the Catholic Bishop Francis Waldeck, and forced him to leave the city. The latter immediately called in troops and began a siege, but was not able to stop all traffic in and out of the city for a long time. Jan Matthijs, the leader of Munster’s Anabaptists, influenced by Melchior Hoffman’s eschatological views, announced on February 25, 1534 that all adult citizens who refused to be baptized “by faith” would be killed as “godless” and “wicked.”

During the next week, the majority of the Catholics and Lutherans left the city; the “Munsterite kingdom” episode had begun. During this first period, the Catholic churches of the city were sacked; their altars and images were broken, the relics of the saints were desecrated, and the wonderful town library was burned. Thousands of fervent Anabaptists from different places moved to the “holy city, New Jerusalem” (Munster) and occupied the houses of the citizens who had escaped. Some of them were stopped by troops, and others reached the town. On April 4, Jan Matthijs was killed in a fight with the besieging army of Bishop Waldeck. After that, Jan van Leiden, a young and still more radical leader, became the head of Munster. He immediately abolished the city council and proclaimed himself “the new King David” of the Messianic “Israelite” kingdom. In obedience to “the voice of the Lord” that he heard, Jan van Leiden chose “twelve elders of the twelve tribes of Israel,” and renamed the citizens “Israelites.”

In practice, this meant a period of terror and horror in Munster. To resist the “king” was to resist God’s will and divine revelations. Not a few citizens were executed, especially because of their criticism of the new regime. The official list of capital crimes, based on the Old Testament, included blasphemy, disobedience to the ruling powers, seditious orations, disrespect to parents, adultery, gossip, and complaining. In addition to this revolutionary order, Jan van Leiden instituted by his unchallenged power, the principle of common property and polygamy in Munster. According to contemporary accounts, the king himself had a harem with perhaps fifteen wives (including the Queen Divara of Haarlem, Jan Matthijs’ widow), while the chief ideologist of Munster’s kingdom, Bernard Rothmann, probably had nine wives....

But why did the extremism of the Anabaptists take a special form, namely the seizure of a town? Some of the key ideas of Anabaptist eschatology answer to that question. The designation of Munster as the “Holy City New Jerusalem” goes back to Melchior Hoffman’s teaching on the Last Days, when, according to this Anabaptist prophet, spiritual revelations would multiply. Before the second coming of Christ, there would be a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the earth, and then the righteous would have many great visions and revelations as in the time of the Old Testament prophets (Snyder, 1995, 205). The idea of the “holy city” was a favorite in the Melchiorite eschatological tradition. The New Jerusalem described in the Book of Revelation would be the only place of refuge for the chosen when the day of God’s wrath and vengeance against the godless came. The New Jerusalem would come down to earth, and believers would hear the message from God’s prophets concerning where to seek the holy city to which they should hurry in order to be saved. Melchior Hoffman himself named Strasbourg as the place of gathering; other prophets mentioned Groningen, Amsterdam, Munster and London (Klaassen, 1986, 29-30). Finally, the opinion of the “Enoch of the End Times” (Jan Matthijs) won out: Munster (where the Anabaptists had political weight at that time), not Strasbourg, was seen as the true New Jerusalem.

-- The Munsterite Tragedy, by Constantine Prokhorov

Identity asserts that disease, addiction, cancer, and sexually transmitted infections (herpes and HIV/AIDS) are spread by human "rodents" via contact with "unclean" persons, such as "race-mixers".[45]:85 The apocrypha, the first book of Enoch, is used to justify these social theories ...[45]:86

-- Christian Identity, by Wikipedia

By now he was calling himself "Joseph Smith The Prophet." In Kirtland, the Saints began practicing primitive communism, according to that passage of the Acts of the Apostles which specifies that the early Christians "had all things in common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need." The vehicle for this collectivism was called the United Order of Enoch, with center of gravity in Kirtland....

After ousting an opposition faction, he attempted to revivify the United Order of Enoch, his primitive communist administration. On July 8, 1838 in Far West, Smith announced a new revelation urging the Saints to transfer the title of all of their property to the Mormon Church. In return, each man would receive a tract of land for his "everlasting inheritance," with the number of acres increasing with the size of his family. (Brodie, p. 220)

Since many had already been skinned in Kirtland, Joseph asked the Saints to lease their property to the Mormon Church "without consideration or interest" for terms varying between 10 and 99 years. What he had in mind was a kind of theocratic corporate state: "The whole church was then to be divided into four huge 'corporations' -- farmers, mechanics, shopkeepers, and laborers -- which would utilize the land, machinery, and skills of the church members for the common good." (Brodie, p. 221)...

Bennett compared the Saints to the Anabaptists in Germany during the Peasant War of the 1520s. Under the prophet Thomas Muntzer, the Anabaptists tried to destroy all earthly authority and create the kingdom of God on earth. Like the Mormons, they practiced primitive communism. Bennett wrote that the Anabaptists "appeared in the year 1525, in Germany, during the religious excitement and confusion produced by the attempts of Luther and his coadjutors to reform the papacy. They so remarkably resemble the Mormons, that it is quite evident the latter have taken them for models, and have copied their doings with as much accuracy as the spirit of the age would permit. The first leader of the Anabaptists was a low, ignorant fellow, named Thomas Muntzer, who, like Joe Smith, was at the same time their Prophet and military commander. They, precisely again like the Mormons, gave themselves out for 'Latter-day Saints,' and profess to be chosen by the Almighty as instruments to produce the promised millennium reign of Christ on earth. They believed, likewise, that they were especial favorites of heaven in every respect, and that they were, when they wished it, favored with familiar personal intercourse with the deity, and from him constantly received revelations and instructions." (Bennett, p. 304)...

He claimed in 1867 that he had been called by God "to dictate affairs in the building up of his Zion," and that this gave him the totalitarian power to determine everything, "even to the ribbons the women wear." [144] One is reminded of the Soviet planners who wanted to control economic activity "down to the last bolt."

-- Just Too Weird: Bishop Romney and the Mormon Takeover of America: Polygamy, Theocracy, and Subversion, by Webster Griffin Tarpley, Ph.D.

According to Brackney (2012) and Fine (2015), the French Hugenot magistrate M. le Loyer's The Ten Lost Tribes, published in 1590, provided the first expression that "Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Scandinavian, Germanic, and associated cultures"[6] were direct descendants of the ancient Israelites.[1] Anglo-Israelism has also been attributed to Francis Drake and James VI and I,[6] who believed he was the King of Israel.[1] Adriaan van Schrieck (1560-1621), who influenced Henry Spelman (1562-1641) and John Sadler (1615-1674), wrote in the early 17th century about his ideas on the origins of the Celtic and Saxon peoples. In 1649, Sadler published The Rights of the Kingdom, "which argues for an 'Israelite genealogy for the British people'".[6]

Aspects of British Israelism and its influences have also been traced to Richard Brothers' A Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies and Times in 1794, John Wilson's Our Israelitish Origin (1840s), and John Pym Yeatman's The Shemetic Origin of the Nations of Western Europe (1879).

Foundation

British Israelism arose in England, then spread to the United States.[7]:52–65 British-Israelists cite various medieval manuscripts to claim an older origin, but British Israelism as a distinct movement appeared in the early 1880s:

Although scattered British Israel societies are known to have existed as early as 1872, there was at first no real move to develop an organization beyond the small groups of believers which had arisen spontaneously. The beginnings of the movement as an identifiable religious force can, therefore, be more accurately placed in the 1880's when the circumstances of the time were particularly propitious for the appearance of a movement so imperialistically-orientated.[8]

In the 1870s George Reynolds published a series of articles in the Millennial Star that promoted British Israelism using arguments and quotes from the prominent B-I writers of the day, including John Wilson, A. B. Grimaldi, and Charles Smyth. In 1883 George Reynolds published his Israelism writings in a book, Are We of Israel? Reynolds became one of the 7 presidents of the 70 in 1890, and the book went through at least 7 editions; the 1916 edition was published as a class text by the Church’s Deseret Sunday School Union; the last edition was published in 1952 by the church-owned Deseret News Press.

-- British Israelism, by Stirling, Common Consent

Heyday, end of the 19th and early 20th centuries


William Pascoe Goard

The extent to which the clergy in Britain became aware of the movement may be gauged from the comment made by Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801–1890) when asked why he had left the Church of England in 1845 to join the Roman Catholic Church. He said that there was a very real danger that the movement "would take over the Church of England."[9]:86

In the later 19th century, Edward Hine, Edward Wheeler Bird, and Herbert Aldersmith developed the British Israelite movement. Hine and Bird would achieve a degree of "doctrinal coherence" by seeing off competing forms of the ideology: In 1878 the Anglo-Ephraim Association of London, which followed Wilson in embracing the broader community of western European Germanic peoples among those they believed were favored by God, would be absorbed into Bird's Metropolitan Anglo-Israel Association, espousing the Anglo-exclusive view promoted by Hine.[10]:209

By the 1890s, the "Anglo-Israel Association" had 300 members; it was based in Britain and founded in 1879 by physician George Moore. Hine later departed for the United States where he promoted the idea.[7]:56

The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia stated that British Israelism's adherents "are said to number 2,000,000 in England and the United States",[11] an unreliable figure if association membership and journal subscription numbers are any guide, though there would have been a broader, unmeasurable sympathy towards the views of the movement among Protestants globally.[10]:209

Between 1899 and 1902, adherents of British Israelism dug up parts of the Hill of Tara in the belief that the Ark of the Covenant was buried there, doing much damage to one of Ireland's most ancient royal and archaeological sites.[12] At the same time, British Israelism became associated with various pseudo-archaeological pyramidology theories, such as the notion that the Pyramid of Khufu contained a prophetic numerology of the British peoples.[13]

In 1914, the thirty-fourth year of its publication, the Anglo-Israel Almanac listed details of a large number of Kingdom Identity Groups operating independently throughout the British Isles and in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and the United States of America.

In 1919, the British-Israel-World Federation (BIWF) was founded in London, and Covenant Publishing was founded in 1922. William Pascoe Goard was the first director of the publishing house. During this time, several prominent figures patronized the BIWF organization and its publisher; Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone was Patron-in-chief in pre-World War II days. One of the most notable members was William Massey, then Prime Minister of New Zealand. Due to the expansive nature of the British Empire, believers in British Israelism spread worldwide and the BIWF expanded its organization to the commonwealth. Howard Rand promoted the teaching and became National Commissioner of the Anglo-Saxon Federation of America in 1928. He published The Bulletin, later renamed The Messenger of the Covenant. More recently, it has been renamed Destiny.[7]:57

In the 20th century, the main church leaders and authors who preached Israelism and British Israelism were Church Historian and Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, apostle and First Presidency member Anthony Ivins, Asst. Church Historian Andrew Jenson, and officers of the Utah Genealogical Society such as Archibald Bennett and James Anderson.

In dozens of articles, books, and general conference talks, these men played a significant role in teaching a couple of generations of Saints that they were literal descendants of Israel, with detailed proofs that the not-so-lost ten tribes had settled either Northern Europe or Great Britain taken directly from the prominent British-Israel works. Anderson, in God’s Covenant Race, From Patriarchal Times to the Present, a 1937 book published by the Deseret News Press, even claimed (incorrectly) Mormon credit for starting the British-Israel Movement through the church’s 1830s missionary work in England (154-155). The 1938 and later editions of the book included an appendix with 127 pages of articles copied verbatim from the “Anglo-Israel Federation” magazine Destiny.

-- British Israelism, by Stirling, Common Consent

During its heyday in the early 20th century, British Israelism was also supported by John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher. A prolific author on British Israelism during the later 1930s and 40s was Alexander James Ferris.

Contemporary movement

The BIWF continues to exist, with its main headquarters located in Bishop Auckland in County Durham.[14] It also has chapters in Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand and South Africa.[15]

In 1968, one source estimated that there were between 3,000 and 5,000 British Israelites in Britain.[16] There, the theology of British Israelism has been taught by a few small Pentecostal churches. The espousal of British Israelism by George Jeffreys, founder of the Elim Pentecostal Church, led to a schism, precipitating his 1939 resignation and the formation of the Bible-Pattern Church Fellowship,[17] which continues to teach the doctrine.[18]

Herbert Armstrong

The teaching of British Israelism was vigorously promoted beginning in the 1960s by Herbert W. Armstrong,[7]:57 founder and former Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God. Armstrong believed that the teaching was a key to understanding biblical prophecy: "One might ask, were not biblical prophecies closed and sealed? Indeed they were—until now! And even now they can be understood only by those who possess the master key to unlock them."[19] Armstrong believed that he was called by God to proclaim the prophecies to the Lost Tribes of Israel before the "end-times".[20] Armstrong's belief caused his separation from the Church of God Seventh Day because of its refusal to adopt the teaching.

Armstrong created his own church, first called the "Radio Church of God" and later renamed the "Worldwide Church of God".[20] He described British Israelism as a "central plank" of his theology.[21]

After Armstrong's death, his former church abandoned its belief in British Israelism and changed its name to Grace Communion International (GCI) in 2009. It offers an explanation for the doctrine's origin and its abandonment by the church at its official website.[20] Church members who disagreed with such doctrinal changes left the Worldwide Church of God/GCI to form offshoot churches. Many of these organizations still teach British Israelism, including the Philadelphia Church of God, the Living Church of God, and the United Church of God. Armstrong promoted other genealogical history theories, such as teaching the belief that modern-day Germany represents ancient Assyria, writing "The Assyrians settled in central Europe, and the Germans, undoubtedly, are, in part, the descendants of the ancient Assyrians.".[22]

Tenets

All Israelites Are Not Jews

Adherents believe the Twelve Tribes of Israel are the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob (who was later named Israel). Jacob elevated the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph) to the status of full tribes in their own right, replacing the tribe of Joseph. A division occurred among the twelve tribes in the days of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, with the three tribes of Judah, Benjamin and partially Levi, forming the Kingdom of Judah, and the remaining ten tribes forming the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria).[23] Thus, they argue, "the great bulk of Israelites are not the Jews".[24]:71 [25][26] W. E. Filmer, writing in 1964, suggested that the fact that some Jews continue to search for the ten lost tribes implies that their representatives are not found among modern, historically multi-ethnic, Jews.[27] A number of British-Israelites quote Josephus to support their claim that the lost tribes of Israel are not the Jews: "the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude."[28][24]:247[29][30]

British descend from the Lost Tribes


Jehu kneeling at the feet of Shalmaneser III on the Black Obelisk.

