Henry Ford

Introduction to the German translation of
Douglas Reed’s book
“The Controversy of Zion”
By Jürgen Graf

1. The Controversy of Zion

Douglas Reeds monumental work has two evident weaknesses which should be pointed out from the outset:

Reeds references are insufficient. For example, the title of Josef Kastein's “History and Destiny of the Jews” (1933), his most frequently quoted source, does not appear anywhere in the original English text; he simply keeps mentioning “Dr. Kastein's book”, and leaves it to the reader to find the title in the (surprisingly meager) bibliography in the appendix. In such cases I, as the translator, could correct that and insert the relevant book titles in the text. I could not find out on which page the quotations in question are to be found, for such information is not to be found in Reed's text, and the purchase of the original texts would have involved unreasonable expenses. Similarly with the newspaper articles: here one must be content when Reed mentions the name of the newspaper in question, and ideally also the date on which the quoted article was published. Often he gives as his source “A South African newspaper” which makes it impossible to trace the quotation.

In the frequent quotations from The Old Testament, especially in the first chapter, Reed typically mentions that it comes from, for example, “The Book of Leviticus” of “from The Book of Ezekiel”.  As a translation back from the English text was out of the question, I spent many days in finding the passages in question, and thus got to know The Old Testament better.

February 27, 2014

Carolyn Yeager and Hadding Scott discuss Henry Ford’s famous trial in 1927, his formal so-called “statement of apology,” and its effect on his long-term influence as an anti-Jewish voice.

• “The International Jew” series of articles in The Dearborn Independent covered every aspect of Jewish influence on and in America;
• Even after the articles that make up “The International Jew” were completed in Jan. 1922, The Dearborn Independent continued to publish tough criticism until 1927 (as in 1924 story at right);
• Jewish and liberal reaction against Ford’s newspaper was strong, but did not deter him,
• In 1925, lawyer and farm organizer Aaron Sapiro filed a one-million dollar  libel suit against Ford for the article shown at right — which went to trial in 1927;
• Rather than take the witness stand, Ford preferred to settle, agreeing to stop publishing The Dearborn Independent and destroy all existing pamphlets containing the articles;
• While Ford lived up to his agreement, in 1949 there appeared in England and the U.S. a 174-page one-volume abridgment of the text under the title of “The International Jew”;
• Today, The International Jew can be read on the Internet and bought in bookstores, so Henry Ford seems to have won.
  

Click Image to enlarge: The Dearborn Independent's April 19, 1924 investigative reporting on Aaron Sapiro and "pals" organizing of farmers -- calling it Jewish exploitation. Left to right: Albert D. Lasker, Sapiro, Eugene Meyer Jr, Bernard Baruch.

Note: We have been using the Noontide Press publication of The International Jew — The World’s Foremost Problem which can be found online here as a pdf file.