John S. Curtiss

John S. Curtiss, John Shelton Curtiss (b. 1899), is an American historian, and historical scholar of old Yankee stock.

In 1940 Curtiss received the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize from the American Historical Association for "Church and State in Russia, 1900–1917". [http://www.historians.org/prizes/AWARDED/AdamsWinner.htm]

During World War II, in 1941 and 1942, while Jews were being, or about to be, exterminated by the Nazis in Europe, Curtiss published his 118 page monograph denying the truth and authenticity of the so-called "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". It is to be noted that this was accomplished years before Norman Cohn had published his work on the subject, "Warrant for Genocide" (1967). This work was endorsed by no less than thirteen (13) of the top American historians at universities throughout the country, as attested to in the work's "Foreword". Thereby, this book was effectively an appraisal (the leading word of its title) of the authenticity of the text published under various titles, editions, and imprints. The finding was, by all 14 historians, that the Protocols of Zion are, "beyond doubt," a "rank and pernicious forgery." In brief, "The Protocols" have failed Curtiss's test of authentication.

The names, titles, and positions of the notable and distinguishe American historians who so subscribed to Curtiss' finding are:

*CARL L. BECKER, Professor of History in Cornell University and Former President of the American Historical Association

*E. MALCOLM CARROLL, Professor of History in Duke University

*SIDNEY B. FAY, Professor of History in Harvard University

*DIXON RYAN FOX, President of Union College

*WALTER P. HALL, Dodge Professor of History in Princeton University

*RALPH V. HARLOW, Professor of History in Syracuse University

*CARLTON J. H. HAYES, Seth Low Professor of History in Columbia University

*WILLIAM L. LANCER, Coolidge Professor of History in Harvard University

*DANA G. MUNRO, Director of School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

*ALLAN NEVINS, Professor of History in Columbia University

*THAD W. RIKER, Professor of History in the University of Texas

*GEROID T. ROBINSON, Professor of Russian History in Columbia University

*BERNADOTTE E. SCHMITT, Professor of Modern History in the University of Chicago

Works

*"An Appraisal of the "Protocols of Zion":(New York: Columbia University Press, 1942)

*"Russian church and the Soviet state" 1917-1950" (1953)

*"Russian revolutions of 1917" (1957)

*"Essays in Russian and Soviet History, in Honor of Geroid Tanquary Robinson":(New York: Columbia Univ Press, 1963):ISBN 0231025211 (0-231-02521-1)

*"Church and state in Russia" (1965)

*"Essays in Russian and Soviet history" (1965)

*"Russian Army under Nicholas I, 1825-1855" (1965)

*"Russian church and the Soviet state" 1917-1950" (1965)

*"Peasant in nineteenth-century Russia", edited by Wayne S. Vucinich:Contributors: John S. Curtiss [and others] (1968)

*"Russia's Crimean War" (1979)

*"Russian revolutions of 1917" (1982)

Award

In 1940 Curtiss received the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize from the American Historical Association for "Church and State in Russia, 1900–1917". [http://www.historians.org/prizes/AWARDED/AdamsWinner.htm]

References

*"Warrant for Genocide", Norman Cohn (London: [1967] 1996).

See also

*Warrant for Genocide
*Protocols of the Elders of Zion

External links

*Review by Edward M. Hulme of "An Appraisal of the "Protocols of Zion" (1942) [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1840776]