1 00:00:04,505 --> 00:00:08,474 g ] -It was 1937. I was 13 years old. 2 00:00:08,509 --> 00:00:13,178 We had a baseball team, just a bunch of kids in a sandlot. 3 00:00:13,214 --> 00:00:16,048 We called ourselves the Spartans, 4 00:00:16,083 --> 00:00:19,785 growing up there in Sea Gate and Coney Island. 5 00:00:19,820 --> 00:00:21,387 We had the beach. 6 00:00:21,422 --> 00:00:25,891 We had the ocean, barefoot all summer long. 7 00:00:25,926 --> 00:00:30,029 While on May 4th, the German airship Hindenburg 8 00:00:30,064 --> 00:00:31,997 came across from Germany, 9 00:00:32,033 --> 00:00:34,166 and it came right over the ball field 10 00:00:34,201 --> 00:00:36,001 that we were playing on. 11 00:00:36,037 --> 00:00:39,004 It had a big swastika on the tail, 12 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:42,741 so we picked up bricks and rocks and threw it at it. 13 00:00:42,777 --> 00:00:44,576 It was that swastika. 14 00:00:44,612 --> 00:00:47,212 We could connect with what was happening in Germany 15 00:00:47,248 --> 00:00:49,014 with Hitler. 16 00:00:49,050 --> 00:00:52,017 Sea Gate at that point was largely Jewish. 17 00:00:52,053 --> 00:00:54,887 Everybody knew about the Germans. 18 00:00:54,922 --> 00:01:01,860 The extent of their viciousness, that was another matter. 19 00:01:01,896 --> 00:01:04,363 That was another matter. 20 00:01:04,398 --> 00:01:08,834 ♪♪ 21 00:01:08,869 --> 00:01:13,305 ♪♪ 22 00:01:15,842 --> 00:01:19,545 ♪♪ 23 00:01:19,580 --> 00:01:23,382 ♪♪ 24 00:01:23,417 --> 00:01:27,219 ♪♪ 25 00:01:27,254 --> 00:01:31,056 ♪♪ 26 00:01:31,092 --> 00:01:34,893 ♪♪ 27 00:01:34,929 --> 00:01:38,730 ♪♪ 28 00:01:38,766 --> 00:01:42,568 ♪♪ 29 00:01:42,603 --> 00:01:45,104 -More than half a million Jewish Americans 30 00:01:45,139 --> 00:01:49,808 served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. 31 00:01:49,844 --> 00:01:51,944 -As Americans and as Jews, 32 00:01:51,979 --> 00:01:54,379 we realized that we had to protect 33 00:01:54,415 --> 00:01:56,648 what we have in this country -- 34 00:01:56,684 --> 00:02:00,352 liberty, freedom of religion and speech, 35 00:02:00,387 --> 00:02:05,858 and as Jews, we did what they thought we couldn't do. 36 00:02:05,893 --> 00:02:08,260 -They were rich and poor, 37 00:02:08,295 --> 00:02:10,629 urban and rural, 38 00:02:10,664 --> 00:02:14,032 religious and secular. 39 00:02:14,068 --> 00:02:16,535 Most were the children of immigrants 40 00:02:16,570 --> 00:02:18,904 who had escaped persecution in Europe 41 00:02:18,939 --> 00:02:22,975 and were welcomed onto America's shores. 42 00:02:23,010 --> 00:02:25,878 Now, they would return to battle the hatred 43 00:02:25,913 --> 00:02:29,081 that their parents had fled. 44 00:02:29,116 --> 00:02:31,150 They would endure anti-Semitic slurs 45 00:02:31,185 --> 00:02:32,951 from their fellow servicemen 46 00:02:32,987 --> 00:02:38,624 and be forced to prove that they were also true Americans. 47 00:02:38,659 --> 00:02:41,160 -My fellow soldiers wanted to know, 48 00:02:41,195 --> 00:02:43,195 "How on Earth did you wind up 49 00:02:43,230 --> 00:02:45,264 in the infantry on the front lines? 50 00:02:45,299 --> 00:02:46,865 You're Jewish." 51 00:02:46,901 --> 00:02:50,502 I said, "Because I wanted to be there." 52 00:02:50,538 --> 00:02:53,739 -Like all Americans, they fought against fascism, 53 00:02:53,774 --> 00:02:56,742 but they also fought a more personal fight: 54 00:02:56,777 --> 00:03:00,012 to save their brethren in Europe. 55 00:03:00,047 --> 00:03:02,915 -We went to war to destroy the Nazis, 56 00:03:02,950 --> 00:03:05,684 and that was a mission for all of us. 57 00:03:05,719 --> 00:03:09,788 We went to war to save the world. 58 00:03:09,823 --> 00:03:12,257 -They would come home changed 59 00:03:12,293 --> 00:03:14,793 and would continue the fight for equality 60 00:03:14,828 --> 00:03:17,696 and tolerance in America. 61 00:03:17,731 --> 00:03:21,934 -Hundreds of thousands of Jews returned to the United States 62 00:03:21,969 --> 00:03:25,337 and changed the people around them. 63 00:03:25,372 --> 00:03:28,507 It was a transformative moment 64 00:03:28,542 --> 00:03:31,143 in the history of the United States 65 00:03:31,178 --> 00:03:33,779 and the history of American Jews. 66 00:03:33,814 --> 00:03:35,781 ♪♪ 67 00:03:35,816 --> 00:03:38,517 -We were there for a reason: 68 00:03:38,552 --> 00:03:42,588 to reclaim who we were... 69 00:03:42,623 --> 00:03:47,326 and not to forget who we were and where we came from. 70 00:03:47,361 --> 00:03:49,127 That's why we went. 71 00:03:49,163 --> 00:03:54,866 ♪♪ 72 00:03:57,471 --> 00:04:01,106 ♪♪ 73 00:04:01,141 --> 00:04:06,178 -In the 1930s, 4 million Jews lived in America, 74 00:04:06,213 --> 00:04:08,947 half of them in New York City. 75 00:04:08,983 --> 00:04:10,716 ♪♪ 76 00:04:10,751 --> 00:04:13,552 -I came from Williamsburg in Brooklyn. 77 00:04:13,587 --> 00:04:16,888 Families were clustered together in tenements. 78 00:04:16,924 --> 00:04:20,158 Like, my aunt Jenny was on the third floor. 79 00:04:20,194 --> 00:04:22,761 My grandmother was across the hall. 80 00:04:22,796 --> 00:04:26,031 You know, in those days, most of Brooklyn could've been 81 00:04:26,066 --> 00:04:28,734 a suburb of Kiev, you know? 82 00:04:28,769 --> 00:04:31,903 -I was born in...Poland. 