The key component of British Israelism is its representation of the migrations of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Adherents suggested that the Scythians, Cimmerians and Goths were representatives of these lost tribes, and progenitors of the later invaders of Britain.[31][32]:26–27 John Wilson would argue for the inclusion of all Western European Gothic peoples among the descendants of the Israelites, but under the later influence of Edward Hine the movement would come to view only the peoples of the British Isles as having this ancestry.[10]:209

Herodotus reported that the ancient Persians called all the Scythians Sacae, but that they called themselves Scoloti. However, a modern comparison among the forms given in other ancient languages suggests Skuda was their name.[33] Ancient writers, such as Josephus and Jerome would associate the Scythians with the peoples of Gog and Magog,[34] but British Israelist etymologists would see in Sacae a name derived from the biblical "Isaac",[24]:294–295 claiming that the appearance of the Scythians where they claimed the Lost Tribes were last documented also supported a connection.[11] Further, British Israelists find support in the superficial resemblance between King Jehu's pointed headdress and that of the captive Saka king seen to the far right on the Behistun Rock.[35] The chain of etymological identification leading from Isaac to the Sacae was continued to the Saxons (interpreted as Sac's sons - the sons of Isaac),[24]:294–295[32]:21[36]:121 who are portrayed as invading England from Denmark, the 'land of the Tribe of Dan'.[11] They saw the same tribal name, left by the wanderers, in the Dardanelles, the Danube, Macedonia, Dunkirk, Dunglow in Ireland, Dundee in Scotland, and London,[37][38][39] and ascribed to this lost tribe the mythical Irish Tuatha Dé Danann.[11]


The 'Tyninghame' copy of the Declaration from 1320 AD

Bede (died 735) had linked the Picts to the Scythians, but British Israelists suggested that he had confused the two tribes of Scotland, and that it was the Scotti (Scots) who were one with the Scoloti (Scyths) of Herodotus.[40] They drew particular support from the derivation of the Scots from the Scythians found in the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath,[24]:262 reflecting a tradition related in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum that the Scots descended from the union of a Scythian exile with Scota, daughter of a Pharaoh, a tale found in some form in several other early-14th-century historical and poetic sources.[41] The Declaration begins:

"Most Holy Father and Lord, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients we find that among other famous nations our own, the Scots, has been graced with widespread renown. They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however barbarous. Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today."[42]

British-Israel Associations cite the Declaration as evidence for the link between the Scots and the Scythians, and hence the Lost Tribes,[43] as had been proposed by the early British Israelist etymologists.[24]:285–296

Other Celtic invaders would be given an analogous descent. In the Welsh (Cymry) the British Israelists would see a direct connection through the Cimbri to the Cimmerians, the Gimirri of Assyrian annals,[44]:57 a name sometimes also given by the ancient Babylonians to the Scythians and Saka.[45] Perceived similarity between this and the name by which the Assyrian annals referred to Israel, Beth Khumbree, would lead the British Israelists to claim that the Welsh too were members of the Lost Tribes.[44]:57

According to the Anglo-Israelists, these claimed connections would make the British the literal descendants of the Lost Tribes, and thus inheritors of the promises made to the Israelites in the Old Testament.[46]

Some adherents further claim that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David. Citing the Book of Jeremiah, they claim that the daughters of Zedekiah fled to Egypt, then 'the isles' in the sea, which they interpret as Ireland. The descendants of these princesses are said to have crossed to England where they became ancestors of the monarchs.[47] The Stone of Scone, used in coronations of Scottish, English and British monarchs for centuries, is claimed to be none other than the pillow stone used by biblical patriarch, Jacob.[1]

Britain and the United States are the inheritors of Jacob’s birthright

A commonly found British-Israel doctrine is that the Tribe of Ephraim and the Tribe of Manasseh can be identified as modern day Britain and the United States of America.[48][49][50] British-Israel adherents cite numerous theological, semiotics, archaeological, and ethnological resources as proofs.

Part of the foundation of the British-Israel doctrine is the theological claim that particular blessings were bestowed upon three of the tribes of Israel,[51][52][50][24]:317 in that the tribe of Judah was to be the 'chief ruler' e.g. King David, and that Ephraim was to receive the birthright (See Jacob and Esau). Adherents believe that these blessings have continued down through the ages to modern times, with the British Monarchy identified as the continued blessing upon Judah, and both Britain (Ephraim) and the USA (Manasseh) as recipients of the national birthright blessing. They cite passages such as 1 Chron 5:1-2 and Gen 48:19-20 as supporting this.

Relation to Christian Identity

Early British Israelites such as Edward Hine and John Wilson were philo-semites.[53][32]:33 British Israelism itself had several Jewish members and it received support from rabbis throughout the 19th century. Within British politics, the movement supported Benjamin Disraeli, who was descended from Sephardi Jews,[32]:13–19[54] while they also favoured Theodor Herzl in his advocacy of Zionism.[53]

That Chamberlain is a strong Anti-Semite adds to the value of the testimony which he bears to the nobility of the Sephardim, the intensely aristocratic Jews of Spain and Portugal, the descendants of the men whom the Romans, dreading their influence, deported westward. "That is nobility in the fullest sense of the word, genuine nobility of race! Beautiful forms, noble heads, dignity in speech and in deportment."

-- The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, by Houston Stewart Chamberlain

Still, below the surface there had existed an anti-semitic strain such as in the scientific racialism that led Wilson to deny the 'racial purity' of modern Jews, leading to the view more broadly within the movement that modern Jews were 'un-Semitic impostors'.[10]:206–210 Some American adherents of British Israelism would adopt a racialized, strongly anti-Semitic theology that became known as Christian Identity,[55]:xii which has at its core the belief that non-Caucasian people have no souls and therefore cannot be saved.[32]:68 Emerging in the 1920s, Christian Identity began teaching that the Jews are not descended from the tribe of Judah (as British Israelites maintain) at all, but are instead descended from Satan & Lilith or from Edomite-Khazars.[55]:62–97

The Original Semites were the fifth and most important of the seven Atlantean Races, because in them we find the first germ of the corrective quality of Thought. Therefore the Original Semitic Race become the "seed race" for the seven races of the present Aryan Epoch....

Under the guidance of a great Entity, the Original Semitic Race was led eastward from the continent of Atlantis, over Europe, to the great waste in Central Asia which is known as the Gobi Desert. There it prepared them to be the seed of the seven Races of the Aryan Epoch, imbuing them potentially with the qualities to be evolved by their descendants....now his thoughts were to be turned from the visible Leaders, the Lords from Venus, whom he worshiped as messengers from the gods -- to the idea of the true God, the invisible Creator of the System. Man was to learn to worship and obey the commands of a God he could not see....

The Original Semites ... were taught to worship an invisible God and to expect to be rewarded by material benefits, or punished by painful afflictions....

To transmute Cunning into Reason proved no easy task. The earlier changes in man's nature had been easily brought about. He could then be led without difficulty because he had no conscious desire, nor mind to guide him, but by the time of the Original Semites he had become cunning enough to resent limitations of his liberty and to circumvent repeatedly the measures taken to hold him in line. The task of guiding him was all the more difficult because it was necessary he should have some liberty of choice, that he might in time learn self-government. Therefore a law was enacted which decreed immediate rewards for obedience and instant punishment for disregard of its provisions. Thus was man taught, coaxed and coerced into reasoning in a limited manner that "the way of the transgressor is hard," and that he must "fear God," or the Leader who guided him.

Out of all who were chosen as "seed" for the new Race, few remained faithful. Most of them were rebellious and, so far as they were concerned, entirely frustrated the purpose of the Leader by intermarrying with the other Atlantean Races, thus bringing inferior blood into their descendants. That is what is meant in the Bible where the fact is recorded that the sons of God married the daughters of men. For that act of disobedience were they abandoned and "lost." ...

The rebellious ones who were abandoned are the Jews, of whom the great majority are still governed more by the Atlantean faculty of Cunning than by Reason. In them the race-feeling is so strong that they distinguish only two classes of people: Jews and Gentiles. They despise the other nations and are in turn despised by them for their cunning, selfishness and avarice....

Races are but an evanescent feature of evolution. Before the end of the Lemurian Epoch there was a "chosen people," different from the ordinary humanity of that time, who became the ancestors of the Atlantean Races. From the fifth race of those, another "chosen people" was drawn, from which the Aryan Races descended, of which there have been five and will be two more....

[E]xtra care must be taken that as few of the spirits as possible become enmeshed in the fetters of Race. This is exactly what happened to the spirits reborn in the Jewish Race-bodies. They attached themselves so firmly to the Race that they are drawn back into it in successive births. "Once a Jew, always a Jew" is their slogan. They have entirely forgotten their spiritual nature and glory in the material fact of being "Abraham's seed." Therefore they are neither "fish nor flesh." They have no part in the advancing Aryan Race and yet they are beyond those remnants of the Lemurian and Atlantean peoples which are still with us. They have become a people without a country, an anomaly among mankind. ...

The Original Semites were set apart and forbidden to marry into other tribes or peoples, but they were a stiff-necked and hard people, being yet led almost exclusively by desire and cunning, therefore they disobeyed the command. Their Bible records that the sons of God married the daughters of man -- the lower grades of their Atlantean compatriots. They thus frustrated the designs of Jehovah and were cast off, the fruit of such cross-breeding being useless as seed for the coming Race.

These cross-breeds were the progenitors of the present Jews, who now speak of "lost tribes." They know that some of the original number left them and went another way, but they do not know that those were the few who remained true. The story of the ten tribes being lost is a fable. Most of them perished, but the faithful ones survived, and from that faithful remnant have descended the present Aryan Races.

-- The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception: An Elementary Treatise Upon Man's Past Evolution, Present Constitution and Future Development, by Max Heindel

In contrast to the new, growing, Anglo-Saxon race, look, for instance, at the Sephardim, the so-called "Spanish Jews"; here we find how a genuine race can by purity keep itself noble for centuries and tens of centuries, but at the same time how very necessary it is to distinguish between the nobly reared portions of a nation and the rest. In England, Holland and Italy there are still genuine Sephardim but very few, since they can scarcely any longer avoid crossing with the Ashkenazim (the so-called "German Jews"). Thus, for example, the Montefiores of the present generation have all without exception married German Jewesses. But every one who has travelled in the East of Europe, where the genuine Sephardim still as far as possible avoid all intercourse with German Jews, for whom they have an almost comical repugnance, will agree with me when I say that it is only when one sees these men and has intercourse with them that one begins to comprehend the significance of Judaism in the history of the word. This is nobility in the fullest sense of the word, genuine nobility of race! Beautiful figures, noble heads, dignity in speech and bearing.

-- The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, by Houston Stewart Chamberlain

Gobineau's [unlike Chamberlain's] was an honest Antisemitism, it was, like Nietzsche's, an historical Antisemitism: it had nothing whatever to do with modern Antisemitism, that movement born from fear, envy, and impotence ... [ I]t is an upright, a genuine, a gentlemanly Antisemitism, it is the Antisemitism of the aristocrat, who sees his very blood threatened by revolutionary religions.

-- Oscar Levy, from "Breeding Superman: Nietzsche, Race and Eugenics in Edwardian and Interwar Britain", by Dan Stone

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes the emergence of Christian Identity from British Israelism as an 'ugly turn':

Once on American shores, British-Israelism began to evolve. Originally, believers viewed contemporary Jews as descendants of those ancient Israelites who had never been "lost." They might be seen critically but, given their significant role in the British-Israel genealogical scheme, not usually with animosity. By the 1930s, however, in the U.S., a strain of antisemitism started to permeate the movement (though some maintained traditional beliefs—and a small number of traditionalists still exist in the U.S.)[56]

Another source describes the emergence of Christian Identity from British Israelism as a paradoxical "remarkable transition" from their philo-semitic origins to antisemitism and racism.[32]:13 Their adoption of the British Israelist belief that the Israelite-derived Anglo-Saxons had been favored by God over the 'impure' modern Jews meant that a reluctantly anti-Semitic Klansman "could now maintain his anti-Semitism and at the same time revere a Bible cleansed of its Jewish taint."[57]

Claims and criticism

British Israelism has been criticized for poor research and scholarship. The Encyclopedia Britannica summarises in 1910 that: "The theory [of British-Israelism] rests on premises which are deemed by scholars - both theological and anthropological - to be utterly unsound".[58] Current scholarship is not consistent with the claims of British Israelism, with scholars drawing attention to its "historical and linguistic inaccuracies" in addition to its links to antisemitism.[1] Hale (2015) refers to "the overwhelming cultural, historical and genetic evidence against it."[59]:181

Research standards

Critics of British Israelism note that the arguments presented by promoters of the teaching are based on unsubstantiated and highly speculative amateur research. Tudor Parfitt, author of The Lost Tribes: The History of a Myth, states that the proof cited by adherents of British Israelism is "of a feeble composition even by the low standards of the genre."[7]:61

Historical linguistics

Some proponents of British Israelism have claimed numerous links in historical linguistics between ancient Hebrew and various European place names and languages.[7]:62 This can be traced to the works of John Wilson in the 19th century. Wilson, who was self-trained, looked for similarities in the sounds of words and argued that many Scottish, British and Irish words stemmed from ancient Hebrew. Wilson's publications inspired the development of British Israel language associations in Europe.[32]:33

Modern scholarly linguistic analysis shows conclusively that the languages of the British Isles (English, Welsh, and Gaelic) belong to the Indo-European language family, while Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family.[60] In 1906, T. R. Lounsbury stated that “no trace of the slightest real connection can be discovered” between English and ancient Hebrew,[61] while Michael Friedman in 1993 wrote of the claims that Hebrew was closely related to Celtic and Anglo-Saxon that "the actual evidence could hardly be any weaker".[32]:33

Others have addressed the specific word relationships proposed. Russell Spittler (1973) says of the "disputable" etymological claims made by the British Israelists that they "have no ample basis in linguistic scholarship and are based on coincidences only."[38] William Ingram (1995) would present arguments made by British Israelism as examples of "tortured etymology".[36]:121

Scriptural interpretation

Adherents of British Israelism cite various scriptures in support of the argument that the "lost" Northern Israelite Tribes migrated through Europe to end up in Britain. Dimont (1933) argues that British Israelists misunderstand and misinterpret the meaning of these scriptures.[62]:5–7

One such case is the distinction that British Israelists make between the “Jews” of the Southern Kingdom and the “Israelites” of the Northern Kingdom. They believe that the Bible consistently distinguishes the two groups. Dimont says that many of these scriptures are misinterpreted because the distinction between “Jews” and “Israelites” was lost over time after the captivities.

British Israelists believe that the Northern Tribes of Israel lost their identity after the captivity in Assyria and that this is reflected in the Bible. Dimont disagrees with this assertion and argues that only higher ranking Israelites were deported from Israel and many Israelites remained.[62]:5 He cites examples after the Assyrian captivity, such as Josiah, King of Judah, who received money from the tribes of “Manasseh, and Ephraim and all the remnant of Israel” (2 Chronicles 34:9), and Hezekiah, who sent invitations not only to Judah, but also to northern Israel for the attendance of a Passover in Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 30);[62]:6 British Israelites interpret 2 Chronicles 34:9 as referring to "Scythians".

Dimont is also critical of the interpretations of biblical prophecy embraced by the movement, saying, "Texts are torn from their context, and misapplied without the slightest regard to their original meaning."[62]:18

Historical speculation

British Israelism rests on linking different ancient populations. This includes linking the "lost" tribes of Israel with the Scythians, Cimmerians, Celts, and modern Western Europeans such as the British. To support these links, some adherents believe that similarities exist between various cultural aspects of these population groups, and they argue that these links demonstrate the migration of the "lost" Israelites in a westerly direction. Examples given include burial customs, metalwork, clothing, dietary customs, and more.[63] Dimont argues that the customs of the Scythians and the Cimmerians are in contrast with those of the Ancient Israelites,[62]:7–10 and he further dismisses the connection between these populations and the Saxons and Celts, particularly criticing then-current formulations of British Israelism that would interject Semites between the closely related English and Germans.[62]:10–11

The Scythian origin of the Scots has been referred to as mythical.[64][65] Algernon Herbert, writing in 1848, characterized the linguistic derivation of Scots from Scoloti as "strictly impossible",[64] and Merrill (2005) referred to it as false etymology.[40]

Addressing their view on the fate of the exiled tribes, Frank Boys would refer to their volumous output, "All the effort to write these volumes might well have been saved on the premise that 'they were never lost,' which we believe to be the correct one."[38]

Ideology

Parfitt suggests that the idea of British Israelism was inspired by numerous ideological factors, such as the desire for ordinary people to have a glorious ancestral past, pride in the British Empire, and the belief in the "racial superiority of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants",[7]:62 and Aikau characterized the movement as "fundamentally about providing a rationale for Anglo-Saxon superiority."[66] To Kidd, its theology represents a "quasi-heresy", serving to "blunt the universalist message apparent in the New Testament".[10]:204 Its role in fostering anti-semitism in conservative Protestant Christianity has been highlighted,[44]:57 as has a "racial chauvinism" that is "not always covert".[36]:121–122

Separately, the mythology of British Israelism has been cited as fostering "nationalistic bellicosity".[67] To some adherents, British Israelism served as a justification for British colonialism and imperialism, and perhaps even genocide, while also feeding American Manifest Destiny.[10]:212–213

