The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion

This cover presents a globe dominated by a human head and serpent imagery—a visual propaganda device that became ubiquitous in antisemitic materials. Rather than pulp fiction, this document represents the forged Protocols, a fabricated text first circulated in Russia around 1903 and translated into multiple languages by the 1920s. Presented as Jewish meeting minutes outlining a supposed conspiracy for world domination, the Protocols became a foundational antisemitic conspiracy theory. The iconography—controlling figures, the serpent wrapping the world—recurs throughout hate literature. This forgery influenced genocidal ideology across Europe and beyond, demonstrating how propaganda design and manufactured narratives shaped twentieth-century violence.