83 00:04:31,939 --> 00:04:33,939 When I was 4 years old, 84 00:04:33,974 --> 00:04:36,308 we came to the States. 85 00:04:36,343 --> 00:04:40,779 This country is a land of milk and honey. 86 00:04:40,814 --> 00:04:44,750 -Jews in the United States were free to practice their religion, 87 00:04:44,785 --> 00:04:46,685 and inside their communities, 88 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:51,056 they lived a rich and open Jewish life, 89 00:04:51,091 --> 00:04:53,091 but outside their neighborhoods, 90 00:04:53,127 --> 00:04:55,327 they discovered an American society 91 00:04:55,362 --> 00:04:58,497 that was often hostile and suspicious. 92 00:04:58,532 --> 00:05:01,099 ♪♪ 93 00:05:01,135 --> 00:05:03,802 -I grew up in The Bronx. 94 00:05:03,837 --> 00:05:05,137 In my neighborhood, it was very Jewish, 95 00:05:05,172 --> 00:05:07,205 so we felt very secure there. 96 00:05:07,241 --> 00:05:10,075 However, when I started going to junior high school, 97 00:05:10,110 --> 00:05:13,612 I had to walk from 183 Street down 189th Street, 98 00:05:13,647 --> 00:05:15,681 and the very first year, 99 00:05:15,716 --> 00:05:20,118 I was accosted by an Italian gentleman who took my money, 100 00:05:20,154 --> 00:05:24,122 and I could hear the word "Jew, kike," whatever. 101 00:05:24,158 --> 00:05:28,827 -There was a great deal of anti-Semitism in the 1930s. 102 00:05:28,862 --> 00:05:32,931 A lot of large companies would not employ Jews. 103 00:05:32,966 --> 00:05:36,268 There were whole neighborhoods where they could not live. 104 00:05:36,303 --> 00:05:39,604 Many schools limited the number of Jewish students 105 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:41,640 who could attend, 106 00:05:41,675 --> 00:05:45,644 and lots of hotels, country clubs 107 00:05:45,679 --> 00:05:48,146 did not admit Jews at all. 108 00:05:48,182 --> 00:05:49,915 [ Children shouting ] 109 00:05:49,950 --> 00:05:52,684 -I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 110 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:55,487 and I was the only Jew in the school. 111 00:05:55,522 --> 00:05:58,023 I remember in the third grade, suddenly, 112 00:05:58,058 --> 00:05:59,891 the children weren't playing with me, 113 00:05:59,927 --> 00:06:02,127 and I didn't know why, and I asked one of the kids, 114 00:06:02,162 --> 00:06:04,329 and he said, "Well, the teacher said you're a Jew. 115 00:06:04,365 --> 00:06:06,998 We're not supposed to play with you." 116 00:06:07,034 --> 00:06:10,068 That was a very anti-Semitic period. 117 00:06:13,941 --> 00:06:17,843 -In January 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party 118 00:06:17,878 --> 00:06:20,645 rose to power in Germany. 119 00:06:20,681 --> 00:06:22,881 From the beginning, their ideology was steeped 120 00:06:22,916 --> 00:06:26,952 in racial hatred and anti-Semitism. 121 00:06:26,987 --> 00:06:30,489 German Jews were segregated from the rest of society, 122 00:06:30,524 --> 00:06:35,193 their businesses marked with a Jewish star. 123 00:06:35,229 --> 00:06:40,365 And in 1935, the Nuremberg Laws defined Jews as a separate race 124 00:06:40,401 --> 00:06:42,701 and stripped them of their citizenship. 125 00:06:44,805 --> 00:06:46,371 -I grew up in Munich. 126 00:06:46,407 --> 00:06:49,374 There was a general boycott of Jews, 127 00:06:49,410 --> 00:06:52,711 and most Jewish stores were closed. 128 00:06:52,746 --> 00:06:56,815 When I was 16 years old, I was kicked out of school. 129 00:06:56,850 --> 00:07:00,685 All the Jewish kids were kicked out. 130 00:07:00,721 --> 00:07:04,356 -My father was a teacher. 131 00:07:04,391 --> 00:07:07,225 Hitler came to power, 132 00:07:07,261 --> 00:07:12,197 and my father lost his position. 133 00:07:12,232 --> 00:07:17,269 My mother decided her children would have no future in Germany, 134 00:07:17,304 --> 00:07:20,539 and we emigrated in 1938, 135 00:07:20,574 --> 00:07:25,811 just before the persecution turned deadly. 136 00:07:31,118 --> 00:07:34,085 -[ Speaking German ] 137 00:07:34,121 --> 00:07:36,955 ♪♪ 138 00:07:36,990 --> 00:07:39,758 -On November 9, 1938, 139 00:07:39,793 --> 00:07:41,760 Hitler's campaign against the Jews 140 00:07:41,795 --> 00:07:44,095 escalated into violence. 141 00:07:44,131 --> 00:07:47,132 The Nazis burned more than 200 synagogues 142 00:07:47,167 --> 00:07:49,901 and destroyed thousands of Jewish businesses 143 00:07:49,937 --> 00:07:52,804 in what would become known as Kristallnacht, 144 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,107 "The Night of Broken Glass." 145 00:07:56,143 --> 00:08:00,278 Thousands of Jews fled Germany, afraid for their lives. 146 00:08:02,850 --> 00:08:08,220 -One day, my brother Isaac at 16, 147 00:08:08,255 --> 00:08:12,791 and I at 14, we left Germany, 148 00:08:12,826 --> 00:08:17,429 and little did I know, if anybody would have told me, 149 00:08:17,464 --> 00:08:23,235 "You'll return. You'll return as an American solider," 150 00:08:23,270 --> 00:08:26,505 I would've said, "Stop this dreaming." 151 00:08:32,746 --> 00:08:38,583 -On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. 