Notable adherents


Poole, WH, Anglo-Israel

• Richard Brothers (1757–1824), early believer and teacher/promoter of this teaching
• John Wilson (1799–1870) published a series of his lectures in a book, Our Israelitish Origin (1840)
• Archbishop William Bennett Bond (1815–1906), Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada
• Charles Piazzi Smyth(1819–1900), pyramidologist and Astronomer Royal for Scotland
• William H. Poole (1820–1896), Methodist minister, known for his book Anglo-Israel, or the British Nation the Lost Tribes of Israel (1889)
• Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910), founder of Christian Science[68][69]
• Edward Wheeler Bird (1823–1903), Anglo-Indian judge and British-Israel author
• Edward Hine (1825–1891), artist, historian, author of Forty-Seven Identifications of the British Nation with the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel
• John Cox Gawler (1830–1882) was a Keeper of the Jewel House and a British Israelite author.
• Elieser Bassin (1840–1898), a Russian-Jewish convert to Christianity
• John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (1841–1920), Admiral of the Fleet
• Richard Reader Harris (KC) (1847–1909), founder of the Pentecostal League of Prayer movement in London
• John Harden Allen (1847–1930), an American Holiness minister, wrote Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright
• C. A. L. Totten (1851–1908), Professor of Military Tactics at Yale University, wrote countless articles and books advocating British Israelism, including a 26-volume series entitled Our Race
• Charles Fox Parham (1873–1929), American preacher, instrumental in the formation of Pentecostalism
• William Comyns Beaumont (1873–1956), British journalist, author, and lecturer
• William Aberhart (1878–1943), a Social Credit premier of Albertafrom 1935 to 1943
• Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (1883–1981), a patron of the British-Israel-World Federation
• David Davidson (1884–1956), Scottish structural engineer and pyramidologist
• George Jeffreys (1889–1962), Welsh minister and evangelist who founded the Elim Pentecostal Church[17]
• Herbert W. Armstrong (1892–1986), American founder of the Worldwide Church of God
• Boake Carter (1903–1944), British-educated American radio news commentator
• Patience Strong (1907–1990), poet[9]
• Alexander James Ferris, a prolific author on British Israelism.
• Garner Ted Armstrong (1930–2003), Church of God International (United States)
• Robert Bradford (1941–1981), Methodist minister and Ulster Unionist politician
• Alan Campbell (1949-2017), former Pentecostal pastor from Northern Ireland
• Nelson McCausland (born 1951), Democratic Unionist politician[70]

See also

• And did those feet in ancient time, the poem written by William Blake which is popularly known as "Jerusalem"
• Armstrongism
• Destiny Publishers
• Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites
• House of Joseph (LDS Church) [Mormons]
• Supersessionism
• Two House theology

References

1. Brackney, William H. Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity. Scarecrow Press. pp. 61–62. ISBN 9780810873650. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
2. Eller, Jack David (2007). Introducing Anthropology of Religion: Culture to the Ultimate. p. 291. ISBN 1138024910.
3. Melton, J. Gordon (2005). Encyclopedia of Protestantism. New York: Facts on File, Inc. p. 107. ISBN 0-8160-5456-8.
4. Cross, Frank Leslie; Livingstone, Elizabeth A. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192802903.
5. Shapiro, Faydra L. (2015). Christian Zionism: Navigating the Jewish-Christian Border. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books. p. 151.
6. Fine, Jonathan (2015). Political Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: From Holy War to Modern Terror. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442247567. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
7. Parfitt, Tudor (2003). The lost tribes of Israel : the history of a myth (1st pbk. ed., 2nd impression. ed.). London: Phoenix. ISBN 978-1842126653.
8. Wilson, J. (March 1968). "British Israelism". The Sociological Review. 16 (1): 41–57. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.1968.tb01291.x.
9. Strong, Patience (1986). Someone had to say it. Bachman & Turner, London. ISBN 978-0859741323.
10. Kidd, Colin (2006). The forging of races : race and scripture in the Protestant Atlantic world, 1600-2000 (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge [etc.]: Cambridge university press. ISBN 978-0521797290.
11. Jacobs, Joseph (1901). "Anglo-Israelism". In Singer, Isidore. Jewish Encyclopedia: Anglo-Israelism. New York: Funk and Wagnalls. p. 600. ASIN B01K2CBAKE. ISBN 978-1117918952.
12. Indy media, IE.
13. Moshenska, G. (2008). 'The Bible in Stone': Pyramids, Lost Tribes and Alternative Archaeologies". Public Archaeology. 7(1): 5–16.
14. "Contact Us". The British-Israel-World Federation. The British-Israel-World Federation. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
15. "Other British-Israel Organisations". The British-Israel-World Federation. The British-Israel-World Federation. Retrieved 24 August2015.
16. Wilson, J. (1 January 1968). "British Israelism: A Revitalization Movement in Contemporary Culture" (PDF). Archives de sociologie des religions. 13 (26): 73–80.
17. Anderson, Allan Heaton (2014). An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 101–102.
18. Wilson, B. R. (1973). "American Religion: Its Impact on Britain". In den Hollander, A. N. J. Contagious Conflict: The Impact of American Dissent on European Life. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 244.
19. Armstrong, Herbert (1967). The United States and Britain in Prophecy. p. 5.
20. Orr, R (1999), How Anglo-Israelism Entered Seventh-day Churches of God: A history of the doctrine from John Wilson to Joseph W. Tkach, retrieved July 19, 2007.
21. Joseph Tkach, "Transformed by Truth: The Worldwide Church of God Rejects the Teachings of Founder Herbert W Armstrong and Embraces Historic Christianity. This is the Inside Story"
22. Armstrong, Herbert (1985). Mystery of the Ages. p. 183.
23. Encyclopedia Britannica (11th ed.). p. vol. 15, p. 373.
24. Allen, J.H. (1917). Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright (16 ed.). Haverhill, MA: Destiny Publishers.
25. Harmsworth’s History Volume 3. pp. 1781–1782, 1784–1785.
26. "The DNA of Western European Nations". British Israel Basics. Canadian British-Israel Association.
27. Filmer, W. E. (1964). A Synopsis of the Migrations of Israel. Covenant Books. p. 5. ISBN 0852050615.
28. Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities. p. 11:133.
29. "British-Israel Answers its Critics". The British-Israel Church of God.
30. Poole, William Henry (1879). Anglo-Israel; Or, The British Nation the Lost Tribes of Israel. Bengough Bros. p. 23. ISBN 1330950690.
31. Chryssides, George D. (2012). Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements. Lanham: The Scarecros Press, Inc. p. 65.
32. Quarles, Chester L (2004). Christian Identity: The Aryan American Bloodline Religion. McFarland & co. ISBN 978-0-78641892-3.
33. Strassler, Robert (2009). The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories. New York: Anchor Books. p. 759.
34. van Donzel, Emiri; Schmidt, Andrea (2009). Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall. Leiden: Brill. pp. 10–13.
35. Capt, E. Raymond (1985), Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets, Artisan, ISBN 0-934666-15-6.
36. Ingram, William L. (1995). "God and Race: British-Israelism and Christian Identity". In Miller, Thomas. America's Alternative Religions. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. pp. 119–126.
37. Kelly, Aidan A. (1990). The Evangelical Christian Anti-Cult Movement: Christian Counter-Cult Literature. New York: Garland Publishing. p. 86.
38. Spittler, Russell P. (1963). Cults and isms: twenty alternatives to evangelical Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House Company. p. 101.
39. Friedman, O. Michael (1993). Origins of the British Israelites: The Lost Tribes. San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press. p. 62.
40. Merrill, A. H. (2005). History and Geography in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 284–5.
41. Broun, Dauvit (1999). The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Woodbridge, England: Boydell Press. pp. 78–79,119–122.
42. "Declaration of Arbroath - English Translation". Constitution Society.
43. For example, Davidy, Yair (1996). "Lost Israelite Identity": The Hebraic Ancestry of Celtic Races. Brit-Am. pp. 240–242., Ogwyn, John H. The United States and Britain in Prophecy. pp. 27–28.
44. Pierard, Richard V. (1996). "The Contribution of British-Israelism to anti-Semitism within conservative Protestantism". In Locke, Hubert G.; Littell, Marcia Sachs. Holocaust and church struggle: religion, power and the politics of resistance. University Press of America. pp. 44–68.
45. Gershevych, Ilya (1985). The Cambridge History of Iran, volume 2: The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 94.
46. Katz, David S. (2001). "Israel in America: The Wanderings of Lost Ten Tribes from Mikveigh Yisrael to Timothy McVeigh". In Bernardini, Paolo; Fiering, Norman. The Jews and the Expansion of Europe to the West, 1450 to 1800. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 112.
47. Hexham, Irving (2001). "British Israelism". In Elwell, Walter A. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (2 ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House Company. p. 187.
48. Ferris, A. J. (1941). Great Britain & The U.S.A. Revealed as Israel The New Order.
49. Glover, Frederick Robert Augustus (1881). England, the Remnant of Judah and the Israel of Ephraim. Rivingtons.
50. Armstrong, Herbert W. (2007). The United States and Britain in Prophecy. Philadelphia Church of God. ASIN B002ILY91A.
51. Wild, Joseph (1888). The Future of Israel and Judah: Being the Discourses on the Lost Tribes from How and when the World Will End. Nabu Press. p. 108. ISBN 9781287712565.
52. The Standard of Israel and journal of the Anglo-Israel association. 1875. p. 8.
53. Gardell, Mattias (2003). Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. p. 372.
54. Life From The Dead, 1875, Vol. III, p. 154.
55. Barkun, Michael (2003). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469611112.
56. "Christian Identity". Anti-Defamation League.
57. Phillips, Michael (2006). White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841-2001. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 95.
58. The Encyclopedia Britannica. 11th edn. 1910. Vol.II, page 31.
59. Hale, Amy (2016). "Reigning with Swords of Meteoric Iron: Archangel Michael and the British New Jerusalem". In Parker, Joanne. The Harp and the Constitution: Myths of Celtic and Gothic Origin. Brill Academic Pub. ISBN 9789004306370.
60. Warf, Barney (2006). "Language, Geography of". Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Thousand Oaks CA: SAGE Publications. pp. 270–275.
61. Lounsbury, T (1906). History of the English Language. pp. 1, 12–13.
62. Dimont, Charles T. (1933). The legend of British-Israel. London: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge.
63. "The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy". UCG. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
64. Todd, James Henthorn (1848). "Editor's Preface". The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius. Dublin: Irish Archæological Society. p. xcvii.
65. Klieforth, Alexander Leslie; Munro, Robert John (2004). The Scottish invention of America, Democracy and Human Rights: A History of Liberty and Freedom from the Ancient Celts to the New Millennium. Dallas: University Press of America, Inc. p. 5. ISBN 978-0761827917.
66. Aikau, Hokulani K. (2012). A Chosen People, a Promised Land: Mormonism and Race in Hawai'i. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-8166-7462-6.
67. Pearse, Meic (2007). The Gods of War: Is Religion the Primary cause of Violent Conflict?. InterVarsity Press. pp. 104–105. ISBN 978-0830834907.
68. Eddy, Mary Baker, The United States and Great Britain as Anglo Israel (poem), Read book online, archived from the original on 2011-05-13.
69. Gottschalk, Stephen (1978). Christian Science. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520037182.
70. McDonald, Henry (26 May 2010). "Northern Ireland minister calls on Ulster Museum to promote creationism". The Guardian.

Further reading

• Baron, David (1915), The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes: Anglo-Israelism Examined.
• Darms, Anton (1945). The Delusion of British Israelism: A comprehensive Treatise. Loiseaux Brothers, Bible Truth Depot. ASIN B01NBNXA8N.
• Jowett, George F (1980) [1961]. The Drama of the Lost Disciples. London: Covenant Publishing Company Ltd.ASIN B003VP662W.. A work of theoretical history which covers many relevant themes of Biblical and British connections.
• Kellogg, Howard, British-Israel Identity, Los Angeles: American Prophetic League.
• Kossy, Donna (2001) [1994], "The Anglo-Israelites", Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief (2nd exp. ed.), Los Angeles: Feral House, ISBN 978-0-922915-67-5.
• May, HG (16 September 1943), "The Ten Lost Tribes", Biblical Archaeologist, 16: 55–60.
• McQuaid, Elwood (Dec./Jan. 1977–78), "Who Is a Jew? British-Israelism versus the Bible", Israel My Glory: 35.
• Michell, John (1999). "Jews, Britons and the Lost Tribes of Israel". Eccentric lives and peculiar notions : with 56 illustrations(Paperback/electronic ed.). Kempton, Ill.: Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN 978-0932813671.
• Reisenauer, Eric Michael (September 2008). "Anti-Jewish Philosemitism: British and Hebrew Affinity and Nineteenth Century British Antisemitism". British Scholar. 1 (1): 79–104. doi:10.3366/brs.2008.0006.
• Wilson, John (1 January 1968). "The Relation between Ideology and Organization in a Small Religious Group: The British Israelites". Review of Religious Research. 10 (1): 51–60. doi:10.2307/3510673.

External links

• Brit Am Israel
• British-Israel basics
• Christian, Messianic, and Jewish research on the Ten Lost Tribes
• Literature on the Lost Tribes of Israel from Destiny Publishers
• Menassah ben Israel, The Hope of Israel (London, 1650, English translation), scanned text online at Oliver's Bookshelf
• Robinson, BA, Anglo-Israelism and British Israelism, Religious Tolerance.
• "Anglo-Israelism", Jewish Encyclopedia.

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Christian Identity
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Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity[1]) is a racist, anti-Semitic, and white supremacist interpretation of Christianity which holds that only Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Nordic, Aryan people and those of kindred blood are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and hence the descendants of the ancient Israelites (primarily as a result of the Assyrian captivity).

Christian Identity is not an organized religion, and is not connected with specific Christian denominations; instead, it is independently practiced by individuals, independent congregations and some prison gangs.[2]

The [Dearborn Independent] paper reached a circulation of 900,000 by 1925, second only to the New York Daily News.

-- The Dearborn Independent, by Wikipedia

Its theology promotes a racial interpretation of Christianity.[3][4] Christian Identity beliefs were primarily developed and promoted by two authors who regarded Europeans as the "chosen people" and Jews as the cursed offspring of Cain, the "serpent hybrid" or serpent seed (a belief known as the two-seedline doctrine). White supremacist sects and gangs later adopted many of these teachings.

Christian Identity holds that all non-whites (people not of wholly European descent) on the planet will either be exterminated or enslaved in order to serve the White race in the new Heavenly Kingdom on Earth under the reign of Jesus Christ. Its doctrine states that only "Adamic" (white people) can achieve salvation and paradise. Many adherents are Millennialist.

Adherents of Christian Identity refer to non-whites as "mamzers" or "tares".

Tenets

Rather than being an organized religion, Christian Identity ("CI") is adhered to by individuals, independent congregations and some prison gangs[5] with a white supremacist theology[6][7] that promotes a racial interpretation of Christianity. Christian Identity beliefs were primarily developed and promoted by two authors who considered Europeans to be the chosen people and Jews to be the cursed offspring of Cain, the "serpent hybrid" (or Serpent seed) (a belief known as the two-seedline doctrine). An early Christian Identity teacher, Wesley A. Swift (1913–1970), formulated the doctrine that non-Caucasian peoples have no souls and therefore can never earn God's favor or be saved.[8][9] The theology was promoted by George Lincoln Rockwell (1918 – 1967), the founder of the American Nazi Party.

