| John Shelton Curtiss, American historian | |
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| Born | July 15, 1899 Buffalo, New York |
| Died | December, 1983, a resident of Honolulu, Hawaii ? , buried ? |
| The Protocols |
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First publication of The Protocols |
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Writers, editors, and publishers associated with The Protocols |
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Debunkers of The Protocols |
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Commentaries on The Protocols |
John Shelton Curtiss (July 15, 1899-December, 1983), was an American historian of Russia and historical scholar of old Yankee stock. Curtiss was a longtime professor of history at Duke University.
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John Shelton Curtiss was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of prominent attorney, Harlow C. Curtiss and Ethel (Mann) Curtiss. He received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1921 and his Ph.D. from Columbia University.
In 1940 Curtiss received the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize from the American Historical Association for Church and State in Russia, 1900–1917. [1] Curtiss also wrote The Peasant in nineteenth-century Russia with Wayne S. Vucinich.
During World War II, in 1941 and 1942, while Jews were being, or about to be, exterminated by the Nazis in Europe, Curtiss published his 118 page monograph denying the truth and authenticity of the so-called Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It is to be noted that this was accomplished years before Norman Cohn had published his work on the subject, Warrant for Genocide (1967). This work was endorsed by no less than thirteen (13) of the top American historians at universities throughout the country, as attested to in the work's Foreword. Thereby, this book was effectively an appraisal (the leading word of its title) of the authenticity of the text published under various titles, editions, and imprints. The finding was, by all 14 historians, that the Protocols of Zion are, "beyond doubt," a "rank and pernicious forgery." In brief, The Protocols have failed Curtiss's test of authentication.
The names, titles, and positions of the notable and distinguished American historians who so subscribed to Curtiss' finding are:
John Shelton Curtiss married Edna Sutter on September 21, 1925, in Buffalo, New York. She died May 22, 1981, in Durham, North Carolina.
He died in December, 1983, a resident of Honolulu, Hawaii.