152 00:08:38,619 --> 00:08:43,421 Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. 153 00:08:43,457 --> 00:08:46,391 Almost immediately, Hitler's forces began to round up 154 00:08:46,426 --> 00:08:49,194 Poland's 3.2 million Jews 155 00:08:49,229 --> 00:08:52,864 and force them into ghettos. 156 00:08:52,900 --> 00:08:56,768 In the next 2 years, Hitler seized most of Europe, 157 00:08:56,803 --> 00:08:59,504 marching relentlessly through the low countries 158 00:08:59,540 --> 00:09:02,707 into France, Denmark and Norway, 159 00:09:02,743 --> 00:09:05,744 and deep into the Soviet Union. 160 00:09:05,779 --> 00:09:08,013 There, the Nazis massacred 161 00:09:08,048 --> 00:09:12,017 hundreds of thousands of Jewish men, women and children, 162 00:09:12,052 --> 00:09:16,054 the first mass killings of Jews in German-occupied territories. 163 00:09:17,958 --> 00:09:22,027 [ Gunshot ] 164 00:09:22,062 --> 00:09:24,696 -The rumors were, in the Jewish community, 165 00:09:24,731 --> 00:09:28,633 Jews were being slaughtered and, you know, and it was... 166 00:09:28,669 --> 00:09:30,669 Something had to be done about it. 167 00:09:33,307 --> 00:09:36,608 -But most Americans did not want to go to war, 168 00:09:36,643 --> 00:09:42,347 until December 1941, when everything changed. 169 00:09:42,382 --> 00:09:45,650 -Me and my friends played basketball 170 00:09:45,686 --> 00:09:49,487 on December the 7th, 1941, 171 00:09:49,523 --> 00:09:53,158 and as we're walking back home, all of a sudden, 172 00:09:53,193 --> 00:09:57,429 "Extra! Read all about it! Pearl Harbor bombed." 173 00:09:57,464 --> 00:09:59,431 And we looked at each other, and we said, 174 00:09:59,466 --> 00:10:02,334 "Where in the hell is Pearl Harbor?" 175 00:10:02,369 --> 00:10:04,803 That was the beginning. 176 00:10:04,838 --> 00:10:08,740 -The next day, America entered the war. 177 00:10:08,775 --> 00:10:11,776 -The day after Pearl Harbor, I got in line. 178 00:10:11,812 --> 00:10:15,246 There were two lines as far as you could see, people enlisting. 179 00:10:15,282 --> 00:10:17,716 That is Texas. Texas is that way. 180 00:10:17,751 --> 00:10:20,986 A great feeling of patriotism. 181 00:10:21,021 --> 00:10:23,221 Texas, "draft" is a bad word. 182 00:10:23,256 --> 00:10:24,489 You enlist. 183 00:10:24,524 --> 00:10:26,558 "You drafted?" [ Laughs ] 184 00:10:26,593 --> 00:10:29,060 You don't say that. 185 00:10:29,096 --> 00:10:30,996 -Well, I had seen all the footage 186 00:10:31,031 --> 00:10:34,299 of the Kristallnacht, what the Nazis were doing, 187 00:10:34,334 --> 00:10:36,601 and so I thought I wanted to get in there 188 00:10:36,637 --> 00:10:39,604 and do something about it. 189 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,574 They wouldn't take me without my parents' signature, 190 00:10:42,609 --> 00:10:44,509 so I got my father to sign, 191 00:10:44,544 --> 00:10:47,812 and my mother wasn't that anxious to have me do it. 192 00:10:47,848 --> 00:10:50,949 ♪♪ 193 00:10:50,984 --> 00:10:53,385 -Baseball star Hank Greenberg joined the service 194 00:10:53,420 --> 00:10:56,588 a few days after Pearl Harbor. 195 00:10:56,623 --> 00:10:59,157 A hero to Jews throughout the nation, 196 00:10:59,192 --> 00:11:03,161 he had endured anti-Semitic slurs his entire career 197 00:11:03,196 --> 00:11:07,065 and famously refused to play ball on Yom Kippur, 198 00:11:07,100 --> 00:11:10,435 the holiest day of the Jewish year. 199 00:11:10,470 --> 00:11:14,839 -Greenberg is the home-run king in the American league. 200 00:11:14,875 --> 00:11:16,741 -Greenberg later said, 201 00:11:16,777 --> 00:11:19,911 "I didn't pay too much attention to Hitler at first 202 00:11:19,946 --> 00:11:23,048 or any of the political goings-on at the time, 203 00:11:23,083 --> 00:11:26,384 but I came to feel that if I, as a Jew, 204 00:11:26,420 --> 00:11:27,919 hit a home run, 205 00:11:27,954 --> 00:11:30,155 I was hitting one against Hitler." 206 00:11:30,190 --> 00:11:33,024 [ Cheers and applause ] 207 00:11:33,060 --> 00:11:35,160 -♪ You're in the army now ♪ 208 00:11:35,195 --> 00:11:37,028 ♪ You're not behind the plow ♪ 209 00:11:37,064 --> 00:11:38,930 ♪ You'll never get rich while digging a ditch ♪ 210 00:11:38,965 --> 00:11:40,365 ♪ You're in the army now ♪ 211 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:42,200 -What you had to understand, 212 00:11:42,235 --> 00:11:45,070 the all-embracing quality of that war. 213 00:11:45,105 --> 00:11:48,306 It's like nothing ever since. 214 00:11:48,341 --> 00:11:51,176 My older brother was a naval officer. 215 00:11:51,211 --> 00:11:56,881 Six of my older first cousins were in the military, 216 00:11:56,917 --> 00:12:02,053 including my cousin Anna, who was a WAC, Women's Army Corps. 217 00:12:02,089 --> 00:12:05,290 That was typical. 218 00:12:05,325 --> 00:12:07,559 -While many Jewish men enlisted, 219 00:12:07,594 --> 00:12:10,528 many more were drafted. 220 00:12:10,564 --> 00:12:14,666 In all, one half of Jewish men old enough to serve 221 00:12:14,701 --> 00:12:16,601 would join the fight. 222 00:12:16,636 --> 00:12:18,937 -You got a letter from the government. 