No single document expresses the Christian Identity belief system; there is much disagreement over the doctrines being taught by those ascribing to CI beliefs, since there is no central organization or headquarters for the CI sect. However, all CI adherents believe that Adam and his offspring were exclusively White and that the other pre-Adamite races are separate species, which cannot be either equated with or derived from the Adamites.[10] CI adherents cite passages from the Old Testament, including Ezra 9:2, 12 and Nehemiah 13:27, which they claim contain injunctions by Yahweh against interracial marriages. Christian Identity believers reject the doctrines of most contemporary Christian denominations[11] and they believe that the doctrine which advocates the view that God's promises to Israel (through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) have been expanded to create a spiritual people of "Israel", i.e., the Christian Church, is heresy.[12]

The Christian Identity movement first received widespread attention from the mainstream media in 1984, when the white nationalist organization known as The Order embarked on a murderous crime spree before it was suppressed by the FBI. Tax resister and militia movement organizer Gordon Kahl, whose death in a 1983 shootout with federal authorities helped inspire The Order, also had connections to the Christian Identity movement.[13][14] The movement returned to public attention in 1992 and 1993, in the wake of the deadly Ruby Ridge confrontation, when newspapers discovered that former Green Beret and right-wing separatist Randy Weaver had at least a loose association with Christian Identity believers.[15]

These groups are estimated to have two thousand members in the United States[16] and an unknown number in Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth. Due to the promotion of Christian Identity doctrines through radio and later through the Internet, an additional fifty unaffiliated individuals are thought to hold Christian Identity beliefs.[16] The primary spread of Christian Identity teachings is believed to be through white supremacist prison gangs.[17]

Origins

The Christian Identity movement emerged in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s as an offshoot sect of British Israelism.[18][19] The idea that "lower races" are mentioned in the Bible (in contrast to Aryans) was posited in the 1905 book Theozoology; or The Science of the Sodomite Apelings and the Divine Electron by Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, a volkisch writer seen by many historians as a major influence on Nazism. Adolf Hitler, however, did not subscribe to the belief that the Israelites of the Bible were Aryans; in a speech he gave in Munich in 1920 titled "Why We Are Anti-Semites", he referred to and disparaged Abraham as racially Jewish.[20]

--Is Hitler a Rosicrucian?, by Rosicrucian Editors

Relation to British Israelism

While early British Israelites such as Edward Hine and John Wilson were philo-semites, Christian Identity emerged in sharp contrast as a strongly antisemitic theology.[21]

That Chamberlain is a strong Anti-Semite adds to the value of the testimony which he bears to the nobility of the Sephardim, the intensely aristocratic Jews of Spain and Portugal, the descendants of the men whom the Romans, dreading their influence, deported westward. "That is nobility in the fullest sense of the word, genuine nobility of race! Beautiful forms, noble heads, dignity in speech and in deportment.... That out of the midst of such men prophets and psalmists should go forth, that I understood at the first glance -- something which I confess the closest observation of the many hundred 'Bochers' in the Friedrichstrasse in Berlin had failed to enable me to do."

-- The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, by Houston Stewart Chamberlain

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes the emergence of Christian Identity from British Israelism as an 'ugly turn':

Once on American shores, British-Israelism began to evolve. Originally, believers viewed contemporary Jews as descendants of those ancient Israelites who had never been "lost." They might be seen critically but, given their significant role in the British-Israel genealogical scheme, not usually with animosity. By the 1930s, however, in the U.S., a strain of antisemitism started to permeate the movement (though some maintained traditional beliefs—and a small number of traditionalists still exist in the U.S.)[19]

Another source describes the emergence of Christian Identity from British Israelism as a "remarkable transition", also noting that traditional British Israelites were advocates of philosemitism which paradoxically changed to antisemitism and racism under Christian Identity.[22] In fact, British Israelism itself had several Jewish members, and it received support from rabbis throughout the 19th century; within British politics it supported Benjamin Disraeli, who was descended from Sephardi Jews.[23][24] However, Christian Identity, which emerged in the 1920s, began to turn antisemitic by teaching the belief that the Jews are not descended from the tribe of Judah (as British Israelites maintain), but are instead descended from Satan or Edomite-Khazars.[25] The British Israel form of the belief held no antisemitic views; its followers instead held the view that Jews made up a minority of the tribes of Israel (Judah and Benjamin), with the British and other related Northern European peoples making up the remainder.

Early years

Christian Identity can be traced back to 1886 with the publication of the book, Lost Israel Found in the Anglo-Saxon Race, by E.P. Ingersoll.[26] This was followed in the 1920s by the writings of Howard Rand (1889–1991).[27][28]

Rand was a Massachusetts lawyer who obtained a law degree at the University of Maine. He was raised as a British Israelite, and his father introduced him to J. H. Allen's work Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright (1902)[29] at an early age.[30] While Rand's father was not an antisemite, nor was Rand in his early British Israelite years, Rand first added an antisemitic element to British Israelism in the 1920s. He claimed as early as 1924 that the Jews were not really descended from the tribe of Judah, but were instead the descendants of Esau or Canaanites.[31] However, Rand never claimed that modern Jews were descendants of Satan, or that they were in any way inferior; he just claimed that they were not the true lineal descendants of Judah.[32] For this reason Rand is considered a 'transitional' figure from British Israelism to Christian Identity, but not its actual founder.[33]

Rand is known as the first person to coin the term 'Christian Identity'.[34] Rand had set up the Anglo-Saxon Federation of America in 1933 which promoted his view that Jews were not descended from Judah; this marked the first key transition from British Israelism to Christian Identity. Beginning in May 1937, there were key meetings of British Israelites in the United States who were attracted to Rand's theory that the Jews were not descended from Judah. This provided the catalyst for the eventual emergence of Christian Identity. By the late 1930s the group considered Jews to be the offspring of Satan and demonised them, as they did non-Caucasian races.[35][36] William Dudley Pelley, founder of the clerical fascist Silver Shirts movement, also promoted an anti-semitic form of British Israelism in the early 1930s.[37] Links between Christian Identity and the Ku Klux Klan also emerged in the late 1930s, although the KKK was past the peak of its early 20th century revival.[38]

Key developers

Wesley Swift (1913–1970) is considered by the FBI to have been the most significant figure in the early years of the Christian Identity movement. Swift was born in New Jersey, and eventually moved to Los Angeles in order to attend Bible college. It is claimed that he may have been a "Ku Klux Klan organizer and a Klan rifle-team instructor."[39] In 1946, he founded his own church in Lancaster, California. In the 1950s, he was Gerald L. K. Smith's West Coast representative of the Christian Nationalist Crusade. In addition, he hosted a daily radio broadcast in California during the 1950s and 1960s, through which he was able to proclaim his ideology to a large audience. Due to Swift's efforts, the message of his church spread, leading to the creation of similar churches throughout the country.

In 1957, the name of his church was changed to The Church of Jesus Christ Christian, which is used today by Aryan Nations (AN) churches. One of Swift's associates was retired Col. William Potter Gale (1917–1988). Gale had previously been an aide to General Douglas MacArthur, and had coordinated guerrilla resistance in the Philippines during World War II. Gale became a leading figure in the anti-tax and paramilitary movements of the 1970s and 1980s, beginning with the California Rangers and the Posse Comitatus, and helping to found the militia movement. Numerous Christian Identity churches preach similar messages and some espouse more violent rhetoric than others, but all of them hold the belief that Aryans are God's chosen race. Gale introduced future Aryan Nations founder Richard Girnt Butler to Swift. Until then, Butler had admired George Lincoln Rockwell and Senator Joseph McCarthy, and had been relatively secular. Swift quickly converted him to Christian Identity. When Swift died, Butler took over the Church, to the apparent dismay of both Gale and Swift's families. Neither Butler nor Gale rivaled Swift as a dynamic orator, and attendance dwindled under the new pastor. Butler eventually renamed the organisation "The Church of Jesus Christ Christian/Aryan Nations" and moved it to Hayden Lake, Idaho.

Lesser figures participated as Christian Identity theology took shape in the 1940s and 1950s, such as San Jacinto Capt, a Baptist minister and California Klansman (who claimed that he had introduced Wesley Swift to Christian Identity); and Bertrand Comparet (1901–1983), one-time San Diego Deputy City Attorney (and lawyer for Gerald L. K. Smith). But for the most part, today's Christian Identity groups seem to have been generated by Wesley Swift, through his lieutenants William Potter Gale and Richard Butler.

Beliefs

Christian Identity asserts that the white people of Europe or Caucasians in general are God's servant people, according to the promises that were given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It further asserts that the early European tribes were really the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and therefore the rightful heirs to God's promises, and God's chosen people. Colin Kidd wrote that in America, Christian Identity exploited "the puzzle of the Ten Lost Tribes to justify an openly anti-Semitic and virulently racist agenda."[40]

Two House Theology

Like British Israelites, Christian Identity (CI) adherents believe in Two House Theology, which makes a distinction between the Tribe of Judah and the Ten Lost Tribes.[41] However the major difference between British Israelism and CI is that British Israelites have always maintained that Jews are descended from the tribe of Judah.[42] In contrast, while also maintaining a Two House distinction, Christian Identity proponents believe that the true lineal descendants of Judah are not contemporary Jews, but are instead White Europeans whose ancestors settled mainly in Scotland, Germany, and other European nations, alongside the House of Israel. In short, Christian Identity adherents believe that instead of modern-day Jews, the true descendents of the Houses of Israel and Judah are the modern-day Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, Nordic, and kindred peoples.[41][43] Some CI scholars teach the belief that many contemporary Jews are the descendants of Cain, citing Genesis 3:15, John 8:44 and 1 John 3:12 in support of their position; they also teach that Cain was the spawn of Satan.[44]

Origin beliefs

Identity teaches that "Israel" was the name given to Jacob after he wrestled with the angel at Peniel as described in Genesis 32:26–32. "Israel" then had twelve sons, which began the Twelve Tribes of Israel.[45]:101 In 975 BC the ten northern tribes revolted, seceded from the south, and became the Kingdom of Israel.[45]:101 After they were subsequently conquered by Assyria at approximately 721 BC, the ten tribes disappeared from the Biblical record and became known as the Lost Tribes of Israel.[45]:101

According to Identity doctrine, 2 Esdras 13:39–46 then records the history of the nation of Israel journeying over the Caucasus mountains, along the Black Sea, to the Ar Sereth tributory of the Danube in Romania ("But they formed this plan for themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations and go to a more distant region, where no human beings had ever lived. … Through that region there was a long way to go, a journey of a year and a half; and that country is called Arzareth").[45]:101 The tribes prospered, and eventually colonised other European countries. Israel's leading tribe, the Tribe of Dan, is attributed with settling and naming many areas which are today distinguished by place names derived from its name – written ancient Hebrew contains no vowels, and hence "Dan" would be written as DN, but would be pronounced with an intermediate vowel dependent on the local dialect, meaning that Dan, Den, Din, Don, and Dun all have the same meaning.[45]:101 Various modern place names are said to derive from the name of this tribe:[45]:101

• Macedonia – Macedonia – derived from Moeshe-don-ia (Moeshe being "the land of Moses")
• Danube – Dan-ube, Dneister – Dn-eister, Dneiper – Dn-eiper, Donetz – Don-etz, Danzig – Dan-zig, Don – Don

Some followers claim that the Identity genealogy of the Davidic line can be traced to the royal rulers of Britain and Queen Elizabeth II herself.[45]:102–105 Thus Anglo-Saxons are the true Israelites, God's chosen people who were given the divine right to rule the world until the Second Coming of Christ.[45]:101

Adamites and pre-Adamites

A major tenet of Christian Identity is the pre-Adamite hypothesis. Christian Identity followers believe that Adam and Eve are only the ancestors of white people, and that Adam and Eve were preceded by lesser, non-Caucasian races which are often (although not always) identified as "beasts of the field";[46] for example, the "beasts" which wore sackcloth and cried unto God (Jonah 3:8) are identified as black races by Christian Identity adherents. To support their theory on the racial identity of Adam, Christian Identity proponents point out that the Hebrew etymology of the word 'Adam' translates as 'be ruddy, red, to show blood (in the face)' often quoting from James Strong's Hebrew Dictionary[47] and from this they conclude that only Caucasians or people with light white skin can blush or turn rosy in the face (because hemoglobin only appears under pale skin).[48] Proponents of Christian Identity believe that Adam was only created six thousand years ago, while the other, non-Caucasian races were created during far older epochs that occurred on the other continents.

Serpent seed

Dual Seedline Christian Identity proponents— those who believe that Eve bore children with Satan as well as with Adam —believe that Eve was seduced by the Serpent (Satan), shared her fallen state with Adam by lying down with him, and gave birth to twins with different fathers: Satan's son Cain and Adam's son Abel. This belief is referred to as the serpent seed doctrine. According to the "dual seedline" form of Christian Identity, Cain then became the progenitor of the Jews in his subsequent matings with members of the non-Adamic races.

The serpent seed idea, which ascribes the ancestry of legendary monsters such as Grendel to Cain,[43] was somewhat widespread in the Middle Ages. It also appears in early Gnostic Christian texts as well as in some Jewish texts, for example a 9th-century book titled Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer.[49] In his book Cain: Son of the Serpent, David Max Eichhorn, traces the idea back to early Jewish Midrashic texts and he identifies many rabbis who taught the belief that Cain was the son of a union between the Serpent and Eve.[49]

Some Kabbalist rabbis also believe that Cain and Abel were of a different genetic background than Seth. This teaching is based on the theory that God created two "Adams" (adam means "man" in Hebrew). To one he gave a soul and to the other he did not give a soul. The one without a soul is the creature known in Christianity as the Serpent. The Kabbalists call the serpent the Nahash (which means the serpent in Hebrew).

This is recorded in the Zohar:

Two beings [Adam and Nachash] had intercourse with Eve, and she conceived from both and bore two children. Each followed one of the male parents, and their spirits parted, one to this side and one to the other, and similarly their characters. On the side of Cain are all the haunts of the evil species; from the side of Abel comes a more merciful class, yet not wholly beneficial – good wine mixed with bad.

— Zohar 136

A seminal influence on the Christian Identity movement's views on pre-Adamism was a book published in 1900 by Charles Carroll titled The Negro a Beast or In the Image of God?. In the book Carroll concluded that Adam only gave birth to the White race and the White race was made in the image and likeness of God, while Negroes are pre-Adamite beasts who could not possibly have been made in God's image and likeness because they are beast-like, immoral and ugly.[50] Carroll claimed that the pre-Adamite races such as blacks did not have souls. Carroll believed that race mixing was an insult to God because it spoiled His racial plan of creation. According to Carroll, the mixing of races had also led to the errors of Atheism and evolutionism.[51]

Creationism

Christian Identity proponents are Old Earth Creationists, but they believe that Adam (who was the father of the white race or Caucasians) was only created around 6,000 years ago, while they also believe that both the universe and Earth are billions of years old and that non-Caucasian races were created hundreds of thousands or even millions of years ago.

Wesley Swift strongly criticised Young Earth Creationism and the traditional Judeo-Christian view that Noah's flood was global. He instead believed that the flood was only local and that the Earth was billions of years old.[43] Christian Identity adherents claim that the flood in Genesis only rose high enough to drown the region of the Tarim Basin below sea level (Gen. 7:20) and that therefore the Hebrew word "eretz" which appears in those verses should be rendered "the land" (as in a specific place) rather than "the earth."

Racialism

Racialism, or race-based philosophy, is the core tenet of Christian Identity, and most CI adherents are white nationalists who support racial segregation. Some CI adherents believe that Jews are genetically compelled by their Satanic or Edomite ancestry to carry on a conspiracy against the Adamic seedline and that Jews have today achieved almost complete control of the Earth through their claim to the white race's status as God's chosen people.[52] As a general rule, Christian Identity followers adhere to the traditional Christian views on the role of women (See Biblical patriarchy), abortion,[53] and homosexuality,[54] and they believe that racial miscegenation is a sin and a violation of God's law in Genesis 1:24–25 which commands that all creatures should produce "kind after kind."

In addition to their strict fundamentalist racial views Christian Identity adherents distinguish themselves from mainstream Protestant Fundamentalism in various areas of theology. Some Christian Identity adherents follow the Mosaic law of the Old Testament (e.g., dietary restrictions, the seventh-day Sabbath and certain annual festivals such as Passover). It is also commonplace for some Christian Identity adherents to follow the Sacred Name Movement and they insist on using the original Hebrew names when referring to God (Yahweh) and Jesus Christ (Yahshua). Some Christian Identity writers criticize modern Bible editions as well as the Jews for their removal of the original Hebrew name of God from the Bible. Although their adherence to Old Testament Mosaic law may make them appear "Jewish"; they claim that the Jewish interpretation of the law has been corrupted through the Jews' Talmud. Unlike many Protestant Fundamentalists, Christian Identity adherents reject the notion of a Rapture, believing it to be a Judaized doctrine which the Bible does not teach.[55]

Racial politics and economics

Christian Identity politics was first reviewed by Howard Rand and William J. Cameron after the Great Depression. In 1943, Rand published the article "Digest of the Divine Law" which discussed the political and economic challenges at that time. An excerpt from the article states: "We shall not be able to continue in accord with the old order. Certain groups are already planning an economy of regimentation for our nation; but it will only intensify the suffering and want of the past and bring to our peoples all the evils that will result from such planning by a group of men who are failing to take into consideration the fundamental principles underlying the law of the Lord."[56]

While Rand never formally admitted to what groups he was specifically referring, his hatred for Jews, racial integration, and the country's economic state at the time made the direction of his comments obvious. Identifying specific economic problems was not the only goal which Rand had in mind. He began to analyze how to make these changes happen through legal changes; thus creating strategic plans to integrate the Bible into American law and economics. The first goal was to denounce all man-made laws and to replace them with laws from the Bible. The second goal was to create an economic state that would reflect teachings from the bible.[57] Both Howard Rand and William Cameron believed in these principles and this was because according to Christian Identity's teachings, they possessed access to knowledge about God's law that no one else does. Since they had access to more information, they were responsible for influencing current civil law in order to maintain God's standards.

