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The Nazis showed us
our good, bad sides
WHETHER OR NOT the Nazis
march in Skokie on June 25, the threats
and imprecations over the past months
have taught us much about ourselves,
some of it very good and part of it very
bad.
Certainly the best thing to come out
of the arm’s length confrontation with
the Nazis was the realization that antiSemitism is very much out of style in
this generation in America. It was
heartening that the messages of hatred
came only from a small band of fanatical young Nazis, who got scant encouragement from others in the community.
Indeed, coalitions of Christians and
Jews were formed to voice defiance of
the Nazis’ threat to human dignity.
Had such groups of Christians and
Jews been vocal in Germany at the onset of the Hitlerian era, perhaps there
would have been no Holocaust and millions of lives would have been spared.
Though we did not agree with the
decision of Skokie Mayor Albert Smith,
Skokie trustees and Village Atty. Harvey Schwartz to adopt an unconstitutional ban of the march, it was well for
the community that they adopted a
stand and pursued their legal course
through the courts and to the U.S. Supreme Court. At least we knew where
Skokie officials stood throughout the
tense buildup to the date of the threatened demonstration.
It was another credit to the Jewish
and Christian communities that those
who opposed the march were resigned
to conducting a peaceful counterdemonstration at Niles East high school.
Early on we counseled those who opposed the Nazis to greet them with
“grim silence.“
Chief Kenneth Chamberlain and his
Skokie police force exhibited thorough
professionalism by quietly making preparations to meet the threatened emergency with the cooperation of other law
enforcement agencies. The calm attitude of police and village officials has
helped to maintain an aura of confidence on the part of the people of Skok- Skokie that the village could handle the
problem of the march and any counterdemonstrations that might be organized.
Two regrettable things we learned
about ourselves in the face of the
threatened march were that we have a
number of opportunists in our midst
and that some of them were willing to
sacrifice basic freedoms for their own
selfish ends, including media publicity.
Some of the most vocal objectors to
the march brazenly tied anti-Nazi sentiments to political figures and current
election campaigns. It is difficult to believe that a statement against the
march is wholly sincere if it is made at
the side of an active candidate for office.
We witnessed some former supporters of civil liberties turn their backs on
freedom to support patently unconstitutional, repressive legislation whose impact would not stop with the Nazis but
rather restrict the free speech of all.
That was the saddest thing the Nazis
taught us about ourselves.
Finally, the nastiest byproduct of
the threatened march and the ensuing
court and legislative battles gave that
tiny band of punks more international
publicity than they have had since
1945. That’s why we felt that they
should have been allowed to march and
get it over with before the message of
hatred was again spread around the
world.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Attempted Nazi March in Skokie, 1977 and 1978, Digital Collection
Description
An account of the resource
<p>During the late 1970s, a small group of neo-Nazis based in Chicago attempted to hold a rally in the Village of Skokie, Illinois, a community that was known to have a large Jewish population. Local officials resisted the group’s efforts through by passing a series of ordinances aimed at preventing demonstrations or parades by hate groups. The ordinances were ultimately overturned following a series of state and federal lawsuits because they infringed on the group’s First Amendment rights and the neo-Nazis were issued a permit to demonstrate in Skokie. However, instead of facing the growing number of organized counter-demonstrators, the group held rallies in Federal Plaza and in Marquette Park in Chicago. <br /><br />Visit <a title="Attempted Nazi March in Skokie" href="https://skokiehistory.omeka.net/exhibits/show/attempted-nazi-march/timeline">Skokie Public Library's online exhibit</a> to see the events as they unfolded. The library's digital collection, seen here, includes newspaper articles, editorials, recordings from the Skokie Village Board of Trustees meetings, a memoir written by a local clergywoman, and two documentary films.</p>
<p>For further information, you can find more resources in the library. If you have questions or comments send us an <a title="email Skokie Public Library" href="mailto:tellus@skokielibrary.info">email </a>or call us at 847-673-3733.</p>
Relation
A related resource
<h3><a title="Attempted Nazi March in Skokie" href="https://skokiehistory.omeka.net/exhibits/show/attempted-nazi-march/timeline">Attempted Nazi March in Skokie online exhibit</a></h3>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Skokie History
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Skokie Public Library
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Nazis showed us our good, bad sides
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Community and national reaction to the National Socialist Party of America (Nazi) march conflict in Skokie.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
6/22/1978
Subject
The topic of the resource
Demonstrations -- Illinois -- Skokie
National Socialist Party of America
Source
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Skokie Life, Thursday, June 22, 1978, Lerner Community Newspapers, Lincolnwood, IL
Rights Holder
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©Lerner Publications
Rights
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In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Identifier
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isl780622c.pdf
Language
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eng
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1970s (1970-1979)
Contributor
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Skokie Public Library, Reference Department
editorials and opinions
newspaper clippings