223 00:12:18,972 --> 00:12:22,440 When you opened the envelope, I remember seeing, "Greeting," 224 00:12:22,476 --> 00:12:25,009 like you're going to a wedding or a Bar Mitzvah, 225 00:12:25,045 --> 00:12:27,212 but it was, "Greetings," and then you go on, 226 00:12:27,247 --> 00:12:29,848 "You will report for a physical exam." 227 00:12:29,883 --> 00:12:32,817 I heard my mother talking to my father, and I heard her say, 228 00:12:32,853 --> 00:12:34,986 "Can't you do something? Does Alan have to go?" 229 00:12:35,021 --> 00:12:37,255 And when I heard that, I got so... 230 00:12:37,290 --> 00:12:39,457 I said, "Mom, if you say that once more, 231 00:12:39,493 --> 00:12:43,828 I'm running away from... I'm leaving." 232 00:12:43,864 --> 00:12:48,500 -When I went into the service, we sang the songs. 233 00:12:48,535 --> 00:12:50,235 ♪ Over there, over there ♪ 234 00:12:50,270 --> 00:12:52,103 ♪ Send the word over there ♪ 235 00:12:52,139 --> 00:12:53,671 ♪ That the Yanks are coming ♪ 236 00:12:53,707 --> 00:12:55,006 ♪ The Yanks are coming ♪ 237 00:12:55,041 --> 00:12:57,575 ♪ The Yanks are coming everywhere ♪ 238 00:12:57,611 --> 00:12:59,511 -♪ Over there ♪ 239 00:12:59,546 --> 00:13:00,979 ♪ Over there ♪ 240 00:13:01,014 --> 00:13:02,514 ♪ Send the word, send the word ♪ 241 00:13:02,549 --> 00:13:05,416 -10,000 Jewish women signed up as well... 242 00:13:05,452 --> 00:13:07,352 disregarding their parents' warning 243 00:13:07,387 --> 00:13:11,823 that it was no life for a nice Jewish girl. 244 00:13:11,858 --> 00:13:13,358 -♪ Over there ♪ 245 00:13:13,393 --> 00:13:15,360 -They would serve as WASPs in the Air Force, 246 00:13:15,395 --> 00:13:16,961 WAVES in the Navy, 247 00:13:16,997 --> 00:13:18,596 WACs in the Army 248 00:13:18,632 --> 00:13:20,665 and as nurses overseas. 249 00:13:20,700 --> 00:13:22,400 -♪ Over there ♪ 250 00:13:22,435 --> 00:13:24,169 -I wanted to be a nurse in the Army. 251 00:13:24,204 --> 00:13:27,005 My sister Dorothy and I quit our jobs, 252 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:29,541 and if my mother knew that we even thought 253 00:13:29,576 --> 00:13:32,210 of going into a goishe army, 254 00:13:32,245 --> 00:13:36,481 a gentile army, I don't know what she would've done. 255 00:13:38,785 --> 00:13:40,752 -The first taste of military life 256 00:13:40,787 --> 00:13:42,921 for the Jewish enlisted men and women 257 00:13:42,956 --> 00:13:46,925 was in training camps scattered across the United States. 258 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:50,595 ♪♪ 259 00:13:50,630 --> 00:13:54,799 ♪♪ 260 00:13:54,835 --> 00:13:58,436 16 million Americans came to basic training. 261 00:13:58,471 --> 00:14:00,905 For 8 weeks, 10 hours a day, 262 00:14:00,941 --> 00:14:03,675 the Jewish servicemen prepared for combat 263 00:14:03,710 --> 00:14:06,744 surrounded by men from every part of the country. 264 00:14:08,815 --> 00:14:11,950 -My basic training was in Camp Crowder, Missouri. 265 00:14:11,985 --> 00:14:13,918 I remember this, the night we went to bed, 266 00:14:13,954 --> 00:14:15,954 and across the barracks, I hear this voice, 267 00:14:15,989 --> 00:14:19,123 "Reiner. Reiner." 268 00:14:19,159 --> 00:14:21,125 "Yes?" 269 00:14:21,161 --> 00:14:25,563 It was one of these anti-Semitic blondies from Louisiana, 270 00:14:25,599 --> 00:14:28,867 and he said, "You a Jew?" 271 00:14:28,902 --> 00:14:31,002 J, E, W, U, U, W. 272 00:14:31,037 --> 00:14:32,136 "You a Jew?" 273 00:14:32,172 --> 00:14:34,272 I says, "Yes, as a matter of fact. 274 00:14:34,307 --> 00:14:37,575 Why do you ask?" And then the strange thing. 275 00:14:37,611 --> 00:14:44,582 He said, "I'm from Louisiana. You know a Jew named Goldfarb?" 276 00:14:44,618 --> 00:14:47,385 I says, "No. There are many Jews I don't know." 277 00:14:47,420 --> 00:14:50,054 "You don't know Goldfarb?" And I said, "No." 278 00:14:50,090 --> 00:14:52,490 He said, "Well, he's not a bad guy." 279 00:14:52,525 --> 00:14:56,027 That was the last thing he said, and that was it. 280 00:14:56,062 --> 00:14:59,530 ♪♪ 281 00:14:59,566 --> 00:15:01,666 -In the early 1940s, 282 00:15:01,701 --> 00:15:04,502 many Americans who lived outside major cities 283 00:15:04,537 --> 00:15:09,274 had never seen a Jew before they met one in uniform. 284 00:15:09,309 --> 00:15:12,110 They had heard only the negative stereotypes, 285 00:15:12,145 --> 00:15:17,782 that Jews were unpatriotic and shirked their military duty. 286 00:15:17,817 --> 00:15:19,550 -They didn't think much of us. 287 00:15:19,586 --> 00:15:22,487 Actually, they didn't think there were any Jews in service. 288 00:15:22,522 --> 00:15:25,023 I'm seventh generation in my family 289 00:15:25,058 --> 00:15:27,425 to wear an American uniform. 290 00:15:27,460 --> 00:15:32,096 My great-great-grandfather served during the Civil War. 291 00:15:32,132 --> 00:15:34,732 -Jews came from every background. 292 00:15:34,768 --> 00:15:36,601 Some were recent immigrants, 293 00:15:36,636 --> 00:15:40,271 and some had been in the United States for generations. 294 00:15:40,307 --> 00:15:46,511 They were Zionists, socialists, and even pacifists. 295 00:15:46,546 --> 00:15:48,579 -Jews in the military 296 00:15:48,615 --> 00:15:51,149 represented a very broad spectrum 297 00:15:51,184 --> 00:15:52,884 of Jewish life. 298 00:15:52,919 --> 00:15:56,554 You had Jews who were Orthodox 299 00:15:56,589 --> 00:15:59,090 and observant, kept kosher. 