While William Cameron agreed with Rand's initial argument, he focused his writings more specifically on changing American economics. One of Cameron's articles "The Economic Law of God" spoke of the Bible supporting individualism and social justice in regards to economics. He also believed that the government had no right to tax land, or other forms of property. In accordance with this doctrine, tax refunds should be applied to family vacation trips and/or be applied to national festivals for Christian Identity movements.[58] Also for the betterment of the United States' economic future, no interest should be applied to accounts paid with credit, and no taxes should be imputed during the traveling time of goods from a manufacturer to the consumer.[58]

The mutual point which both Rand and Cameron shared, was that while they may have disagreed with how the government was operating, neither men resisted the current tax policies. Gordon Kahl was the first CI believer who took the founding principles from Rand and Cameron, and applied them in order to take action against the government.[58] Kahl believed that the men were on the right track in regards to what needed to be accomplished in order to change public policies, however he felt that without taking action against violators, no real changes would be made. In 1967 he stopped paying taxes because he felt he was paying "tithes to the Synagogue of Satan." Years later, Gordon Kahl, the CI farmer from North Dakota, took it upon himself to kill two federal marshals in 1983. Before he was caught for the murders, Kahl wrote a note in which he said "our nation has fallen into the hands of alien people. … These enemies of Christ have taken their Jewish Communist Manifesto and incorporated it into the Statutory Laws of our country and thrown our Constitution and our Christian Common Law into the garbage can."[58]

The [University of Virginia] Institute [of Public Affairs] in 1938 also invited one of America's most notorious antisemites, William J. Cameron, who had edited Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent, to present a paper on "The Interdependence of Farm and Industry" at its economic stability roundtable. Cameron had contributed significantly to the Dearborn Independent's vitriolic attacks on Jews during the 1920s. Part of the British Israelite movement that believed the Anglo-Saxons were the real descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Cameron claimed that contemporary Jews were the remnants of a racially distinct and inferior group despised by God. Remaining a top aide to Ford after the Dearborn Independent ceased publication in 1927, he cofounded the antisemitic Anglo-Saxon Federation in 1930 and was elected its president. In 1935 Cameron became director of Destiny, the Anglo-Saxon Federation organ whose diatribes laid the groundwork for the virulently antisemitic Christian Identity movement. Two weeks after the Institute roundtable, Cameron delivered the keynote address at the ceremony the Nazi government arranged for Henry Ford, at which it presented him with the highest honor it could bestow on a foreigner, the Grand Service Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle. [61]

Despite Cameron's long record of disseminating antisemitism, the Institute of Public Affairs leadership declared that it was honored to have him participate in its roundtable. [62] About three months after the conference, the Institute's acting director expressed to Cameron his "great personal satisfaction and the appreciation of the University and the Institute" for what he said was Cameron's "very important" contribution to the session, about which he had heard "many kind words." Gooch told Cameron that both he and university president John Lloyd Newcomb would be "most grateful" for any suggestions that "might be calculated to improve the conduct of the Institute." [63]

-- The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower: Complicity and Conflict on American Campuses, by Stephen H. Norwood

World's end and Armageddon

Christian Identity supporters believe in the Second Coming and Armageddon. Predictions vary, including a race war or a Jewish-backed United Nations takeover of the US, and they endorse physical struggle against what they see as the forces of evil.[59]

Miscegenation, homosexuality, and anti-Semitism

Identity asserts that disease, addiction, cancer, and sexually transmitted infections (herpes and HIV/AIDS) are spread by human "rodents" via contact with "unclean" persons, such as "race-mixers".[45]:85 The apocrypha, the first book of Enoch, is used to justify these social theories; the fallen angels of Heaven sexually desired Earth maidens and took them as wives, resulting in the birth of abominations, which God ordered Michael the Archangel to destroy, thus beginning a cosmic war between Light and Darkness.[45]:85 The mixing of separate things (e.g., people of different races) is seen as defiling both, and it is also considered a violation of God's law.[45]:86

Identity preachers proclaim that, according to the Bible, "the penalties for race-mixing, homo-sexuality, and usury are death."[45]:86 The justification for killing homosexuals is provided in Leviticus 20:13 "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:35–37 and Deuteronomy explicitly condemn usury.[45]:92 Ezekiel 18:13 states "He who hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? He shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him" and is quoted as justification for killing Jews.

Identity followers reject the label "antisemitic", stating that they cannot be antisemitic, since the true Semites "today are the great White Christian nations of the western world", with modern Jews in fact being descendants of the Canaanites.[45]

Anti-banking system

Identity doctrine asserts that the "root of all evil" is paper money (in particular Federal Reserve Notes), and that usury and banking systems are controlled by Jews.[45]:87 The creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 shifted control of money from Congress to private institutions and violated the Constitution. The money system encourages the Federal Reserve to take out loans, creating trillions of dollars of government debt and allowing international bankers to control America. Credit/debit cards and computerised bills are seen as the fulfillment of the Biblical scripture warning against "the beast" (i.e., banking) as quoted in Revelation 13:15–18. Identity preacher Sheldon Emry claims "Most of the owners of the largest banks in America are of Eastern European (Jewish) ancestry and connected with the (Jewish) Rothschild European banks", thus, in Identity doctrine, the global banking conspiracy is led and controlled by Jewish interests.[45]:91

Groups

Christian Identity is a major unifying theology for a number of diverse groups of white nationalist Christians. It is a belief system that provides its members with a religious basis for racial separatism. Herbert W. Armstrong is inaccurately described by some of his critics, as well as by supporters of Christian Identity, as having supported Christian Identity, due to his belief in a modified form of British Israelism, and the fact that during his lifetime, he propounded observances favoured by many Christian Identity groups, such as seventh-day Sabbatarianism and biblical festivals. The Worldwide Church of God which Armstrong founded did not subscribe to the anti-Semitism commonly espoused by the Christian or Israel Identity groups but instead adhered to the traditional beliefs of British Israelism; i.e., the belief that modern day Jews are descendants of the Tribe of Judah whereas the Anglo-Saxons, Celts, Danes, etc. are descendants of the remaining Ten Tribes of Israel formerly known as the Northern Kingdom.

Christian Identity groups include "The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord", the Phineas Priesthood, the Oklahoma Constitutional Militia, also known as The Universal Church of God. Christian Identity is also adhered to by other groups such as Aryan Nations, the Aryan Republican Army (ARA) and the Patriots Council, Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Thomas Robb, LaPorte Church of Christ, Mission To Israel, Folk And Faith, Jubilee, Traditionalist Youth Network, Yahweh's Truth (James Wickstrom), Church of Israel[17][60] and Kingdom Identity Ministries.

South African branches of Christian Identity have been accused of involvement in terrorist activities, including the 2002 Soweto bombings.[61]

Other Christian Identity groups include the Heritage Christian Church and the Legion for the Survival of Freedom.

See also

People

• Larry Gene Ashbrook
• Samuel Bowers
• Byron De La Beckwith
• Bo Gritz
• Chevie Kehoe
• August Kreis III
• Eric Rudolph
• Michael W. Ryan
• Dewey H "Buddy" Tucker
• Rick Tyler

Lists

• Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites
• List of organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups

Other related topics

• Alt-Right
• Christian Patriot movement
• Christian Reconstructionism
• Christian values
• Christian terrorism
• Cultural Christian
• Elohim City, Oklahoma
• French Israelism
• Judeo-Christian
• Kinism
• Murder of Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder
• Nordic Israelism
• Positive Christianity
• Sovereign citizen movement

References

Notes

1. "Extremism in America – Christian Identity".
2. "Bigotry Behind Bars: Racist Groups In U.S. Prisons". Archived from the original on 2015-07-29.
3. Eck, Diane (2001). A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 347.
4. Buck, Christopher (2009). Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America's World Role. Praeger. pp. 107, 108, 213. ISBN 978-0-313-35959-0.
5. "Bigotry Behind Bars: Racist Groups In U.S. Prisons". Archived from the original on 2015-07-29.
6. Eck, Diane (2001). A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 347.
7. Buck, Christopher (2009). Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America's World Role. Praeger. pp. 107, 108, 213. ISBN 978-0-313-35959-0.
8. Quarles, Chester L. (2004). Christian Identity: The Aryan American Bloodline Religion. McFarland & Company. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7864-1892-3.
9. Mason, Carol (2002). Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics. Cornell University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-8014-8819-1.
10. "Anglo-Saxon Israel – Beast of the Field".
11. "What is Christian Identity?".
12. "Could You Be An Israelite And Not Know It?".
13. "Sovereign Citizen Movement – Extremism in America". Adl.org. Archived from the original on 2005-07-29.
14. King, Wayne (August 21, 1990). "Books of The Times; A Farmer's Fatal Obsession With Jews and Taxes". The New York Times.
15. Alan W. Bock (October 1, 1993). "Ambush at Ruby Ridge". Reason.
16. Barkun, Michael (1996). "preface". Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. University of North Carolina Press. pp. x. ISBN 0-8078-4638-4.
17. "Extremism in America: Dan Gayman". Anti-Defamation League. 2005. Archived from the original on 2012-09-29.
18. Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement, Michael Barkun, 1997, Preface, xii, xiii.
19. "Christian Identity". Anti-Defamation League.
20. ""Why We Are Antisemites" - Text of Adolf Hitler's 1920 speech at the Hofbräuhaus".
21. Barkun 2003, p. xii.
22. Christian Identity: The Aryan American Bloodline Religion by Chester L. Quarles, 2004, p. 13.
23. Quarles, pp. 13–19
24. Life From The Dead, 1875, Vol. III, p. 154.
25. Barkun, pp. 62–97.
26. "Lost Israel Found In the Anglo-Saxon Race".
27. Barkun, p. 27.
28. Race Over Grace: The Racialist Religion of the Christian Identity Movement, Charles H. Roberts, 2003, pp. 9–10.
29. "Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright".
30. Race Over Grace: The Racialist Religion of the Christian Identity Movement, Charles H. Roberts, p. 9
31. Barkun, pp. 45–54.
32. Barkun, pp. 45–60.
33. Charles H. Roberts, p. 9
34. The Phinehas Priesthood: Violent Vanguard of the Christian Identity Movement, Danny W. Davis, 2010, p. 18
35. Barkun, p. 140.
36. Charles H. Roberts, pp. 11–15.
37. Lobb, David. 'Fascist Apocalypse: William Pelley and Millennial Extremism', Paper presented at the 4th Annual Conference of the Center for Millennial Studies, November 1999
38. Barkun, pp. 60–85.
39. D. Boylan (2004). "Christian Defense League". Updated 2004.
40. Colin Kidd, The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600–2000, 2006, p. 44
41. Charles H. Roberts, pp.40–60
42. Bosworth, F. E, The Bible Distinction Between the House of Israel and the House of Judah, Radio Address, 1920
43. "Basic Christian Identity : Dr. Wesley A. Swift : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 2001-03-10.
44. "Jewish Rabbis recognize Serpent Seedline as well as Sumerians, Targums and Biblical Accounts".
45. James Alfred Aho (1995). The Politics of Righteousness: Idaho Christian Patriotism. University of Washington Press. p. 86. ISBN 0-295-97494-X.
46. Genesis 1:25
47. Hebrew Dictionary #119 (1890)
48. "Basics for Understanding Yahweh's Kingdom". Anglo-Saxon Israel. 2009-06-04. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23.
49. Cain: Son of the Serpent. Rossel Books. 1985. ISBN 0-940646-19-6.
50. Charles Carroll The Negro a beast"; or, "In the image of God"; the reasoner of the age, the revelator of the century! The Bible as it is! The Negro and his relation to the human family! The Negro not the son of Ham, 1900
51. Colin Kidd, The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600–2000, p. 150
52. "Who are the Jews? By: Bertrand Comparet". Church of True Israel. Archived from the original on 2007-02-25.
53. Exodus 21:22
54. Leviticus 20:13
55. "I Come as a Thief". Church of True Israel. Archived from the original on 2007-08-21.
56. Barkun, Michael (1997). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement (Rev. ed.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 202. ISBN 0-8078-2328-7.
57. Barkun, p. 203.
58. Barkun.[page needed]
59. Kaplan, Jeffrey (2002). Millennial Violence: Past, Present, and Future. Routledge. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-7146-5294-8.
60. Max McCoy (28 January 2001). "Separatist by faith: Church of Israel's patriarch rebuts claims of racism" (PDF). Joplin Globe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2012.
61. Martin Schönteich and Henri Boshoff (2003). 'Volk' Faith and Fatherland: The Security Threat Posed by the White Right. Pretoria, South Africa, Institute for Security Studies. ISBN 1-919913-30-0. Archived from the original on 2006-04-11.

Bibliography

• Barkun, M. (1994). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Revised edition, 1997, ISBN 0-8078-2328-7
• Hill, David. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981.
• Ingram, W.L., (1995). God and Race: British-Israelism and Christian Identity, p. 119–126 in T. Miller, Ed., America's Alternative Religions, SUNY Press, Albany NY.
• Kaplan, Jeffrey, (1997). Radical Religion in America, Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. pp. 47–48.
• Quarles, C. L. (2004). Christian Identity: The Aryan American Bloodline Religion. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland.
• Roberts, Charles H. (2003). Race over Grace: The Racialist Religion of the Christian Identity Movement, Omaha, Nebraska: iUniverse Press. ISBN 0-595-28197-4.

External links

• FBI backgrounder on Christian Identity

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In Utah Mormons Call Themselves Jews and Jews Are Considered “gentiles”
by Jewish Telegraphic Agency
February 21, 1928
(News Letter from Salt Lake City)

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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Salt Lake City is of particular interest to Jews since it is, perhaps, the only place in the world where Christians call themselves Jews and Jews are often called “Gentiles.”

Salt Lake City is the headquarters of the evangelical Christian denomination–the unique Christian sect in America known as the Mormons. The full name of the sect is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It teaches that the Jews are of Israel and God’s chosen people. The Mormon sect believes that Jesus will eventually come to the Jews and claim them for his own, confounding any enemies they may still have.

This denomination, founded in 1830, sent one of its leaders to Palestine many years ago -- in 1840, to be exact -- to dedicate that land to the gathering of the Jews, a movement in which they still firmly believe and are ready to assist at any time, at least, to the extent of lending their moral support.

REGARD JEWS SUPERIOR

To an orthodox Mormon the Nordic or any other race is not superior to the Jewish. This is the stand that Anthony W. Ivins, a member of the First Presidency of the Church, took in an interview with the present writer on the Nordic superiority question. Mr. Ivins, a cousin of Heber J. Grant, the President of the Church, said the fact that the Jews had been able to preserve their integrity as a race in the face of all obstacles was proof that they are racially inferior to none.

The Mormon people regard themselves as of Israel, too, if you please, and the term “Israel” as applying to themselves is frequently heard in their congregations. They believe themselves to be of Ephraim, and cousins of the Jews, who are of Judah. To a Mormon those not of their faith are regarded as “Gentiles.” Gentiles in Utah often say, in a bantering way, that everybody in Utah outside of the Mormons is a Gentile, even the Jews! But the Mormons themselves would add “Excepting the Jews,” for, as already pointed out, they regard the Jew in the same light that he regards himself, as of Israel, but of another “branch” of the face.

The Mormons hold Heber J. Grant, who is an insurance man by profession and interested in banks, sugar companies, office buildings, mercantile houses, hotels and so forth, as a literal prophet of God, even as Abraham and Moses. They do not compromise on this one inch. Joseph Smith was their first prophet and Brigham Young the second. Others followed until Mr. Grant took the office nearly a decade ago. They assert that they are hated by some sects because of their teachings respecting exclusive divine authority rather than because of polygamy. Polygamy was dropped in the ’90’s, and if anybody in the church attempted it today he would be set upon by church leaders without mercy, as far as immediate excommunication has any terrors. This is because the church undertook to abandon polygamy after the U. S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional, and not because of any retraction of faith.

