"This is one of the most anti-Semitic books on the market," federation spokesman Jiri Danicek said recently. "It invokes among the Czech Jewish community feelings of bitterness and disgust."

Although Tazbir concludes in the book that the premise of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" — that there is a Jewish conspiracy to rule the world — is unfounded, the Jewish federation opposed publication of the book because it contains a complete version of the notorious anti-Semitic tract.

Readers of Tazbir's book are inclined to give as much credence to the tract itself as to the historian's assessment of it, Danicek said.