300 00:15:59,125 --> 00:16:03,394 On the other hand, you had a whole spectrum of Jews 301 00:16:03,430 --> 00:16:05,997 who were much more easygoing. 302 00:16:06,032 --> 00:16:08,232 ♪♪ 303 00:16:08,268 --> 00:16:11,269 -I never had a cheeseburger until I got to basic training. 304 00:16:11,304 --> 00:16:15,907 Jews generally weren't allowed to mix milk and meat, 305 00:16:15,942 --> 00:16:19,043 so these kids are eating cheeseburgers, 306 00:16:19,079 --> 00:16:23,414 and I ordered one and tasted it, and I said, "This is good. 307 00:16:23,450 --> 00:16:25,350 Why have the Jews denied me 308 00:16:25,385 --> 00:16:29,087 this wonderful thing called cheeseburgers?" 309 00:16:29,122 --> 00:16:32,457 -We were Orthodox, but in the army, 310 00:16:32,492 --> 00:16:34,392 you couldn't observe everything. 311 00:16:34,427 --> 00:16:38,563 They tried to cater to the Jewish GIs, you know? 312 00:16:38,598 --> 00:16:41,265 They even sent us some food sometimes, like for Passover. 313 00:16:41,301 --> 00:16:46,537 They used to send some matzos, gefilte fish sometimes. 314 00:16:46,573 --> 00:16:48,373 ♪♪ 315 00:16:48,408 --> 00:16:51,576 -Far from home, many servicemen and women 316 00:16:51,611 --> 00:16:54,846 took comfort in their religious traditions. 317 00:16:54,881 --> 00:16:57,448 The Jewish Welfare Board sent supplies, 318 00:16:57,484 --> 00:16:59,684 including candles for the Sabbath 319 00:16:59,719 --> 00:17:02,420 and tens of thousands of miniature prayer books. 320 00:17:02,455 --> 00:17:05,490 ♪♪ 321 00:17:05,525 --> 00:17:09,127 -Isaac Ashkenazi, he was very observant. 322 00:17:09,162 --> 00:17:13,765 Being Orthodox, he prayed a couple of times a day, 323 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:16,868 and Carl Frishman and I would just look at him and wonder, 324 00:17:16,903 --> 00:17:19,837 you know, and say, "When is the next shoe going to fall, 325 00:17:19,873 --> 00:17:22,740 and when -- Is he putting us at risk?" 326 00:17:22,776 --> 00:17:26,110 We thought about this. 327 00:17:26,146 --> 00:17:29,547 -Many Jewish GIs feared harassment or insults 328 00:17:29,582 --> 00:17:32,417 from their fellow servicemen. 329 00:17:32,452 --> 00:17:35,887 As New York City native Ed Koch would write later, 330 00:17:35,922 --> 00:17:39,791 "The entire world seemed Jewish to me growing up. 331 00:17:39,826 --> 00:17:42,727 Suddenly, being Jewish was not the norm. 332 00:17:42,762 --> 00:17:44,996 Anti-Semitism revealed itself directly to me 333 00:17:45,031 --> 00:17:46,831 for the first time, 334 00:17:46,866 --> 00:17:49,667 and I did not like what it felt like. 335 00:17:49,702 --> 00:17:51,702 It wasn't only Hitler. 336 00:17:51,738 --> 00:17:54,806 It was here in America." 337 00:17:54,841 --> 00:17:57,108 -My bed partner in the barracks, 338 00:17:57,143 --> 00:18:00,011 I was in the upper bunk, and he was in the lower bunk, 339 00:18:00,046 --> 00:18:02,046 and we became very friendly. 340 00:18:02,082 --> 00:18:06,684 At Passover, I said to him that I'm going home to Chicago, 341 00:18:06,719 --> 00:18:09,220 and he said, "You're Jewish?" 342 00:18:09,255 --> 00:18:12,156 I says, "Yes. Why?" 343 00:18:12,192 --> 00:18:14,826 He didn't say anything, 344 00:18:14,861 --> 00:18:18,162 and for the rest of the time 345 00:18:18,198 --> 00:18:19,997 that we were in the barracks, 346 00:18:20,033 --> 00:18:22,200 which was approximately 6 months, 347 00:18:22,235 --> 00:18:24,268 never spoke to me once. 348 00:18:24,304 --> 00:18:29,207 I was so shocked and surprised that I didn't know what to say, 349 00:18:29,242 --> 00:18:32,910 and we never talked again. 350 00:18:34,047 --> 00:18:35,980 -A lot of the women in the WACs, 351 00:18:36,015 --> 00:18:37,515 they were kind of tough. 352 00:18:37,550 --> 00:18:40,451 I wasn't happy there being Jewish 353 00:18:40,487 --> 00:18:46,757 because sometimes the way they talked against the Jews, 354 00:18:46,793 --> 00:18:49,360 so... 355 00:18:49,395 --> 00:18:54,365 I didn't advertise the fact that I was Jewish. 356 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,467 -I put a picture on the wall. 357 00:18:56,503 --> 00:19:00,805 We won some sectional basketball tournament back home 358 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:03,908 because I was proud of it, and it was myself, 359 00:19:03,943 --> 00:19:08,312 a Catholic buddy of mine and three black kids. 360 00:19:08,348 --> 00:19:09,981 We all have our arms around each other, 361 00:19:10,016 --> 00:19:13,417 and the Southern boys are walking by, 362 00:19:13,453 --> 00:19:18,523 and I hear, "You got your arms around that nigger," 363 00:19:18,558 --> 00:19:22,326 and then every day on the bulletin board, in red letters, 364 00:19:22,362 --> 00:19:25,396 "Moskin the nigger lover." 365 00:19:25,431 --> 00:19:29,600 And then the next day, it was "Moskin the kike." 366 00:19:29,636 --> 00:19:31,769 I was a young soldier. 367 00:19:31,804 --> 00:19:33,271 We're the good guys. 368 00:19:33,306 --> 00:19:36,374 We're going over to fight the Nazis, the bad guys, 369 00:19:36,409 --> 00:19:38,576 and then I got guys, so to speak, on my side 370 00:19:38,611 --> 00:19:41,779 talking like that about blacks and Jews. 371 00:19:41,814 --> 00:19:44,215 It was something that I didn't expect. 