Governor Bamberger, Democratic governor of Utah for four years beginning in 1917, was the first Jew to hold the office of governor of an American state. Governor Bamberger, now deceased, was nominated by Hon. B. H. Roberts, until recently head of the Eastern States Mission of the Mormon Church and one of its most able men. Roberts told the writer in talking on the subject that he deliberately took up the question of his candidate’s race because he knew it would come up in some quarters sooner or later, and during the campaign he was among his most ardent supporters.

“EPHRAIM SHALL NOT VEX JUDAH”

Mr. Roberts said in speaking of the relationship of the Mormons and the Jews. “With us Mormons who are Ephraimites the time has come when Judah shall not envy Ephraim and Ephraim shall not vex Judah.”

Rabbi Samuel Gordon, of Temple Bene Israel, said, “We have a condition in Salt Lake City that is a little unique in the sense that there are so many intermarriages, especially among families of the older settlers. The only way I can account for it is that there is less prejudice here against the Jews than in any other community in the world. This lack of prejudice is due to the Mormon influence, who have felt the sting of persecution themselves and at the same time regard us as their kinsmen.”

There are but 1,500 to 1,600 Jews in Salt Lake City, with two congregations, the Bene Israel and the Monte-fiore, the latter presided over by Rabbi Krickstein, orthodox. In this community of about 140,000, this handful of Jews play a prominent part in its commercial, professional and civic life. Dr. Gordon of Bene Israel and his wife are active this year in the Neighborhood House for boys.

A little over a year ago the Jewish residents of the city bought the home of the late Colonel Wall, wealthy citizen, and turned it into a community center for themselves at a total cost of about $75,000. It is a fine building and enjoys one of the best locations in the city. This building is made excellent use of.

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The Dearborn Independent
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 7/17/18

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The International Jew: The World's Problem in The Dearborn Independent, May 22, 1920

The Dearborn Independent, also known as The Ford International Weekly, was a weekly newspaper established in 1901, and published by Henry Ford from 1919 through 1927. The paper reached a circulation of 900,000 by 1925, second only to the New York Daily News, largely due to a quota system for promotion imposed on Ford dealers. Lawsuits regarding anti-Semitic material published in the paper caused Ford to close it, and the last issue was published in December 1927. The publication's title was derived from the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan.

Acquisition by Ford

In 1918, Ford's closest aide and private secretary, Ernest G. Liebold, purchased the Independent from Marcus Woodruff, who had been running it at a loss. The initial staff of the newspaper included E. G. Pipp, previously managing editor of the Detroit News, writers William J. Cameron (also formerly of the News) and Marcus Woodruff, and Fred Black as business manager.

The paper was printed on a used press purchased by Ford and installed in Ford's tractor plant in The Rouge. Publication under Mr. Ford was inaugurated in January 1919. The paper initially attracted notoriety in June 1919 with coverage of the libel lawsuit between Henry Ford and the Chicago Tribune, as the stories written by Pipp and Cameron were picked up nationally.

Ford's motivations

Henry Ford was a pacifist who opposed World War I, and he believed that Jews were responsible for starting wars in order to profit from them: "International financiers are behind all war. They are what is called the international Jew: German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, American Jews. I believe that in all those countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme ... here the Jew is a threat".[1]

Ford believed that Jews, in their role as financiers, contributed nothing of value to society.[2] He believed that Jewish business workers focused solely on price, and cheapened their products. Ford once bit into a candy bar and, finding it not as good as it once had been, said "The Jews have taken hold of it. They've cheapened it to make more money".[3]

In 1915 Ford blamed Jews for instigating World War I, saying "I know who caused the war: German-Jewish bankers." Later, in 1925, Ford said "What I oppose most is the international Jewish money power that is met in every war. That is what I oppose – a power that has no country and that can order the young men of all countries out to death."

Ford ensured that everyone who worked for any of his companies accepted his views, and made sure not to hire a single Jew in office jobs, although he hired them for physical labor.[4]

So began the articles with themes of a worldwide conspiracy by Jewish super-capitalists, that the Jews invented the stock market and gold standard just to corrupt the world and other peoples.[5]

Antisemitic articles


Jewish Jazz—Moron Music—Becomes Our National Music, August 6, 1921

Pipp left the Independent in April 1920 in disgust with the planned antisemitic articles, which began in May. Ford did not write the articles. He expressed his opinions verbally to his executive secretary, Ernest Liebold, and to William J. Cameron, who replaced Pipp as editor. Cameron had the main responsibility for expanding these opinions into article form, although he did not agree with them. Liebold was responsible for collecting more material to support the articles.

The [University of Virginia] Institute [of Public Affairs] in 1938 also invited one of America's most notorious antisemites, William J. Cameron, who had edited Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent, to present a paper on "The Interdependence of Farm and Industry" at its economic stability roundtable. Cameron had contributed significantly to the Dearborn Independent's vitriolic attacks on Jews during the 1920s. Part of the British Israelite movement that believed the Anglo-Saxons were the real descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Cameron claimed that contemporary Jews were the remnants of a racially distinct and inferior group despised by God. Remaining a top aide to Ford after the Dearborn Independent ceased publication in 1927, he cofounded the antisemitic Anglo-Saxon Federation in 1930 and was elected its president. In 1935 Cameron became director of Destiny, the Anglo-Saxon Federation organ whose diatribes laid the groundwork for the virulently antisemitic Christian Identity movement. Two weeks after the Institute roundtable, Cameron delivered the keynote address at the ceremony the Nazi government arranged for Henry Ford, at which it presented him with the highest honor it could bestow on a foreigner, the Grand Service Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle. [61]

Despite Cameron's long record of disseminating antisemitism, the Institute of Public Affairs leadership declared that it was honored to have him participate in its roundtable. [62] About three months after the conference, the Institute's acting director expressed to Cameron his "great personal satisfaction and the appreciation of the University and the Institute" for what he said was Cameron's "very important" contribution to the session, about which he had heard "many kind words." Gooch told Cameron that both he and university president John Lloyd Newcomb would be "most grateful" for any suggestions that "might be calculated to improve the conduct of the Institute." [63]

-- The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower: Complicity and Conflict on American Campuses, by Stephen H. Norwood

One of the articles, "Jewish Power and America's Money Famine", asserted that the power exercised by Jews over the nation's supply of money was insidious, depriving farmers and others outside the banking coterie of money when they needed it most. The article asked the question: "Where is the American gold supply? ... It may be in the United States but it does not belong to the United States." It concluded that Jews controlled the gold supply and, hence, American money.[6]

Another article, "Jewish Idea Molded Federal Reserve System", was a reflection of Ford's distrust of the Federal Reserve System and its proponent, Paul Warburg. Ford believed the Federal Reserve system was secretive and insidious.[7]

These articles gave rise to claims of antisemitism against Ford,[8] and in 1929 he signed a statement apologizing for the articles.[9]

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Many issues of the Independent comment extensively upon The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The first mention of the Protocols appears in the issue of July 10, 1920, the seventh installment of its "International Jew" series. Also, in 1920–21 the Independent carried a series of articles expanding on the themes of financial control by Jews, entitled:[10]

1. Jewish Idea in American Monetary Affairs: The remarkable story of Paul Warburg, who began work on the United States monetary system after three weeks residence in this country.

2. Jewish Idea Molded Federal Reserve System: What Baruch was in War Material, Paul Warburg was in War Finances; Some Curious revelations of money and politics.

3. Jewish Idea of a Central Bank for America: The evolution of Paul M. Warburg's idea of Federal Reserve System without government management.

4. How Jewish International Finance Functions: The Warburg family and firm divided the world between them and did amazing things which non-Jews could not do.

5. Jewish Power and America's Money Famine: The Warburg Federal Reserve sucks money to New York, leaving productive sections of the country in disastrous need.

6. The Economic Plan of International Jews: An outline of the Protocolists' monetary policy, with notes on the parallel found in Jewish financial practice.

The newspaper published The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was discredited by The Times of London as a forgery during the Independent's publishing run. The American Jewish Historical Society described the ideas presented in the magazine as "anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-liquor, and anti-Semitic". In February 1921, the New York World published an interview with Ford in which he said: "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on." During this period, Ford emerged as "a respected spokesman for right-wing extremism and religious prejudice", reaching around 700,000 readers through his newspaper.[11]

Republication in Germany


Grand Cross of the German Eagle, an award bestowed on Ford by Nazi Germany

During the Weimar Republic in the early 1920s, the Protocols was reprinted and published in Germany, along with anti-Jewish articles first published by The Dearborn Independent and reprinted in translation in Germany as a set of four bound volumes, cumulatively titled The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem.

Steven Watts wrote that Adolf Hitler "revered" Ford. He quotes Hitler as saying, "I shall do my best to put his theories into practice in Germany", and says that Hitler modeled the Volkswagen, the people's car, on the Model T.[12] Several themes from the Dearborn Independent articles appear in Mein Kampf. Hitler even quoted the Dearborn Independent in Mein Kampf and Henry Ford was the only American that Hitler specifically named: "Every year they [the Jews] manage to become increasingly the controlling masters of the labor power of a people of 120,000,000 souls; one great man, Ford, to their exasperation still holds out independently there even now."[13]

On February 1, 1924, Ford received Kurt Ludecke, a representative of Hitler, at his home. Ludecke was introduced to Ford by Siegfried Wagner (son of the famous composer Richard Wagner) and his wife Winifred, both Nazi sympathizers and anti-Semites. Ludecke asked Ford for a contribution to the Nazi cause, though this is denied by the Ford Motor Company.[14]

In July 1938, prior to the outbreak of war, the German consul at Cleveland gave Ford, on his 75th birthday, the award of the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the highest medal Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner.[15] James D. Mooney, vice-president of overseas operations for General Motors, received a similar medal, the Merit Cross of the German Eagle, First Class.[16]

Reaction to the Dearborn Independent

There was much negative press about the Dearborn Independent within Jewish communities, but there was non-Jewish negative press as well.

Jewish reaction

There are many accounts of Jewish organizations coming together to fight the Dearborn Independent.[17] The first major anti-semitic article about Jews was published on June 19, 1920. There were major repetitions on August 28, then again in February, March, and November 1921.[17] The essay "Anti-Semitism- Will it Appear in the U.S.?" quoted Louis Brandeis, a Justice of the Supreme Court, who advocated for Jewish civil rights and said, "Organize, organize, organize, until every Jew must stand up and be counted." Louis Marshall noticed that The Cause of World Unrest was advertised on the back of one issue of the Independent, so he wrote a personal letter to the publisher, Major George Haven Putnam, condemning him for his intolerance. Marshall said that Putnam was using Jews as his scapegoat. Eventually Putnam apologized for his advertisement and for publishing the book.[18]

Non-Jewish reaction

The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America published a resolution condemning Ford's propaganda and beliefs. In January 1921, a statement titled "The Peril of Racial Prejudice" denounced anti-Semitism as un-American and condemned the Independent for its anti-Semitic campaign. It was signed by more than one hundred prominent citizens of "Gentile birth and Christian faith", including President Woodrow Wilson, former president William Howard Taft, William Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow, Nicholas Murray Butler, Robert Frost, Samuel Seabury, Ida Tarbell, Paul Cravath and the presidents of Williams, Oberlin, and Dartmouth colleges as well as Princeton, Cornell, and Syracuse universities. However, this did not stop the Dearborn Independent from their negative press regarding Jews.[19][20]

Libel lawsuit

While they explicitly condemned pogroms and violence against Jews, Ford's articles blamed the Jews for provoking incidents of mass violence.[21] San Francisco lawyer and Jewish farm cooperative organizer Aaron Sapiro filed a libel lawsuit in response. During the trial, the editor of Ford's "Own Page," William Cameron, testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron testified that he never discussed the content of the pages with Ford, or sent them to Ford for his approval.[22] Friends and business associates said they warned Ford about the contents of the Independent and that Ford probably never read the articles (he claimed he only read the headlines.)[23]

Further court testimony alleged that Ford knew about the contents of the Independent in advance of publication.[24] Investigative journalist Max Wallace noted that "whatever credibility this absurd claim [Cameron's denial] may have had was soon undermined when James M. Miller, a former Dearborn Independent employee, swore under oath that Ford had told him he intended to expose Sapiro."[24]

Michael Barkun observed:

That Cameron would have continued to publish such controversial material without Ford's explicit instructions seemed unthinkable to those who knew both men. Mrs. Stanley Ruddiman, a Ford family intimate, remarked that 'I don't think Mr. Cameron ever wrote anything for publication without Mr. Ford's approval.'[25]

Action by the Anti-Defamation League

The trial prompted the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to begin a concerted effort to oppose the Independent. An ADL-led coalition of Jewish groups led the charge, and raised objections to Ford's writings in the Detroit press. The ADL also organized a boycott of Ford products, which was supported not only by Jews, but also by several liberal Christian groups. In December 1927, Ford gave in and abolished the paper. News reports at the time quoted him as saying he was shocked by the paper's content and unaware of its nature. Ford also wrote a public letter to ADL president Sigmund Livingston recanting his anti-Semitic views.[20]

Ford's 1927 apology was well received. "Four-Fifths of the hundreds of letters addressed to Ford in July 1927 were from Jews, and almost without exception they praised the Industrialist."[26] In January 1937, a Ford statement to the Detroit Jewish Chronicle disavowed "any connection whatsoever with the publication in Germany of a book known as The International Jew."[26]

Unauthorized distribution of The International Jew

Unauthorized distribution of The International Jew was halted in 1942 through legal action by Ford, despite complications due to a lack of copyright.[26] Extremist groups often recycle the material; it still appears on antisemitic and neo-Nazi websites.

See also

• Detroit portal
• The International Jew

Sources

• Ford R. Bryan: Henry's Lieutenants. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-8143-2428-2
• Albert Lee: Henry Ford and the Jews. New York: Stein and Day, 1980. ISBN 0-8128-2701-5
• Max Wallace: The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh and the Rise of the Third Reich. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003. ISBN 0-312-29022-5

References

1. Sachar, Howard Morley (1993). A History of the Jews in America. Vintage. p. 311. ISBN 0679745300.
2. Perry p 168-9. Perry quotes Ford.
3. Albert Lee, Henry Ford and the Jews (New York:Stein and Day, 1980), 13-14
4. Sward, Legend, 137
5. Albert Lee, Henry Ford and the Jews (New York:Stein and Day, 1980), 13-14-15
6. Geisst, Charles R.,Wheels of Fortune: The History of Speculation from Scandal to Respectability, John Wiley and Sons, 2003 p 66-68
7. Norword, Stephen Harlan, Encyclopedia of American Jewish history, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, 2008, p 181
8. Foxman, pp 69-72
9. Baldwin, Neil, Henry Ford and the Jews: the mass production of hate, PublicAffairs, 2002, pp 213-218
10. Jewish influence in the Federal Reserve System, reprinted from the Dearborn independent, Dearborn Pub. Co., 1921
11. Glock, Charles Y. and Quinley, Harold E. (1983). Anti-Semitism in America. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0-87855-940-X, p. 168.
12. Watts, p. xi.
13. *Perry, p 171
• see also Perry p 119
• see also: Raushning, Herman Voice of Destruction, pp 237-38
14. Max Wallace The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich, (Macmillan, 2004), pp.50–54, ISBN 0-312-33531-8. Years later, in 1977, Winifred claimed that Ford had told her that he had helped finance Hitler. This anecdote is the suggestion that Ford made a contribution. The company has always denied that any contribution was made, and no documentary evidence has ever been found. Ibid p. 54. See also Neil Baldwin, Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate, (Public Affairs, 2002), pp. 185–89, ISBN 1-58648-163-0.
15. "Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration". Washington Post. November 30, 1998. pp. A01. Retrieved March 5,2008.
16. Farber, David R. (2002). Sloan Rules: Alfred P. Sloan and the Triumph of General Motors. University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-23804-0, p. 228.
17. Neil Baldwin, Henry Ford and the Jews (New York: Public Affairs, 2001), 134
18. Neil Baldwin, Henry Ford and the Jews (New York: Public Affairs, 2001), 142–144
19. Robert Rifkind, "Confronting Antisemitism in America: Louis Marshall and Henry Ford", American Jewish History (March/June 2008):7
20. Blakeslee, Spencer (2000).The Death of American Antisemitism. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 0-275-96508-2, p. 83.
21. Ford, Henry (2003). The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-7829-3, p. 61.
22. Lewis, (1976) pp. 140–56; Baldwin p 220–21.
23. Watts pp x, 376–387; Lewis (1976) pp 135–59.
24. Wallace, p. 30.
25. Barkun, Michael (1996). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. UNC Press. ISBN 0-8078-4638-4, p. 35.
26. Lewis, David I. (1976). The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1553-4., pp. 146–154.

