Page:The History of a Lie (1921).djvu/26



“The description of the Jewish cemetery in Prague and the legendary story of the meeting of the representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel are borrowed from the historico-political novel by Sir John Radcliff, ‘To Sedan,’ published in the magazine edited by Nicholas Stepanovitch Lvoff.

“The contents of the legend are not the invention of Radcliff himself; rather Radcliff, with his characteristic fantastic imagination, collected various parts into one whole and painted all with poetic colors, which strike one perhaps by their excessive gaudiness, but which are nevertheless interesting.”

Passed by the Censor, St. Petersburg, May 17, 1872

This product of “Radcliff’s fantastic imagination,” the work of one experienced in the perpetration of forgeries, will now be permitted to tell its own story. It requires no commentary. It clearly foreshadows the protocols, with all its accompaniment of melodrama, not even omitting the Devil, himself.

“The Jewish quarter of Prague represents a remarkable labyrinth of crooked and narrow streets; it is situated in the outskirts of Prague which witnessed numerous bloody episodes of Bohemian and German history. The dwellers of the dirty and dilapidated houses of this quarter are engaged in petty