372 00:19:44,250 --> 00:19:46,484 To me, it's shameful. 373 00:19:46,519 --> 00:19:48,252 ♪♪ 374 00:19:48,288 --> 00:19:50,721 -Many Jewish servicemen from the North 375 00:19:50,757 --> 00:19:52,957 had never witnessed racial segregation 376 00:19:52,992 --> 00:19:56,027 until they came to basic training. 377 00:19:56,062 --> 00:19:58,429 Now, they saw it all around them 378 00:19:58,464 --> 00:20:01,799 in the whites-only signs near the bases in the South, 379 00:20:01,834 --> 00:20:03,935 and in the fact that African-Americans 380 00:20:03,970 --> 00:20:07,405 served in separate units. 381 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,907 The U.S. military had been segregated by race 382 00:20:09,943 --> 00:20:11,943 since the Civil War, 383 00:20:11,978 --> 00:20:15,246 but now with more Jewish men serving than ever before, 384 00:20:15,281 --> 00:20:16,747 it would have to address 385 00:20:16,783 --> 00:20:19,283 the religious hatred within its ranks. 386 00:20:21,688 --> 00:20:27,091 -Suddenly, you have several hundred thousand Jews 387 00:20:27,126 --> 00:20:28,526 in the military, 388 00:20:28,561 --> 00:20:34,131 and you needed these soldiers to assist and support one another 389 00:20:34,167 --> 00:20:36,400 and not to hate one another. 390 00:20:36,436 --> 00:20:40,605 The military understood that it was in their interest 391 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,141 to tamp down religious prejudice 392 00:20:44,177 --> 00:20:48,879 and to promote religious cooperation. 393 00:20:48,915 --> 00:20:51,315 -To smooth over religious differences, 394 00:20:51,351 --> 00:20:52,917 the military launched a campaign 395 00:20:52,952 --> 00:20:56,187 promoting the three fighting faiths, 396 00:20:56,222 --> 00:21:01,125 reminding the men that they were all in this war together. 397 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:03,561 From synagogues across the nation, 398 00:21:03,596 --> 00:21:05,930 more than half of America's 2,000 rabbis 399 00:21:05,965 --> 00:21:08,132 volunteered as chaplains. 400 00:21:08,167 --> 00:21:12,336 311 received commissions. 401 00:21:12,372 --> 00:21:13,971 David Max Eichhorn, 402 00:21:14,007 --> 00:21:16,907 a 36-year-old rabbi from Pennsylvania, 403 00:21:16,943 --> 00:21:23,114 arrived at Camp Croft in South Carolina in July 1942. 404 00:21:23,149 --> 00:21:26,717 -My grandfather said it was his patriotic duty. 405 00:21:26,753 --> 00:21:29,153 He was an American first, 406 00:21:29,188 --> 00:21:31,922 then a soldier and then a Jew. 407 00:21:31,958 --> 00:21:35,126 He really felt he had a place and a calling. 408 00:21:35,161 --> 00:21:37,928 Really all the chaplains administered 409 00:21:37,964 --> 00:21:41,699 any type of religious solace to anyone of any faith. 410 00:21:41,734 --> 00:21:46,871 They were all working to help prepare the men to go overseas 411 00:21:46,906 --> 00:21:49,707 and possibly never come back. 412 00:21:49,742 --> 00:21:51,809 ♪♪ 413 00:21:51,844 --> 00:21:54,011 -Millions of young men and women boarded troopships 414 00:21:54,047 --> 00:21:56,080 to go off to war. 415 00:21:56,115 --> 00:21:59,050 They were issued dog tags stamped with their name, 416 00:21:59,085 --> 00:22:02,453 their serial number, and also their religion, 417 00:22:02,488 --> 00:22:04,922 so they could receive appropriate last rites 418 00:22:04,957 --> 00:22:06,891 and burial. 419 00:22:06,926 --> 00:22:08,559 "P" for Protestant. 420 00:22:08,594 --> 00:22:10,294 "C" for Catholic. 421 00:22:10,330 --> 00:22:13,297 "H" for Hebrew. 422 00:22:13,333 --> 00:22:18,669 For Jews serving in Europe, the H put them at greater risk. 423 00:22:18,705 --> 00:22:21,639 They had heard rumors that the Germans mistreated 424 00:22:21,674 --> 00:22:24,442 or even murdered Jewish prisoners of war. 425 00:22:24,477 --> 00:22:26,644 ♪♪ 426 00:22:26,679 --> 00:22:28,512 -My parents said to me, 427 00:22:28,548 --> 00:22:32,249 "If you're captured, get rid of your dog tags." 428 00:22:32,285 --> 00:22:36,153 My father, the first time I ever saw him cry, 429 00:22:36,189 --> 00:22:39,223 I got a special pass to come from Fort Belvoir, 430 00:22:39,258 --> 00:22:41,425 and I went straight to his office. 431 00:22:41,461 --> 00:22:43,361 He said, "What are you doing here?" 432 00:22:43,396 --> 00:22:46,430 So he knew that something was up, 433 00:22:46,466 --> 00:22:48,766 and I said, "I'm going overseas." 434 00:22:48,801 --> 00:22:50,768 ♪♪ 435 00:22:50,803 --> 00:22:52,970 And that was it. 436 00:23:07,286 --> 00:23:09,453 -In January 1942, 437 00:23:09,489 --> 00:23:12,523 when the first American troops arrived overseas, 438 00:23:12,558 --> 00:23:15,459 Hitler and the Axis powers, Italy and Japan, 439 00:23:15,495 --> 00:23:18,329 were winning the war. 440 00:23:18,364 --> 00:23:21,599 The Nazis had conquered large parts of the Soviet Union 441 00:23:21,634 --> 00:23:24,969 and defeated the British in the deserts of North Africa. 442 00:23:25,004 --> 00:23:28,672 [ Gunfire ] 443 00:23:28,708 --> 00:23:30,541 Jewish GIs landed in the midst 444 00:23:30,576 --> 00:23:35,012 of unimaginable violence and destruction. 