The Protocols circulated widely only from 1919, decades after forgery

Evidence

The time-lag between the formulation of the pan-movements’ ideology and the possibility of its serious political application is demonstrated by the fact that the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”—forged around 1900 by agents of the Russian secret police in Paris upon the suggestion of Pobyedonostzev, the political adviser of Nicholas II, and the only Pan-Slav ever in an influential position—remained a half-forgotten pamphlet until 1919, when it began its veritably triumphal procession through all European countries and languages; its circulation some thirty years later was second only to Hitler’s Mein Kampf. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 612

Categorization

• XREF: Pairs with the earlier rumor chapter on the Dreyfus Affair and later on propaganda; the time-lag makes a concrete case for ideology preceding political application — useful comparison point for the Islamophobia field’s own narratives vs. social conditions. — connects to: The international-Jew conspiracy framework predated the Protocols by decades — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1697