Waterstones apologises for finding ‘horrifying’ anti-Semitic book in bookstore

July 16, 2024

Waterstones has apologised after a “horrifying” anti-Semitic book was found on the shelves of a major Irish bookstore.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zionwhich inspired Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, was discovered in Waterstones subsidiary Hodges Figgis in Dublin before a customer complained and the book was removed.

Consultant Daniel Epstein-O’Dowd, 28, said he was “horrified” when he found the anti-Jewish text for sale in the store’s “Judaism” section while shopping with his wife.

He said The Independent: “It was appalling to see a text that incited violence against Jews around the world being distributed so openly, not to mention being included in the section on Judaism as if it were an authority on the Jewish faith.

“If we had not spoken out, this book might have been picked up and dangerously tainted a person’s entire view of the Jewish community and the Jewish faith.”

“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” was removed from Waterstones’ range following a customer complaint (Daniel Epstein-O’Dowd)

A Waterstones spokesman said The Independent She didn’t have the book in stock and investigated why it was on the shelves of the Dublin bookshop.

Published in 1903, the book was written by Russian Sergei Nilus and fabricated a series of meetings of Jewish leaders who planned to gain world domination by manipulating the economy and controlling the media. In the 1920s and 1930s The Protocols of the Elders of Zion played a role in the Nazi propaganda campaigns.

Between 1919 and 1939, the Nazi Party published at least 23 editions of this text. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, the book was used in some schools to indoctrinate students.

Oliver Sears of Holocaust Awareness Ireland said: “This book made a horrifying contribution to the persecution and murder of the Jews.

A forged text from the turn of the century, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” continues to attract anti-Semitic believers to this day (Wikicommons)

“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion has no place in a post-Holocaust world. It is incredible that a copy was found in the Jewish Interest Department at Hodges Figgis.

“It is imperative that Hodges Figgis understands (the text’s) contribution to the destruction of Jewish communities in the 20th century and its continuing influence on anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”

A Waterstones spokesman said The Independent: “We do not stock any products and make every effort to ensure that they are not available online. The Protocols of the Elders of Zionand other anti-Semitic books of this kind.

“From time to time, new editions or texts are listed by publishers or print-on-demand platforms and our filters cannot exclude them.

“In such circumstances, we remove them immediately upon becoming aware of them. In this case, we have removed the listing of Hodges Figgis and apologized for not realizing ourselves that the book was listed.

“This should not have happened and we are investigating how our filters can be improved so that they work more reliably in the future.”