445 00:23:35,047 --> 00:23:40,217 -I learned, it was just a matter of kill or be killed, 446 00:23:40,253 --> 00:23:43,020 so that's what you go into combat with. 447 00:23:43,055 --> 00:23:47,658 Either you kill the enemy, or they're going to kill you. 448 00:23:47,693 --> 00:23:50,394 -I was a United States Army nurse. 449 00:23:50,430 --> 00:23:54,665 My job was operating room, to give anesthesia. 450 00:23:54,700 --> 00:23:57,234 You always had a patient in front of you. 451 00:23:57,270 --> 00:24:00,538 When they carry one out, they bring one in. 452 00:24:00,573 --> 00:24:03,908 Some of them just didn't make it. 453 00:24:03,943 --> 00:24:05,743 It was -- It was rough. 454 00:24:07,847 --> 00:24:10,381 And they cried. 455 00:24:10,416 --> 00:24:12,583 The kids cried. 456 00:24:15,288 --> 00:24:18,222 -I became a bombardier. 457 00:24:18,257 --> 00:24:22,026 I saw many planes blow up in front of me. 458 00:24:22,061 --> 00:24:24,128 I don't care what they say. 459 00:24:24,163 --> 00:24:29,166 Everybody had a religion when they fought in combat. 460 00:24:29,202 --> 00:24:32,503 When the flag came up, and the fighters came in, 461 00:24:32,538 --> 00:24:36,907 I said, "If there's anybody up there, look over me." 462 00:24:36,943 --> 00:24:39,577 ♪♪ 463 00:24:39,612 --> 00:24:43,113 -Being Jewish, and Judaism was an important part 464 00:24:43,149 --> 00:24:46,750 of virtually every Jew's experience during World War II, 465 00:24:46,786 --> 00:24:49,887 and it didn't matter if they were religious or not. 466 00:24:49,922 --> 00:24:53,090 They identified as Jews because they were fighting a people 467 00:24:53,125 --> 00:24:55,226 that were trying to destroy the Jewish people 468 00:24:55,261 --> 00:24:56,861 from the face of the Earth. 469 00:24:59,465 --> 00:25:03,701 -In December 1942, The New York Times reported, 470 00:25:03,736 --> 00:25:07,705 "It is believed that two million European Jews have perished, 471 00:25:07,740 --> 00:25:12,776 and that five million are in danger of extermination." 472 00:25:12,812 --> 00:25:15,079 "160,000 German Jews 473 00:25:15,114 --> 00:25:16,981 had been deported to death camps," 474 00:25:17,016 --> 00:25:19,250 The Times wrote. 475 00:25:19,285 --> 00:25:23,254 "More than 600,000 had been murdered in Poland. 476 00:25:23,289 --> 00:25:27,658 Most of the Jews in Eastern Europe had been massacred, 477 00:25:27,693 --> 00:25:31,795 forced into ghettos or sent to concentration camps." 478 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:35,766 [ Typewriter keys clacking ] 479 00:25:35,801 --> 00:25:37,801 Sergeant Dahlia Pobianski 480 00:25:37,837 --> 00:25:39,603 served in the Office of Personnel Records 481 00:25:39,639 --> 00:25:41,438 in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 482 00:25:41,474 --> 00:25:45,543 with a group of servicemen deemed unfit for combat. 483 00:25:45,578 --> 00:25:46,944 -They all had some kind of... 484 00:25:46,979 --> 00:25:48,445 You know, they either had glasses. 485 00:25:48,481 --> 00:25:49,547 They had asthma. 486 00:25:49,582 --> 00:25:51,982 Archie was from Oklahoma. 487 00:25:52,018 --> 00:25:54,385 They had one eye that wasn't good, 488 00:25:54,420 --> 00:25:56,353 and there was chatter all the time, 489 00:25:56,389 --> 00:25:58,289 but suddenly, I heard Archie saying, 490 00:25:58,324 --> 00:26:01,225 "Well, you know, you have to say something good about Hitler. 491 00:26:01,260 --> 00:26:04,161 You know, he got rid of all the Jews," and I said, 492 00:26:04,196 --> 00:26:07,264 "Well, he didn't get this one," or something like that. 493 00:26:07,300 --> 00:26:11,902 That room got so quiet, and everybody was, you know, 494 00:26:11,938 --> 00:26:14,772 digging for something out of their desk drawer or whatever, 495 00:26:14,807 --> 00:26:16,407 and it just stayed quiet until... 496 00:26:16,442 --> 00:26:18,175 It must've been about an hour before 497 00:26:18,210 --> 00:26:20,177 it was time to go to lunch again. 498 00:26:20,212 --> 00:26:22,780 But nobody said anything to me afterwards, 499 00:26:22,815 --> 00:26:26,083 but they got the point, that's for sure. 500 00:26:27,787 --> 00:26:29,386 -For many Jewish Americans 501 00:26:29,422 --> 00:26:31,255 assigned to the European theater, 502 00:26:31,290 --> 00:26:33,624 England was the first stop. 503 00:26:33,659 --> 00:26:35,192 [ Air raid sirens blare ] 504 00:26:35,227 --> 00:26:37,595 -The noise that you hear at the moment 505 00:26:37,630 --> 00:26:40,531 is the sound of the air-raid siren. 506 00:26:40,566 --> 00:26:43,601 -For 2 years, the Nazis had been attacking Britain 507 00:26:43,636 --> 00:26:47,738 from the air, bombing its cities into rubble. 508 00:26:47,773 --> 00:26:50,574 To escape the bombing, 3 million children 509 00:26:50,610 --> 00:26:52,376 had been evacuated from the cities 510 00:26:52,411 --> 00:26:56,146 to live in the countryside in the homes of strangers. 511 00:26:58,618 --> 00:27:00,851 -Bea Abrams, a WAC, 512 00:27:00,886 --> 00:27:04,321 was stationed at Rougham Air Base in rural England. 513 00:27:04,357 --> 00:27:07,157 Her official job in the service was clerical work, 514 00:27:07,193 --> 00:27:11,395 but she also wanted to help as a Jew. 515 00:27:11,430 --> 00:27:16,500 -In England, there are a lot of Jewish children. 