Skokie (film)

Skokie
Directed by	Herbert Wise
Produced by	Robert Berger
Written by	Ernest Kinoy
Starring	Danny Kaye Eli Wallach Carl Reiner George Dzundza Ed Flanders
Music by	Ralph Berliner
Country	United States
Language	English language
Original channel	CBS
Release date	November 17, 1981
Running time	125 minutes

Skokie is a 1981 television movie directed by Herbert Wise, based on the real life NSPA Controversy of Skokie, Illinois, which involved the National Socialist Party of America.

The film premiered in the U.S. on November 17, 1981. It was shown on the Israeli Educational television in the 1980s and on German television on March 3, 1997.

Plot

The peace of Skokie, a comfortable Chicago suburb, is threatened when Frank Collin, a politically astute neo-Nazi organizer, selects the place as the site of his next rally. Close to 40 percent of the town’s population is Jewish and many of them are survivors of the Holocaust. They see the march as a warning and reminder of their days as concentration camp prisoners.

The Jewish community decides to stand against the rally at all cost to make sure that the Holocaust will never be forgotten or allowed to happen again.

Moderate leaders Bert Silverman (Eli Wallach) and Abbot Rosen (Carl Reiner) advise the Jewish community to ignore the neo-Nazis; the strategy they put forward is “quarantine”, isolating the meeting by totally ignoring the neo-Nazi presence and refusing to be provoked. The logic is 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, Max Feldman (Danny Kaye), says that he was told to ignore the Nazis nearly 40 years ago in Germany, 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. The film spans a year and a half of legal battles and explores the meaning of freedom and First Amendment in the United States of America.

Although filmed after it became public knowledge that the neo-Nazi leader, Frank Collin, was actually an ethnic Jew, the film makes no mention of this fact. Nor is any mention made of Collin's 1979 conviction for child molestation.

The film intermixes real and fictional characters and events, including fictionalizing aspects of some of the main characters. For example, ACLU lawyer "Herb Lewisohn" (played by actor John Rubinstein) is fictional, apparently based on David A. Goldberger who argued the case in real life,^[1] while ACLU national lawyer Aryeh Neier (played by actor Stephen D. Newman) is a real person. Similarly, Holocaust survivor "Max Feldman" is fictional, while Holocaust survivor Sol Goldstein (played by actor David Hurst) is a real person.^[2]

References

1. ^ "David A. Goldberger, Isadore and Ida Topper Professor Emeritus of Law". Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University. http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/faculty/bios.php?ID=25. Retrieved 2010-09-19. 
2. ^ Strum, Philippa (1999). When the Nazis Came to Skokie: Freedom for Speech We Hate. Landmark Law Cases and American Society. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0941-3. http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/strwhe.html. 

See also

• American Civil Liberties Union
• Heckler's veto
• Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
• Jewish Defense League
• National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie
• Skokie, Illinois

External links

• Skokie at the Internet Movie Database
• Skokie at AllRovi