Category Archives: Europe

Watch “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: The Facts Surrounding a Fiction” talk by Dr Michael Hagemeister (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

A public talk by Dr Michael Hagemeister (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) with a response from Dr Reinhard Markner (Universität Innsbruck).   Investigations into the origin and early history of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” often lead to the border between fiction (or mystification) and historical fact. Furthermore, one can observe how this border is crossed: […]

Watch “Is Democracy Conspiratorial?” by Professor Samuel Moyn (Harvard)

Since the time of the abbé Barruel, the French Revolution – the source of democratic claims eventually the world over – has been unmasked as the outcome of a dark conspiracy. This talk examines some of the contemporary legacies of this claim about the secret agenda of democratic self-rule, with a focus on some famous […]

Watch “Anglo-American Conservatism & Transatlantic Threat” talk by Professor Kathy Olmsted (UC Davis)

Professor Olmsted’s (Professor and Chair of History at the University of California, Davis) talk examines British and American anticommunist conspiracy theories in the 1920s and 1930s. In both countries, former wartime intelligence agency chiefs set up private intelligence networks in the post-World War I era to spy upon and blacklist radicals — and, not incidentally, […]

Watch “Holocaust Denial: Flat Earth Theory?” talk by Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt (Emory)

Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt (Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University) visited the project in May 2014. Holocaust denial, the attempt to deny that the Third Reich engaged in the annihilation of approximately of six million Jews, has been depicted as a serious threat to historical truth. Others have dismissed […]

Watch “Conspiracy theories between secular scepticism + religious salvation” talk by Stef Aupers (Erasmus)

A Public Lecture by Conspiracy & Democracy Visiting Fellow Stef Aupers (Erasmus University of Rotterdam) In the social sciences, a conspiracy theory is often disqualified as ‘irrational’ superstition or religious belief. In defense, conspiracy theorists present their methods of inquiry as utterly rational – often even more scientific than ‘dogmatic’ institutionalized science. In this lecture, […]

Watch “Knowledge Gaps: The Early Modern Foundations” talk by Professor Cornel Zwierlein (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

A Public Lecture by Conspiracy & Democracy Visiting Fellow Professor Cornel Zwierlein (Ruhr-Universität Bochum). It seems as if Conspiracy Theories are a particularly modern phenomenon. By relying on some examples and cases, this lecture gives a long-term overview of what they looked like and when they appeared. We possess full-fledged conspiracy theory texts only since […]

Watch “Conspiracy Theories in France and Italy” talk by Dr Pascal Girard (Reims)

Dr Pascal Girard (Reims) speaks about ‘Conspiracy Theories in France and Italy during the Cold War and Decolonization’. Dr Girard’s talk explores how in the late forties and in the fifties, conspiracy was a significant concern in French and Italian politics. Dr Girard describes how the “red scare” greatly varied depending on the period, the […]

‘Tell a lie and find a troth’ – 6 Feb 2013 Reading Group

We discussed two texts today, Himmler’s Poznan speech and Francis Bacon’s ‘Of Simulation and Concealment’. Himmler’s speech was interesting from a number of perspectives, including the fact that by openly discussing the Nazi aim to eradicate the Jews, Himmler in effect implicated all the SS members present in the conspiracy whether they had participated in it or […]