Hollywood’s Spies

Ever since World War II, questions have been raised as to why the American Jews didn’t do much to aid the beleaguered Jews of Europe. The absence of a strong national organization handicapped the American Jews. Their decentralized culture led to bickering. When solidarity was most needed, internal differences prevented them from finding common ground.
But they didn’t do nothing.
Antisemitism’s worst period in U.S. history coincided with the Nazi rise to power. Germany played an active role in fomenting political antisemitism in the U.S. For eleven years, from 1934 to 1945, the Los Angeles Jewish Community Committee maintained an active, if hidden, defense and counterpropaganda program against Nazi infiltration in the United States.
The LAJCC carried on covert fact-finding partnered with non-Jewish organizations and individuals. Working with groups like the American Legion kept their findings from being discarded because they came from Jewish sources. If Jews protested against the far right, the fascist would claim their protests were proof of their communist allegiances.
Informants found their way into the Friends of New Germany, forerunner of the German America Bund, and documented the relationship between Berlin and FNG. They provided warnings for new activity, such as the desire of FNG to acquire blueprints of National Guard armories.
From 1939 to 1941, the LAJCC, operating under the name News Research Service, published News Letter, a weekly, timely expose with information from their files, linking past and current events. Most of the major U.S. periodicals subscribed to News Letter—Life, Look, New Republic, Saturday Evening Post, Time—and used this research for their own articles and requested more information. The News Letter influenced national opinion makers with credibility to publicly confront Nazis in the U.S. in a way no Jewish defense group could.
While the Jewish community was divided in how to deal with Nazism and different groups appeared to compete for funds and status, this wasn’t a problem in Los Angeles. The LAJCC maintained its undercover operations because of the support of movie moguls of Hollywood. Dozens of Hollywood actors, directors, producers, and writers lent their money.
Los Angeles Jewish community fought its fight against Nazism with the financial support and skills and contacts of the motion picture industry to effectively enter the national political arena. The Hollywood moguls were not absent from the fight. They were merely hidden.
I had expected more about Hollywood personalities. They are briefly mentioned—contributing, meeting to plan, being targeted by Nazis. Because they worked behind the scenes, little else is revealed.
At times I got bogged down. As though the book was being prepared for court, every little instance is recorded, or so it seemed. However, it was an enlightening read. The Jews of Europe may not have received help, but the American Jews likely didn’t realize how much the movie men contributed to their, and the country’s, well-being.

This book explores the little known Nazi infiltration and resistance by people in the film industry. If this part of history intrigues you, this book will be of enormous interest. I think we are pretty lackadaisical nowadays in terms of understanding just how precarious the situation was here in the US in the late 30s etc. Intelligent, determined people, many of them Jews, got a move on and went to work to debug the country. To be sure, it's a good book and long overdue in the library of WW2 stories. I have one serious criticism, though, and it's about the title. It's a shameless come on. Anybody who expects to hear about"Hollywood " will be sorely disappointed. Some of the names will be recognizable but the author doesn't tell you anything about THEM. So please change the title to something more honest.

Princess Fuzzypants here:
In the days leading up to WWII, the threat of the spread of Nazism was pervasive. America was anything but immune. There were many people who sought to swing opinion to the German cause and might have been far more successful had it not been for a handful of heroes in Hollywood. No one needed to tell the Jewish community leaders what the results would be if the German's were successful. So they banded together, sometimes at cross purposes it might seem, often only loosely allied. They did squelch the Nazi propaganda machine that was churning out lies and deceit.
This is a fascinating look at some of the lesser known characters who spearheaded the actions. Some were famous movie people while others were behind the scenes. They may not have swung opinion towards entering the war on the side of the British but they kept the Naxis from getting a strong toehold in the US.
I give it four purrs and two paws up.