''Znamya'' ("''Banner''", russian: Знамя) was a newspaper established by
ultra-nationalist
Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...
Black Hundreds journalist
Pavel Krushevan
Pavel Aleksandrovich Krushevan (russian: Павел Александрович Крушеван; ro, Pavel Crușeveanu) ( – ) was a journalist, editor, publisher and an official in Imperial Russia. He was an active Black Hundredist and was k ...
in
Petersburg. It is known for publishing of the "
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...
" in August–September 1903.
Bibliographical controversies
There is no consensus regarding the start time of the newspaper. The main source of controversy is "
Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary", a Russian analogue of 1911 ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
''.
* Article "Znamya, a newspaper in St.-Petersburg" ("russian: Знамя, с.-петербургская газета") says that this newspaper was established by its editor and publisher Krushevan in 1902 and describes the position of this edition as "extreme misoneism and anti-Semitism".
* However, the article "Krushevan, Pavel Alexandrovich" says that "Znamya" was established at the end of 1903, and that "this newspaper was short-lived".
![Pavel Krushevan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Pavel_Krushevan.jpg)
Given the fact that the issues containing the scandalous publication of "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" came out in print in August–September, the assertion about the end of ''1903'' is a misprint. An additional indirect indication favouring this assumption is the numbering of these issues (nn.190–200).
De Michelis and Richard Newhouse also claim that "the Nilus version with its preface was published for the first time in the St.Petersburg newspaper ''Znamja'' (1903)".
As for the discrepancy between the "end of 1902" and the "beginning of 1903", it is a trivial case for dating events in the
pre-revolutionary Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. Only in 1918 did the
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s abandon the
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
(which already lagged behind in the 20th century by 13 days) and introduce the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
, as in United States and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
.
Minor controversy may arise due to confusion caused by the similarity of the names of newspapers, which were subsequently founded by the same Pavel Krushevan, and which reflected in that or another way his same anti-Semitic bias. These are the above-mentioned "Znamya" (end 1902–1903) and "Russkoye Znamya" ("Russian Banner", russian: Русское Знамя, 1905–1917).
Protocols' publication
According to
Cesare G. De Michelis
Cesare G. De Michelis (born 20 April 1944 in Rome) is a scholar and professor of Russian literature at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy.
Biography
He is also an authority on the notorious plagiarism, hoax, and literary forgery known as ...
in ''The Non-Existent Manuscript: A Study of the Protocols of the Sages of Zion'' (2004), the first publicly published edition of the
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...
was in August (13 days later in September by the Old Style) of 1903 in ''Znamya''.
The text was serialized into nine issues, each carrying a headline "The Jewish Programme of the Conquest of the World" (russian: Программа завоевания мира евреями). Actually the document itself was entitled "The Protocols of the Sessions of the World Alliance of Freemasons and of the Sages of Zion", however by giving such a headline the editor anticipated, if not imposed, perceptions and conclusions of the readers.
The ''Znamya'' edition of the Protocols contained several notable differences from later editions. For example, it included Old Testament quotes later omitted. It made no mention of the Freemasons, which are prevalent in later editions. Paraphrases of
Maurice Joly
Maurice Joly (22 September 1829 – 15 July 1878) was a French political writer and lawyer known for '' The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu'', a political satire of Napoleon III.
Known life
Most of the known informati ...
were mostly, but not entirely, lacking.
This edition of the Protocols has never been translated.
References
External links
History of The Protocols
{{DEFAULTSORT:Znamya (Newspaper)
Jews and Judaism in the Russian Empire
Newspapers published in the Russian Empire
Political forgery
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Publications established in 1902
Publications disestablished in 1903
Propaganda newspapers and magazines
Russian-language newspapers
Mass media in Saint Petersburg
Antisemitic publications
Defunct newspapers published in Russia