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Bezig met laden... Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and Americadoor Steven J. Ross
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A 2018 FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE The chilling, little-known story of the rise of Nazism in Los Angeles, and the Jewish leaders and spies they recruited who stopped it. No American city was more important to the Nazis than Los Angeles, home to Hollywood, the greatest propaganda machine in the world. The Nazis plotted to kill the city's Jews and to sabotage the nation's military installations: plans existed for hanging twenty prominent Hollywood figures such as Al Jolson, Charlie Chaplin, and Samuel Goldwyn; for driving through Boyle Heights and machine-gunning as many Jews as possible; and for blowing up defense installations and seizing munitions from National Guard armories along the Pacific Coast. U.S. law enforcement agencies were not paying close attention--preferring to monitor Reds rather than Nazis--and only Leon Lewis and his daring ring of spies stood in the way. From 1933 until the end of World War II, attorney Leon Lewis, the man Nazis would come to call "the most dangerous Jew in Los Angeles," ran a spy operation comprised of military veterans and their wives who infiltrated every Nazi and fascist group in Los Angeles. Often rising to leadership positions, this daring ring ofspies uncovered and foiled the Nazi's disturbing plans for death and destruction. Featuring a large cast of Nazis, undercover agents, and colorful supporting players,Hitler in Los Angeles, by acclaimed historian Steven J. Ross, tells the story of Lewis's daring spy network in a time when hate groups had moved from the margins to the mainstream. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)979.4History and Geography North America Great Basin and West Coast U.S. CaliforniaLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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With this as background, Ross looks in some detail at Hitler followers who were plotting against Jews and Communists in California and elsewhere. The German-American Bund was one paramilitary group with tens of thousands of members supportive of Nazi practices. Another group was the Silvershirts, founded by a sometime Hollywood screenwriter, William Pelly. Sounding eerily similar to some political sentiments of today, Pelly pushed an "America First" movement. Television wasn't available at the time, so Pelly didn't complain about the Media, but he did become critical of Hollywood movies. He also labeled movie moguls as rapists and perverts, and blamed them for hiring hiring Jewish actors and writers, complaining that they took good jobs from Gentiles. His Silvershirts, partially funded by German agents, armed themselves, were dedicated to Christian beliefs, keeping America White and Christian, and to political change. Pelly looked at himself as being the "American Fuhrer".
With Hitler oppressing Jews in Europe, there was concern that pro-Nazi groups active in the United States would do the same. Jewish leaders especially became fearful that some of Hitler's pre-war pogroms against Jews in Germany could lead to violence against Jews in the U.S. Given how ineffective resistance to Nazi persecutions of Jews in Europe appeared to have been, some in the American Jewish community felt the need to stand up to and resist anti-Semitic groups.
And that is the main focus of Ross' book. The leader of this Jewish resistance in the U.S. in the late 1930's was Leon Lewis, a Jewish lawyer in Los Angeles. Ross discusses Lewis and the activities of his tiny group, and what steps they took to prevent American anti-Semitic groups from adopting and fostering Nazi attitudes in the U.S. Lewis organized an informal spy network to infiltrate American Nazi groups, mostly in California. Lewis and his small group was surprisingly effective in identifying anti-American groups and individuals, and disrupting their activities. If not for Lewis and his group, political extremism and Nazi attitudes in California and the U.S. could have been much worse.
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