Sir John Retcliffe

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Sir John Retcliffe was the pseudonym of the German writer Hermann Ottomar Friedrich Goedsche (February 12, 1815 Trachenberg, Silesia - November 8, 1878 Warmbrunn, today Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój in Jelenia Góra) primarily remembered for his antisemitism and the extent to which his fiction indirectly contributed to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

1 Life and work
- 1.1 Role in fabricating Jewish conspiracy
2 Works
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Life and work

In 1848 he worked for the Neuen Preußischen (Kreuz-)Zeitung, together with prominent Germans like Theodor Fontane, Otto von Bismarck and George Hesekiel. In 1853 he travelled as a journalist to Turkey.

Goedsche worked in the genre of historical romance novel, as typified by Walter Scott, Charles Sealsfield and Theodor Mügge, but he was also influenced by authors like Eugène Sue, Alexandre Dumas, père and George Hesekiel. Some of his works are critical of British colonialism. He was openly antisemitic.

Goedsche worked as a postal employee, but in reality he was an agent provocateur for the Prussian secret police. He forged letters which were used as evidence to frame democratic leaders. In 1849 he was caught after forging evidence in the prosecution of political reformer Benedict Waldeck and had to leave the postal service.

[edit] Role in fabricating Jewish conspiracy

In his 1868 book Biarritz, Goedsche plagiarized a book by the French satirist Maurice Joly, The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu, and made an addition: the chapter "At the Jewish Cemetery in Prague" described a secret rabbinical cabal, Council of Representatives of The Twelve Tribes of Israel (he clearly was ignorant that in the Jewish tradition, there remain only 2 tribes - 10 had vanished) which meets in the cemetery at midnight for one of their annual meetings. They report on the progress of their long-term conspiracy to establish the world domination. Among the methods to achieve this goal is the acquisition of landed property, the transformation of craftsmen in industrial workers, the infiltration into high public offices, the control of the press etc. The chairman Levit expresses at the end of the meeting the desire to be the kings of the world in 100 years. This „speech of the rabbis“ was frequently quoted later; in the Nazi Germany the chapter was re-printed independently in many editions. To portray the meeting, Goedsche borrowed heavily from the scene in the novel Joseph Balsamo by Alexandre Dumas, père in which Alessandro Cagliostro and company plot the affair of the diamond necklace, and likewise borrowed Joly's Dialogues as the outcome of the meeting.

After Goedsche's death, an extract from the chapter containing his fictional "secret cabal" circulated in the Russian Empire. In the 1890s, Goedsche's version was in turn plagiarized by Matvei Golovinski and adapted into what came to be known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

[edit] Works

as Theodor Armin: Der letzte Wäringer. Historisch politische Novelle aus den letzten Tagen Constantinopels 1835
with Burg Frankenstein: Vaterländische Romaneske aus den Zeiten Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossas, 3 volumes 1836
Die Sage vom Ottilien-Stein, 1836
Die steinernen Tänzer. Romantische Sage aus Schlesiens Vorzeit, 2 vols 1837
Nächte. Romantische Skizzen aus dem Leben und der Zeit, 2 vols 1838-1839
Schlesischer Sagen-, Historien- und Legendenschatz 1839-1840
as Willibald Piersig: Mysterien der Berliner Demokratie 1848
anonymously: Enthüllungen 1849
Die Russen nach Constantinopel! Ein Beitrag zur orientalischen Frage 1854
Sebastobol. Historisch-politischer Roman aus der Gegenwart, 4 vols 1855-1857
Nena Sahib, oder: Die Empörung in Indien. Historisch-politischer Roman 1858-1859
Villafranca, oder: Die Kabinette und die Revolutionen. Historisch-politischer Roman aus der Gegenwart, 3 vols 1860-1862
Biarritz. Historisch-politischer Roman, 3 vols 1868
Um die Weltherrschaft (sequel to Biarritz), 5 vols 1877-79

[edit] See also

Karl May

[edit] References

Norman Cohn: Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. 1st ed London, 1967. Excerpts dealing a. o. with Retcliffe
Volker Klotz: Abenteuer-Romane. Sue, Dumas, Ferry, Retcliffe, May, Verne. München u.a.: Hanser 1979 ISBN 3-446-12690-2
Ralf-Peter Märtin: Wunschpotentiale. Geschichte und Gesellschaft in Abenteuerromanen von Retcliffe, Armand, May. Königstein/Taunus: Hain 1983 (Literatur in der Geschichte, Geschichte in der Literatur; 10) ISBN 3-445-02302-6
Volker Neuhaus: Der zeitgeschichtliche Sensationsroman in Deutschland 1855-1878. "Sir John Retcliffe" und seine Schule. Berlin: Schmidt 1980. ISBN 3-503-01628-7