IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1556 WL 543a
Held at: Wiener Library
Title: von Freyenwald, Hans Jonak (b 1878): papers regarding the Bern trial of the'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'
Date(s): 1937
Level of description: collection
Extent: 3 files
Name of creator(s): Law firm: Roth, Ruef & Joss, Bern, Switzerland
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
This collection of correspondence and papers relates to the infamous Bern trial of the distributors of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', in particular to the appeal, which took place between 27 October and 1 November 1937, in which the original verdict, convicting the distributors of falsification and plagiarism, was overturned on a legal technicality, although the appellants were not compensated.
The material was originally housed in a folder entitled 'Protokolle Prozess Bern Appellation' (front cover); 'Bern Protokolle Prozess II Instanz' (spine). Their custodial history prior to deposit is unknown. At some point they came into the possession of Hans Jonak von Freyenwald, and were subsequently referred to as the 'Freyenwald Collection at the Wiener Library'.
Jonak von Freyenwald, born 1878 in Vienna; held various civil service posts until retirement in 1922. He worked for the Anti-semitic organisation Weltdienst between 1934 and 1940 in Erfurt, then Frankfurt. Between 1934 and 1937 he worked as an academic assistant for the Swiss defendants and their lawyers in the Bern trial of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Correspondence and papers relates to the Bern trial of the distributors of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', 1937; notably correspondence and papers relating to witnesses and testimony; account of the trial proceedings and the origins of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' by one of the appellants' lawyers; draft summation of the case for the appellants at the appeal court, Bern, with detailed contents and bibliography.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: German
System of arrangement:
Chronological
Conditions governing access:
Open
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
The material emanates from the offices of the appellants legal team - many of the papers bear the stamp of the law firm Roth, Ruef & Joss, Bern, Bahnhofplatz 6.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Jewish Central Information Office
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Wiener Collection, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Publication note:
Lüthi, Urs, Der Mythos von der Weltverschwöung, (SIG, Basel and Frankfurt, 1992).
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn.
Date(s) of descriptions: October 2007