 Hagemeister's research into the origins of the "Protocols" led him to discount both the French origin of the document and the involvement of the Russian secret police.He discovered that the chief witness for the prosecution at the Berne trial had demanded a large sum of money in advance and that the plaintiffs themselves considered him highly suspect.His historical research supports the textual analysis of Cesare G. De Michelis, who concluded that the forgery was originally written in Russian in 1902–3 by unknown person(s).