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Part 1 of 2

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 7/17/18

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

[A]nother temple must be built to the Lord in the new Zion, since the one at Kirtland had been desecrated by falling into Gentile hands …

[T]ake the spoils from the "ungodly Gentiles;" for was it not written, "The riches of the Gentiles shall be consecrated to the people of the house of Israel?" …

Joseph not only advised his people publicly to plunder from the Gentiles, but privately ordered them to do so …

Joseph did not cease his injunctions to "get all you can from the wicked Gentiles"…

It was an act pleasing to Him whenever a Gentile was put out of the way …

[T]he blood of Gentiles is not "innocent" blood; the shedding of it, therefore, is no crime …

[T]he "defiled hands" of the Gentiles …

Break the Gentile yoke …

"I wish we were in a situation favorable to our doing that which is justifiable before God, without any contaminating influence of Gentile amalgamation, laws, and traditions, that the people of God might lay the axe to the root of the tree, and that every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit might be hewn down." …

[N]o Gentile was safe in the Mormon territory …

[O]ne of the men asked Rockwell "if all the damned Gentiles were dead” …

[W]e swore that we would use every exertion to avenge the death of our Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum upon the Gentile race, by whose means they were brought to their unhappy fate, and to teach our children to foster this spirit of revenge also …

The cutting of every Gentile and apostate throat, and the "sending to hell across lots," that have been so openly and emphatically urged from the stand by Brigham Young and others, is only a public expression of the mysteries of the Endowment oaths….

I was taught from my earliest childhood that there was nothing good outside of the Mormon Church; that the Gentile men were bad to the core, possessing neither honor nor manly virtues of any kind, and that every Gentile woman was so vile as to be utterly unworthy of mention; that goodness was unknown among them, and that certain destruction awaited them and those who associated with them.

-- Wife No. 19, the Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Expose of Mormonism and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy, by Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's Apostate Wife

Salt Lake City is of particular interest to Jews since it is, perhaps, the only place in the world where Christians call themselves Jews and Jews are often called “Gentiles.”

-- In Utah Mormons Call Themselves Jews and Jews Are Considered “gentiles”, by Jewish Telegraphic Agency

According to John D. Lee, the official scribe of the Council, the organization [Council of Fifty] was meant to be the "Municipal department of the Kingdom of God set upon the earth, and from which all law emanates, for the rule, government & controle of all Nations Kingdoms & toungs and People under the whole Heavens.

-- Council of Fifty, by Wikipedia

If you grew up Mormon in the first half of the 20th century, you were likely to be taught over and over–in Sunday School, genealogy, and priesthood lessons, in stake and general conferences, in church magazines, books, and pamphlets–that you were literally an Israelite, directly descended from Ephraim. This teaching would come in at least two forms:

1. The teaching one might call “Mormon Israelism” was that Ephraim’s descendants were scattered among all nations, but that almost all Mormons were Ephraimites (for some, even “pure” Ephraimites) because the people that had responded to the missionary message were the select few with Israel in their veins. It was taught (including by Joseph Smith) and assumed by some that the more pure the Israelite blood, the more open a person was to the Mormon message.

2. Somewhat in conflict with this, you would also have been taught Mormon Anglo or British Israelism: that almost all Mormons were Israelites (and to some, pure Israelites), because the Saints were of Northern European stock (largely British), which was the place the not-so-lost tribes (mainly Ephraim) had settled.

In the 20th century, the main church leaders and authors who preached Israelism and British Israelism were Church Historian and Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, apostle and First Presidency member Anthony Ivins, Asst. Church Historian Andrew Jenson, and officers of the Utah Genealogical Society such as Archibald Bennett and James Anderson.

In dozens of articles, books, and general conference talks, these men played a significant role in teaching a couple of generations of Saints that they were literal descendants of Israel, with detailed proofs that the not-so-lost ten tribes had settled either Northern Europe or Great Britain taken directly from the prominent British-Israel works. Anderson, in God’s Covenant Race, From Patriarchal Times to the Present, a 1937 book published by the Deseret News Press, even claimed (incorrectly) Mormon credit for starting the British-Israel Movement through the church’s 1830s missionary work in England (154-155). The 1938 and later editions of the book included an appendix with 127 pages of articles copied verbatim from the “Anglo-Israel Federation” magazine Destiny.

One collection of Mormon British-Israelism teachings was the 1942 Sunday School course book, Birthright Blessings; its 48 lessons included topics such as “The Chosen Race Being Gathered,” “Early Israelite Colonies,” “Mound Builders of Europe,” “Sagas and Civilization of Scandinavia,” “Who Are the Anglo-Saxons?,” “Early Welsh Customs,” ”Ancient Irish Pedigrees,” and “The Royal House of David.”

A very similar collection was the 1937 Junior Genealogy Class manual, Children of the Covenant. Its 40 lessons covered most of the Birthright topics mentioned and others such as “A White and a Blessed People,” “The Day of Ephraim,” and “The New Race of Israel.” The activity for one of the lessons instructed students to “Write a one page explanation, and read it in class or in a public meeting, of the topic: “My Heritage as a Descendant of Ephraim.”

Articles preaching British Israelism and Mormon Israelism were also common in the quarterly journal of the Church’s Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine.

Examples of this were the paired 1930 articles, “Mission of Ephraim,” by Joseph Fielding Smith, and “Children of Ephraim,” by Archibald Bennett. [Bennett, Archibald F. 1930, "The Children of Ephraim," Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 21 (April): 67-85)]

The latter even contained a detailed explanation and ancestral charts explaining how the Norse God Odin (Woden) was ancestor of “most of the kingly and noble races of the north,” and therefore, of Anglo-Saxons and Mormons. Consequently, you can find Mormon family trees from that period that include both Odin and Thor (there’s a current example of this in my extended family). Odin is also discussed in detail in the Birthright Blessings and Children of the Covenant manuals, in a lesson called Sagas and Civilization of Scandinavia that recounts Icelander Snorri Sturluson’s Ynglinga Saga. Both books included a photo of a B.E.F. Fogelberg’s statute of Odin (the graphic at the top of this post).

-- British Israelism, by Stirling

The protocol used in Mormon temple ritual has been received by revelation line upon line and precept upon precept. Most of the protocol was revealed by God to Joseph Smith, the first prophet of the Last Days, and founder of the LDS Church. However, the protocol was received gradually. Baptism for the Dead, for instance, was not practiced until the Latter-day Saints were established in Nauvoo, Illinois. Other small changes have been made more recently, according to received revelation. A few changes have come because of technological improvements. For instance, parts of the instruction on the creation and Plan of Salvation used to be presented live, but now are presented in a film. This has enabled easier translation into foreign languages as temples are built all over the world.

-- Mormon Temple Ritual, by mormonwiki.com

Cover of first book edition, The Great within the Minuscule and Antichrist
Author Unknown. Plagiarised from Hermann Goedsche and Maurice Joly, plagiarized in turn from Eugène Sue and Alexandre Dumas, père
Original title Програма завоевания мира евреями (Programa zavoevaniya mira evreyami, "The Jewish Programme to Conquer the World")
Country Russian Empire
Language Russian, with plagiarism from German and French texts
Subject Antisemitic conspiracy theory
Genre Propaganda
Publisher Znamya
Publication date
August–September 1903
Published in English
1919
Pages 417 (1905 edition)

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (Russian: Протоколы сионских мудрецов) or The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion is an antisemitic fabricated text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The forgery was first published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the 20th century. According to the claims made by some of its publishers, the Protocols are the minutes of a late 19th-century meeting where Jewish leaders discussed their goal of global Jewish hegemony by subverting the morals of Gentiles, and by controlling the press and the world's economies.

Henry Ford funded printing of 500,000 copies that were distributed throughout the United States in the 1920s. The Nazis sometimes used the Protocols as propaganda against Jews; it was assigned by some German teachers, as if factual, to be read by German schoolchildren after the Nazis came to power in 1933,[1] despite having been exposed as fraudulent by The Times of London in 1921. It is still widely available today in numerous languages, in print and on the Internet, and continues to be presented by some proponents as a genuine document.

Creation

The Protocols is a fabricated document purporting to be factual. Textual evidence shows that it could not have been produced prior to 1901. It is notable that the title of Sergei Nilus's widely distributed edition contains the dates "1902–1903", and it is likely that the document was actually written at this time in Russia, despite Nilus' attempt to cover this up by inserting French-sounding words into his edition.[2] Cesare G. De Michelis argues that it was manufactured in the months after a Russian Zionist congress in September 1902, and that it was originally a parody of Jewish idealism meant for internal circulation among antisemites until it was decided to clean it up and publish it as if it were real. Self-contradictions in various testimonies show that the individuals involved—including the text's initial publisher, Pavel Krushevan—deliberately obscured the origins of the text and lied about it in the decades afterwards.[3]

If the placement of the forgery in 1902–1903 Russia is correct, then it was written at the beginning of the anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire, in which thousands of Jews died or fled the country. Many of the people whom De Michelis suspects of involvement in the forgery were directly responsible for inciting the pogroms.

Political conspiracy background

Towards the end of the 18th century, following the Partitions of Poland, the Russian Empire inherited the world's largest Jewish population. The Jews lived in shtetls in the West of the Empire, in the Pale of Settlement and until the 1840s, local Jewish affairs were organised through the qahal, including for purposes of taxation and conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. Following the ascent of liberalism in Europe, the Russian ruling class became more hardline in its reactionary policies, upholding the banner of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality, whereby non-Orthodox and non-Russian subjects, including the Jews, were not always embraced. Jews who attempted to assimilate were regarded with suspicion as potential "infiltrators" supposedly trying to "take over society", while Jews who remained attached to traditional Jewish culture were resented as undesirable aliens.


The Book of the Kahal (1869) by Jacob Brafman, in the Russian language original.

Resentment towards Jews, for the aforementioned reasons, existed in Russian society, but the idea of a Protocols-esque international Jewish conspiracy for world domination was minted in the 1860s. Jacob Brafman, a Russian Jew from Minsk, had a falling out with agents of the local kahal – the semi-autonomous Jewish government – and consequently turned against Judaism. He subsequently converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and authored polemics against the Talmud and the kahal.[4] Brafman claimed in his books The Local and Universal Jewish Brotherhoods (1868) and The Book of the Kahal (1869), published in Vilna, that the kahal continued to exist in secret and that it had as its principal aim undermining Christian entrepreneurs, taking over their property and ultimately seizing power. He also claimed that it was an international conspiratorial network, under the central control of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, which was based in Paris and then under the leadership of Adolphe Crémieux, a prominent freemason.[4] The Vilna Talmudist, Jacob Barit, attempted to refute Brafman's claim.

The impact of Brafman's work took on an international aspect, as it was translated into English, French, German and other languages. The image of the "kahal" as a secret international Jewish shadow government working as a state within a state was picked up by anti-Jewish publications in Russia and was taken seriously by some Russian officials such as P. A. Cherevin and Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev who in the 1880s urged governor-generals of provinces to seek out the supposed kahal. This was around the time of the Narodnaya Volya assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and the subsequent pogroms. In France it was translated by Monsignor Ernest Jouin in 1925, who supported the Protocols. In 1928, Siegfried Passarge, a geographer active in the Third Reich, translated it into German.

Aside from Brafman, there were other early writings which posited a similar concept to the Protocols. This includes The Conquest of the World by the Jews (1878),[5] published in Basel and authored by Osman Bey (born Frederick Millingen). Millingen was a British subject of Dutch-Jewish extraction (the grandson of James Millingen), but served as an officer in the Ottoman Army where he was born. He converted to Islam, but later became a Russian Orthodox Christian. Bey's work was followed up by Hippolytus Lutostansky's The Talmud and the Jews (1879) which claimed that Jews wanted to divide Russia among themselves.[6] Incidentally, in a 1904 edition of The Talmud and the Jews, Hippolytus directly quoted verbatim the first, little-known 1903 edition of the Protocols.[7]

Sources employed

Source material for the forgery consisted jointly of Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu (Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu), an 1864 political satire by Maurice Joly;[8] and a chapter from Biarritz, an 1868 novel by the antisemitic German novelist Hermann Goedsche, which had been translated into Russian in 1872.[9]

A major source for the Protocols was Der Judenstaat by Theodor Herzl, which was referred to as Zionist Protocols in its initial French and Russian editions. Paradoxically, early Russian editions of the Protocols assert that they did not come from a Zionist organization.[10] The text, which nowhere advocates for Zionism, resembles a parody of Herzl's ideas.[11]

Literary forgery

The Protocols is one of the best-known and most-discussed examples of literary forgery, with analysis and proof of its fraudulent origin going as far back as 1921.[12] The forgery is an early example of "conspiracy theory" literature.[13] Written mainly in the first person plural,[a] the text includes generalizations, truisms, and platitudes on how to take over the world: take control of the media and the financial institutions, change the traditional social order, etc. It does not contain specifics.[15]

Maurice Joly

Elements of the Protocols were plagiarized from Joly's fictional Dialogue in Hell, a thinly veiled attack on the political ambitions of Napoleon III, who, represented by the non-Jewish character Machiavelli,[16] plots to rule the world. Joly, a monarchist and legitimist, was imprisoned in France for 15 months as a direct result of his book's publication. Scholars have noted the irony that Dialogue in Hell was itself a plagiarism, at least in part, of a novel by Eugène Sue, Les Mystères du Peuple (1849–56).[17]

Identifiable phrases from Joly constitute 4% of the first half of the first edition, and 12% of the second half; later editions, including most translations, have longer quotes from Joly.[18]

The Protocols 1–19 closely follow the order of Maurice Joly's Dialogues 1–17. For example:

Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu
How are loans made? By the issue of bonds entailing on the Government the obligation to pay interest proportionate to the capital it has been paid. Thus, if a loan is at 5%, the State, after 20 years, has paid out a sum equal to the borrowed capital. When 40 years have expired it has paid double, after 60 years triple: yet it remains debtor for the entire capital sum.
— Montesquieu, Dialogues, p. 209

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
A loan is an issue of Government paper which entails an obligation to pay interest amounting to a percentage of the total sum of the borrowed money. If a loan is at 5%, then in 20 years the Government would have unnecessarily paid out a sum equal to that of the loan in order to cover the percentage. In 40 years it will have paid twice; and in 60 thrice that amount, but the loan will still remain as an unpaid debt.
— Protocols, p. 77

Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu
Like the god Vishnu, my press will have a hundred arms, and these arms will give their hands to all the different shades of opinion throughout the country.
— Machiavelli, Dialogues, p. 141

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
These newspapers, like the Indian god Vishnu, will be possessed of hundreds of hands, each of which will be feeling the pulse of varying public opinion.
— Protocols, p. 43

Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu
Now I understand the figure of the god Vishnu; you have a hundred arms like the Indian idol, and each of your fingers touches a spring.
— Montesquieu, Dialogues, p. 207

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Our Government will resemble the Hindu god Vishnu. Each of our hundred hands will hold one spring of the social machinery of State.
— Protocols, p. 65

Philip Graves brought this plagiarism to light in a series of articles in The Times in 1921, the first published evidence that the Protocols was not an authentic document.[19][20]

