''Skokie'' is a 1981
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
directed by
Herbert Wise Herbert Wise (31 August 1924 – 5 August 2015) was an Austrian-born film and television producer and director.
He was born as Herbert Weisz in Vienna, Austria, and began his career as a director at Shrewsbury Repertory Company in 1950. He was at H ...
, based on the real life
NSPA Controversy of Skokie, Illinois, which involved the
National Socialist Party of America
The National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) was a Chicago-based organization founded in 1970 by Frank Collin shortly after he left the National Socialist White People's Party. The NSWPP had been the American Nazi Party until shortly after the ...
. This controversy would be fought in court and reach the level of the United States Supreme Court in
National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie
''National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie'', 432 U.S. 43 (1977), arising out of what is sometimes referred to as the Skokie Affair, was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court dealing with freedom of speech and freedom of ass ...
.
The film premiered in the US on November 17, 1981. It was shown on the Israeli Educational television in the 1980s and on
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
television on March 3, 1997.
Plot
The peace of
Skokie, a comfortable suburban village located just north of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, is threatened when
Frank Collin
Francis Joseph Collin (born November 3, 1944) is an American former political activist and Midwest coordinator with the American Nazi Party, later known as the National Socialist White People's Party. After being ousted for being partly Jewish (w ...
(
George Dzundza
George Dzundza ( ; born July 19, 1945) is an American television and film actor.
Early life and education
Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, to a Ukrainian-Jewish father, Roman Dzundza, originally from Kalush, Ukraine, and a Polish-Jewish m ...
), a politically astute
neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
organizer, selects the place as the site of his next rally. Close to 40 percent of the village’s population is
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish, and many of them are survivors of the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
. They see the march as a warning and reminder of their days as
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
prisoners.
The Jewish community decides to stand against the rally at all costs to make sure that the Holocaust will never be forgotten or allowed to happen again.
Moderate leaders Bert Silverman (
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...
) and Abbot Rosen (
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...
) advise the Jewish community to ignore the neo-Nazis; the strategy they put forward is "
quarantine
A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...
", isolating the meeting by totally ignoring the neo-Nazi presence and refusing to be provoked. They see their logic as simple: if the Jewish community refuses to acknowledge the rally and thus refuses to feed the media any publicity, the meeting will be futile and eventually forgotten.
However, one citizen challenges their argument. A
Holocaust survivor
Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...
, Max Feldman (
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and ...
), says that he was told to ignore the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s nearly 40 years ago in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and before he knew it he was in a concentration camp. He says this time he will take action, and he is ready to shed blood if necessary. Led by this de facto spokesman, most members of the community agree to protest.
Analysis and background
The film intermixes real and fictional characters and events, including fictionalizing aspects of some of the main characters. For example,
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
(ACLU) lawyer "Herb Lewisohn" (played by actor
John Rubinstein
John Rubinstein (born December 8, 1946) is an American actor, composer and director.
Early life
Rubinstein is the son of Polish parents. His mother, Aniela (née Młynarska), a dancer and writer, was a Roman Catholic native of Warsaw, the dau ...
) is fictional, apparently based on attorney (and later law professor)
David A. Goldberger who argued the case in real life,
while ACLU national lawyer
Aryeh Neier
Aryeh Neier (born April 22, 1937) is an American human rights activist who co-founded Human Rights Watch, served as the president of George Soros's Open Society Institute philanthropy network from 1993 to 2012, had been National Director of th ...
(played by actor
Stephen D. Newman) is a real person. Similarly, Holocaust survivor "Max Feldman" is fictional, while Holocaust survivor
Sol Goldstein
Sol Goldstein (March 30, 1914 – September 3, 1992)Mark Veverka"A donor's pledge ends up in court,"''Crain's Chicago Business'', May 16, 1994, p. 3. was a leader in the Chicago Jewish community, a Zionism, Zionist activist and a philanthropist. H ...
(played by actor
David Hurst
David Hurst (born Heinrich Theodor Hirsch; 8 May 1926 – 15 September 2019) was a German actor, best known for his role in the film ''Hello Dolly! (film), Hello, Dolly'' as Rudolph the headwaiter.
Biography
Early life and career
Hurst grew ...
) is a real person.
See also
*
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
*
Heckler's veto
*
Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is a museum located in Skokie, Illinois, near Chicago. According to the Center's mission statement, its founding principle is to "Remember the Past; Transform the Future." Its mission is to prese ...
*
Jewish Defense League
The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a Jewish far-right religious-political organization in the United States and Canada, whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary". It has been classified as "a right w ...
*''
National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie
''National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie'', 432 U.S. 43 (1977), arising out of what is sometimes referred to as the Skokie Affair, was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court dealing with freedom of speech and freedom of ass ...
''
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skokie
1981 films
1981 television films
1981 drama films
1980s legal films
American legal drama films
CBS network films
Films about Jews and Judaism
Films about Nazis
Films about race and ethnicity
American films based on actual events
Films about the aftermath of the Holocaust
Jews and Judaism in Chicago
Skokie Controversy
Films directed by Herbert Wise
1980s English-language films
1980s American films