Lucien Wolf

Lucien Wolf (20 January 1857 in London – 23 August 1930) was an English Jewish journalist, diplomat, historian, and advocate of rights for Jews and other minorities. While Wolf was devoted to minority rights, he opposed Jewish nationalism as expressed in Zionism, which he regarded as an incentive to anti-Semitism.

Career in journalism Wolf began his career in journalism as early as 1874, at the age of seventeen, becoming a writer for the Jewish World and remaining at this position until 1894; from 1905 to 1908, he would serve as its editor. He specialized in foreign affairs and diplomacy and became a highly respected expert on the subject.

In 1877, he became assistant director of the Public Leader. From 1890 to 1909, he was foreign editor of The Daily Graphic, writing under the pseudonym Diplomaticus. From 1895 to 1905, he wrote under the same pseudonym for the Fortnightly Review. As indicated by his pseudonym, Wolf's writings dealt primarily foreign affairs and diplomacy and he became a respected expert in these fields.

The outbreak of the anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia in 1881 sparked his interest in Jewish affairs. He became a sharp critic of the Tsarist autocracy and attempted to draw attention to the plight of Russian Jews. In 1912, Wolf founded and wrote a supplement named Darkest Russia to the Jewish Chronicle. With the outbreak of the First World War, Wolf's preference for the more liberal German government to the Russian practically ended his career in journalism, as the British were allied with Russia against Germany.

Anti-Zionism

Lucien Wolf was opposed to political Zionism. As an assimilationist, he believed Jewishness was a spiritual and religious identity and not a national one. He vigorously opposed the new Zionist movement that had been formed in Manchester. As a powerful editor, Wolf had access to ministers, whom he lobbied frantically to prevent the issuing of the Balfour Declaration. When the Declaration was made public on 2 November 1917, he soon co-founded the anti-Zionist League of British Jews.

Wolf understood Nahum Sokolow and Chaim Weizmann's position as threatening the nationality status of British Jews.

Conjoint Committee

In 1888, Lucien Wolf became a member of the Conjoint Foreign Committee, a coordinating organ of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anglo-Jewish Association. Around the start of the First World War, he was appointed secretary, which led to his contacts at the British Foreign Office. this is an edited compilation of articles – published previously in various periodicals – denying the authenticity of "The Protocols." The Jewish Bogey and the Forged Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (London 1920) 'Jews in the Canary Islands, Being a calendar of Jewish cases extracted from the records of the Canariote Inquisition in the collection of the Marquess of Bute', Jewish Historical Society (1926) "Report on the "Marranos" or Crypto-Jews of Portugal", Anglo-Jewish Association (1926)

Books The Russian Conspiracy or Russian Monopoly in Opposition to Britain Interest in the East (Birmingham 1877) Sir Moses Montefiore: A Centennial Biography with Selections from Letters and Journals (Paris, 1885) The Treves Family in England (1896) Menasseh ben Israel’s Mission to Oliver Cromwell (1901) Introduction: in E Semenoff, The Russian Government and the Massacres: A Page of the Russian Counter-Revolution (London 1907) The Legal Sufferings of The Jews of Russia (London 1912) Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question: With Texts of Protocols, Treaty Stipulations and Other Public Acts and Official Documents (1919) The Myth of the Jewish Menace in World Affairs: The Truth about the Forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1920) The Myth of the Jewish Menace in World Affairs, or The Truth about the Forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1921) The Montefiore Family (c1921) The Geneboten Jubilee: The Romance of a Bohemian Village The Queen's Jewry 1837–1897 Anti-Semitism

Memoranda Memorandum on Russian discrimination against British Jews (Passport Question) (1890–1891) Memorandum and correspondence regarding Lucien Wolf's meeting with the Russian Minister of Interior Viacheslav Konstantinovich Plehve (1903) Outrages on the Jews (Appeal by the Russo-Jewish Committee) (1905) Memorandum on the treaty rights of Jews in Romania (1908) Memorandum on Russian discrimination against British Jews (Passport Question) (1912) Rights of British Jews Travelling in Russia" (1913) Conjoint Foreign Committee to Sir Edward Grey regarding British Jews in Russia (1913) Greetings to the [American Jewish] Congress from Lucien Wolf (1916) Report on the Polish Negotiations in Paris (1919) Report on his interview with Paderewski (1919) Romania and the Minorities Treaties – "Draft of a Treaty with Roumania" (1920) Memorandum on the Austrian Interpretation of Article 80 of the Treaty of St. Germain (1921) Russo-Jewish Refugees in Constantinople (1922) Report on Immigration Possibilities in Portugal and Spain (1926)