Hermann Goedsche

"Goedsche was a postal clerk and a spy for the Prussian Secret Police. He had been forced to leave the postal work due to his part in forging evidence in the prosecution against the Democratic leader Benedict Waldeck in 1849."[21] Following his dismissal, Goedsche began a career as a conservative columnist, and wrote literary fiction under the pen name Sir John Retcliffe.[22] His 1868 novel Biarritz (To Sedan) contains a chapter called "The Jewish Cemetery in Prague and the Council of Representatives of the Twelve Tribes of Israel." In it, Goedsche (who was unaware that only two of the original twelve Biblical "tribes" remained) depicts a clandestine nocturnal meeting of members of a mysterious rabbinical cabal that is planning a diabolical "Jewish conspiracy." At midnight, the Devil appears to contribute his opinions and insight. The chapter closely resembles a scene in Alexandre Dumas' Giuseppe Balsamo (1848), in which Joseph Balsamo a.k.a. Alessandro Cagliostro and company plot the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.[23]

In 1872 a Russian translation of "The Jewish Cemetery in Prague" appeared in Saint Petersburg as a separate pamphlet of purported non-fiction. François Bournand, in his Les Juifs et nos Contemporains (1896), reproduced the soliloquy at the end of the chapter, in which the character Levit expresses as factual the wish that Jews be "kings of the world in 100 years" —crediting a "Chief Rabbi John Readcliff." Perpetuation of the myth of the authenticity of Goedsche's story, in particular the "Rabbi's speech", facilitated later accounts of the equally mythical authenticity of the Protocols.[22] Like the Protocols, many asserted that the fictional "rabbi's speech" had a ring of authenticity, regardless of its origin: "This speech was published in our time, eighteen years ago," read an 1898 report in La Croix, "and all the events occurring before our eyes were anticipated in it with truly frightening accuracy."[24]

Fictional events in Joly's Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu, which appeared four years before Biarritz, may well have been the inspiration for Goedsche's fictional midnight meeting, and details of the outcome of the supposed plot. Goedsche's chapter may have been an outright plagiarism of Joly, Dumas père, or both.[25]

Structure and content

The Protocols purports to document the minutes of a late-19th-century meeting attended by world Jewish leaders, the "Elders of Zion", who are conspiring to take over the world.[26][27]

The forgery places in the mouths of the Jewish leaders a variety of plans, most of which derive from older antisemitic canards.[26][27] For example, the Protocols includes plans to subvert the morals of the non-Jewish world, plans for Jewish bankers to control the world's economies, plans for Jewish control of the press, and – ultimately – plans for the destruction of civilization.[26][27] The document consists of twenty-four "protocols", which have been analyzed by Steven Jacobs and Mark Weitzman, who documented several recurrent themes that appear repeatedly in the 24 protocols,[c] as shown in the following table:[28]

Protocol / Title[28] / Themes[28]

1 / The Basic Doctrine: "Right Lies in Might" / Freedom and Liberty; Authority and power; Gold = money
2 / Economic War and Disorganization Lead to International Government / International Political economic conspiracy; Press/Media as tools
3 / Methods of Conquest / Jewish people, arrogant and corrupt; Chosenness/Election; Public Service
4 / The Destruction of Religion by Materialism / Business as Cold and Heartless; Gentiles as slaves
5 / Despotism and Modern Progress / Jewish Ethics; Jewish People's Relationship to Larger Society
6 / The Acquisition of Land, The Encouragement of Speculation / Ownership of land
7 / A Prophecy of Worldwide War / Internal unrest and discord (vs. Court system) leading to war vs Shalom/Peace
8 / The transitional Government / Criminal element
9 / The All-Embracing Propaganda / Law; education; Freemasonry
10 / Abolition of the Constitution; Rise of the Autocracy / Politics; Majority rule; Liberalism; Family
11 / The Constitution of Autocracy and Universal Rule / Gentiles; Jewish political involvement; Freemasonry
12 / The Kingdom of the Press and Control / Liberty; Press censorship; Publishing
13 / Turning Public Thought from Essentials to Non-essentials / Gentiles; Business; Chosenness/Election; Press and censorship; Liberalism
14 / The Destruction of Religion as a Prelude to the Rise of the Jewish God / Judaism; God; Gentiles; Liberty; Pornography
15 / Utilization of Masonry: Heartless Suppression of Enemies / Gentiles; Freemasonry; Sages of Israel; Political power and authority; King of Israel
16 / The Nullification of Education / Education
17 / The Fate of Lawyers and the Clergy / Lawyers; Clergy; Christianity and non-Jewish Authorship
18 / The Organization of Disorder / Evil; Speech;
19 / Mutual Understanding Between Ruler and People / Gossip; Martyrdom
20 / The Financial Program and Construction / Taxes and Taxation; Loans; Bonds; Usury; Moneylending
21 / Domestic Loans and Government Credit / Stock Markets and Stock Exchanges
22 / The Beneficence of Jewish Rule / Gold = Money; Chosenness/Election
23 / The Inculcation of Obedience / Obedience to Authority; Slavery; Chosenness/Election
24 / The Jewish Ruler / Kingship; Document as Fiction

History

Publication history

The Protocols appeared in print in the Russian Empire as early as 1903, published as a series of articles in Znamya, a Black Hundreds newspaper owned by Pavel Krushevan. It appeared again in 1905 as the final chapter (Chapter XII) of the second edition of Velikoe v malom i antikhrist ("The Great in the Small & Antichrist"), a book by Sergei Nilus. In 1906, it appeared in pamphlet form edited by Georgy Butmi de Katzman.[29]

These first three (and subsequently more) Russian language imprints were published and circulated in the Russian Empire during the 1903–6 period as a tool for scapegoating Jews, blamed by the monarchists for the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and the Revolution of 1905. Common to all three texts is the idea that Jews aim for world domination. Since The Protocols are presented as merely a document, the front matter and back matter are needed to explain its alleged origin. The diverse imprints, however, are mutually inconsistent. The general claim is that the document was stolen from a secret Jewish organization. Since the alleged original stolen manuscript does not exist, one is forced to restore a purported original edition. This has been done by the Italian scholar, Cesare G. De Michelis in 1998, in a work which was translated into English and published in 2004, where he treats his subject as Apocrypha.[29][30]

As fiction in the genre of literature, the tract was further analyzed by Umberto Eco in his novel Foucault's Pendulum in 1988 (English translation in 1989), in 1994 in chapter 6, "Fictional Protocols", of his Six Walks in the Fictional Woods and in his 2010 novel The Prague Cemetery.

As the Russian Revolution unfolded, causing White movement-affiliated Russians to flee to the West, this text was carried along and assumed a new purpose. Until then, The Protocols had remained obscure;[30] it now became an instrument for blaming Jews for the Russian Revolution. It became a tool, a political weapon, used against the Bolsheviks who were depicted as overwhelmingly Jewish, allegedly executing the "plan" embodied in The Protocols. The purpose was to discredit the October Revolution, prevent the West from recognizing the Soviet Union, and bring about the downfall of Vladimir Lenin's regime.[29][30]

First Russian language editions

Conspiracy references

According to Daniel Pipes,

The great importance of The Protocols lies in its permitting antisemites to reach beyond their traditional circles and find a large international audience, a process that continues to this day. The forgery poisoned public life wherever it appeared; it was "self-generating; a blueprint that migrated from one conspiracy to another."[31] The book's vagueness—almost no names, dates, or issues are specified—has been one key to this wide-ranging success. The purportedly Jewish authorship also helps to make the book more convincing. Its embrace of contradiction—that to advance, Jews use all tools available, including capitalism and communism, philo-Semitism and antisemitism, democracy and tyranny—made it possible for The Protocols to reach out to all: rich and poor, Right and Left, Christian and Muslim, American and Japanese.[15]

Pipes notes that the Protocols emphasizes recurring themes of conspiratorial antisemitism: "Jews always scheme", "Jews are everywhere", "Jews are behind every institution", "Jews obey a central authority, the shadowy 'Elders'", and "Jews are close to success."[32]

The Protocols is widely considered influential in the development of other conspiracy theories[citation needed], and reappears repeatedly in contemporary conspiracy literature, such as Jim Marrs' Rule by Secrecy, which identifies the work as a Czarist forgery. Some recent editions proclaim that the "Jews" depicted in the Protocols are a cover identity for other conspirators such as the Illuminati,[33] Freemasons, the Priory of Sion, or even, in the opinion of David Icke, "extra-dimensional entities."[citation needed]

Emergence in Russia


The front piece of a 1912 edition using occult symbols.

The chapter "In the Jewish Cemetery in Prague" from Goedsche's Biarritz, with its strong antisemitic theme containing the alleged rabbinical plot against the European civilization, was translated into Russian as a separate pamphlet in 1872.[9] However, in 1921, Princess Catherine Radziwill gave a private lecture in New York in which she claimed that the Protocols were a forgery compiled in 1904–5 by Russian journalists Matvei Golovinski and Manasevich-Manuilov at the direction of Pyotr Rachkovsky, Chief of the Russian secret service in Paris.[34]

In 1944, German writer Konrad Heiden identified Golovinski as an author of the Protocols.[33] Radziwill's account was supported by Russian historian Mikhail Lepekhine, who published his findings in November 1999 in the French newsweekly L'Express.[35] Lepekhine considers the Protocols a part of a scheme to persuade Tsar Nicholas II that the modernization of Russia was really a Jewish plot to control the world.[36] Stephen Eric Bronner writes that groups opposed to progress, parliamentarianism, urbanization, and capitalism, and an active Jewish role in these modern institutions, were particularly drawn to the antisemitism of the document.[37] Ukrainian scholar Vadim Skuratovsky offers extensive literary, historical and linguistic analysis of the original text of the Protocols and traces the influences of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's prose (in particular, The Grand Inquisitor and The Possessed) on Golovinski's writings, including the Protocols.[36]

Golovinski's role in the writing of the Protocols is disputed by Michael Hagemeister, Richard Levy and Cesare De Michelis, who each write that the account which involves him is historically unverifiable and to a large extent provably wrong.[38][39][40]

In his book The Non-Existent Manuscript, Italian scholar Cesare G. De Michelis studies early Russian publications of the Protocols. The Protocols were first mentioned in the Russian press in April 1902, by the Saint Petersburg newspaper Novoye Vremya (Новое Время – The New Times). The article was written by famous conservative publicist Mikhail Menshikov as a part of his regular series "Letters to Neighbors" ("Письма к ближним") and was titled "Plots against Humanity". The author described his meeting with a lady (Yuliana Glinka, as it is known now) who, after telling him about her mystical revelations, implored him to get familiar with the documents later known as the Protocols; but after reading some excerpts, Menshikov became quite skeptical about their origin and did not publish them.[41]

Krushevan and Nilus editions

The Protocols were published at the earliest, in serialized form, from August 28 to September 7 (O.S.) 1903, in Znamya, a Saint Petersburg daily newspaper, under Pavel Krushevan. Krushevan had initiated the Kishinev pogrom four months earlier.[42]

In 1905, Sergei Nilus published the full text of the Protocols in Chapter XII, the final chapter (pp 305–417), of the second edition (or third, according to some sources) of his book, Velikoe v malom i antikhrist, which translates as "The Great within the Small: The Coming of the Anti-Christ and the Rule of Satan on Earth". He claimed it was the work of the First Zionist Congress, held in 1897 in Basel, Switzerland.[29] When it was pointed out that the First Zionist Congress had been open to the public and was attended by many non-Jews, Nilus changed his story, saying the Protocols were the work of the 1902–3 meetings of the Elders, but contradicting his own prior statement that he had received his copy in 1901:

In 1901, I succeeded through an acquaintance of mine (the late Court Marshal Alexei Nikolayevich Sukotin of Chernigov) in getting a manuscript that exposed with unusual perfection and clarity the course and development of the secret Jewish Freemasonic conspiracy, which would bring this wicked world to its inevitable end. The person who gave me this manuscript guaranteed it to be a faithful translation of the original documents that were stolen by a woman from one of the highest and most influential leaders of the Freemasons at a secret meeting somewhere in France—the beloved nest of Freemasonic conspiracy.[43]

Stolypin's fraud investigation, 1905

A subsequent secret investigation ordered by Pyotr Stolypin, the newly appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers, came to the conclusion that the Protocols first appeared in Paris in antisemitic circles around 1897–1898.[44] When Nicholas II learned of the results of this investigation, he requested, "The Protocols should be confiscated, a good cause cannot be defended by dirty means."[45] Despite the order, or because of the "good cause", numerous reprints proliferated.[42]

The Protocols in the West


A 1934 edition by the Patriotic Publishing Company of Chicago.

In the United States, The Protocols are to be understood in the context of the First Red Scare (1917–20). The text was purportedly brought to the United States by a Russian army officer in 1917; it was translated into English by Natalie de Bogory (personal assistant of Harris A. Houghton, an officer of the Department of War) in June 1918,[46] and Russian expatriate Boris Brasol soon circulated it in American government circles, specifically diplomatic and military, in typescript form,[47] a copy of which is archived by the Hoover Institute.[48] It also appeared in 1919 in the Public Ledger as a pair of serialized newspaper articles. But all references to "Jews" were replaced with references to Bolsheviki as an exposé by the journalist and subsequently highly respected Columbia University School of Journalism dean Carl W. Ackerman.[49] [48]

In 1923, there appeared an anonymously edited pamphlet by the Britons Publishing Society, a successor to The Britons, an entity created and headed by Henry Hamilton Beamish. This imprint was allegedly a translation by Victor E. Marsden, who died in October 1920.[48]

Most versions substantially involve "protocols", or minutes of a speech given in secret involving Jews who are organized as Elders, or Sages, of Zion,[50] and underlies 24 protocols that are supposedly followed by the Jewish people. The Protocols has been proven to be a literary forgery and hoax as well as a clear case of plagiarism.[20][51][52][53][54]

English language imprints

On October 27 and 28, 1919, the Philadelphia Public Ledger published excerpts of an English language translation as the "Red Bible," deleting all references to the purported Jewish authorship and re-casting the document as a Bolshevik manifesto.[55] The author of the articles was the paper's correspondent at the time, Carl W. Ackerman, who later became the head of the journalism department at Columbia University. On May 8, 1920, an article[56] in The Times followed German translation and appealed for an inquiry into what it called an "uncanny note of prophecy". In the leader (editorial) titled "The Jewish Peril, a Disturbing Pamphlet: Call for Inquiry", Wickham Steed wrote about The Protocols:

What are these 'Protocols'? Are they authentic? If so, what malevolent assembly concocted these plans and gloated over their exposition? Are they forgery? If so, whence comes the uncanny note of prophecy, prophecy in part fulfilled, in part so far gone in the way of fulfillment?".[57]

Steed retracted his endorsement of The Protocols after they were exposed as a forgery.[58]

United States


Title page of 1920 edition from Boston.

In the US, Henry Ford sponsored the printing of 500,000 copies,[59] and, from 1920 to 1922, published a series of antisemitic articles titled "The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem", in The Dearborn Independent, a newspaper he owned. The articles were later collected into multi-volume book series of the same name.[60] In 1921, Ford cited evidence of a Jewish threat: "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on. They are 16 years old, and they have fitted the world situation up to this time."[61] Robert A. Rosenbaum wrote that "In 1927, bowing to legal and economic pressure, Ford issued a retraction and apology—while disclaiming personal responsibility—for the anti-Semitic articles and closed the Dearborn Independent in 1927.[62] He was also an admirer of Nazi Germany.[63]

In 1934, an anonymous editor expanded the compilation with "Text and Commentary" (pp 136–41). The production of this uncredited compilation was a 300-page book, an inauthentic expanded edition of the twelfth chapter of Nilus's 1905 book on the coming of the anti-Christ. It consists of substantial liftings of excerpts of articles from Ford's antisemitic periodical The Dearborn Independent. This 1934 text circulates most widely in the English-speaking world, as well as on the internet. The "Text and Commentary" concludes with a comment on Chaim Weizmann's October 6, 1920, remark at a banquet: "A beneficent protection which God has instituted in the life of the Jew is that He has dispersed him all over the world". Marsden, who was dead by then, is credited with the following assertion:

It proves that the Learned Elders exist. It proves that Dr. Weizmann knows all about them. It proves that the desire for a "National Home" in Palestine is only camouflage and an infinitesimal part of the Jew's real object. It proves that the Jews of the world have no intention of settling in Palestine or any separate country, and that their annual prayer that they may all meet "Next Year in Jerusalem" is merely a piece of their characteristic make-believe. It also demonstrates that the Jews are now a world menace, and that the Aryan races will have to domicile them permanently out of Europe.[64]