516 00:27:16,535 --> 00:27:19,536 The parents sent them out into the country 517 00:27:19,572 --> 00:27:23,641 to keep them safe from the bombing in London. 518 00:27:23,676 --> 00:27:26,777 -As Hanukkah approached, she and some other soldiers 519 00:27:26,812 --> 00:27:29,713 invited a group of displaced Jewish children 520 00:27:29,749 --> 00:27:32,182 to celebrate the holiday. 521 00:27:32,218 --> 00:27:34,618 -We collected all the food we could get. 522 00:27:34,654 --> 00:27:37,554 We gave them a party, and they loved it, 523 00:27:37,590 --> 00:27:40,424 and we all...We prayed. 524 00:27:40,459 --> 00:27:42,426 It's good to have a belief. 525 00:27:42,461 --> 00:27:45,462 ♪♪ 526 00:27:45,498 --> 00:27:48,198 -In London, Judah Nadich, 527 00:27:48,234 --> 00:27:50,801 the senior rabbi chaplain in Europe, 528 00:27:50,836 --> 00:27:55,472 told the age-old Hanukkah story to a group of Jewish orphans. 529 00:27:55,508 --> 00:27:57,941 It was the story of the Maccabees, 530 00:27:57,977 --> 00:28:02,746 a small band of Jewish fighters who defeated an entire army. 531 00:28:02,782 --> 00:28:06,483 They stood up to a powerful enemy and won, 532 00:28:06,519 --> 00:28:11,355 saving Judaism for centuries to come. 533 00:28:11,390 --> 00:28:14,992 -We have a lot of echoes of the Chanukah story in World War II 534 00:28:15,027 --> 00:28:16,727 with American Jewish soldiers 535 00:28:16,762 --> 00:28:20,197 playing the Maccabees of that era. 536 00:28:20,232 --> 00:28:25,402 You see the Jewish soldiers as kind of the spiritual warriors. 537 00:28:25,438 --> 00:28:29,973 -I went into the Air Corps to become a bombardier navigator. 538 00:28:30,009 --> 00:28:32,476 I flew 54 missions. 539 00:28:32,511 --> 00:28:34,244 I was motivated. 540 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:35,546 I was angry. 541 00:28:35,581 --> 00:28:38,549 I was angry at the German arrogance, 542 00:28:38,584 --> 00:28:40,651 the German brutality, 543 00:28:40,686 --> 00:28:43,721 and I felt a strong affinity. 544 00:28:43,756 --> 00:28:45,723 My parents were from Europe. 545 00:28:45,758 --> 00:28:48,325 I was a first-generation American 546 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:51,562 or maybe the last generation Europe. 547 00:28:51,597 --> 00:28:55,632 I used to write on my bombs, "Hitler, here's a gift for you," 548 00:28:55,668 --> 00:28:58,168 and we'd drop the bombs on them. 549 00:28:58,204 --> 00:29:03,941 I would say, "Here's a gift from us Jews"... 550 00:29:03,976 --> 00:29:07,611 and it gave me some satisfaction. 551 00:29:07,646 --> 00:29:09,213 It's a terrible thing. 552 00:29:09,248 --> 00:29:11,882 It was a terrible thing, but when you're fighting an enemy 553 00:29:11,917 --> 00:29:14,818 that is so brutal and so inhuman, 554 00:29:14,854 --> 00:29:17,988 you have to do it. 555 00:29:18,023 --> 00:29:21,091 I was angry at the Germans for making me do that. 556 00:29:26,832 --> 00:29:29,500 -The German-Jewish GIs who had escaped the Nazis 557 00:29:29,535 --> 00:29:33,871 just a few years earlier were now American servicemen, 558 00:29:33,906 --> 00:29:36,774 and they returned to Europe to fight. 559 00:29:36,809 --> 00:29:42,546 For them, the war against Hitler was profoundly personal. 560 00:29:42,581 --> 00:29:44,448 -Getting out of Germany 561 00:29:44,483 --> 00:29:46,817 and then back again in Europe, 562 00:29:46,852 --> 00:29:49,520 it was my great chance to get even, 563 00:29:49,555 --> 00:29:52,289 not just against the Nazis 564 00:29:52,324 --> 00:29:56,226 but with anti-Semitism all together. 565 00:29:56,262 --> 00:29:59,596 Our mission was psychological warfare. 566 00:29:59,632 --> 00:30:01,331 ♪♪ 567 00:30:01,367 --> 00:30:03,534 -As natives of Germany, 568 00:30:03,569 --> 00:30:05,836 they knew the language and culture of the enemy 569 00:30:05,871 --> 00:30:07,905 better than anyone else, 570 00:30:07,940 --> 00:30:10,641 and the U.S. military began to recruit them 571 00:30:10,676 --> 00:30:13,877 for counterintelligence. 572 00:30:13,913 --> 00:30:16,980 Henry Kissinger was drafted in 1943 573 00:30:17,016 --> 00:30:21,018 and was serving as a rifleman in the 84th infantry division. 574 00:30:21,053 --> 00:30:24,288 One day, he was on duty cleaning the latrine 575 00:30:24,323 --> 00:30:27,491 when his commanding officer pulls him aside. 576 00:30:27,526 --> 00:30:29,359 -The commanding general said, 577 00:30:29,395 --> 00:30:33,664 "Soldier, explain this situation map to me," 578 00:30:33,699 --> 00:30:39,603 so I did, and he turned to his aide and said, 579 00:30:39,638 --> 00:30:42,272 "Take that man's name," 580 00:30:42,308 --> 00:30:46,210 and then I became part of the counterintelligence, 581 00:30:46,245 --> 00:30:53,016 in which we were supposed to find spies and security risks, 582 00:30:53,052 --> 00:30:55,953 but that sounds very dramatic, 583 00:30:55,988 --> 00:30:58,722 except I didn't really know what a spy looked like 584 00:30:58,757 --> 00:31:02,226 or what a spy was likely to do. 585 00:31:04,263 --> 00:31:07,497 -As the war raged on, 20,000 American women 586 00:31:07,533 --> 00:31:11,535 were sent overseas to take over non-combat jobs 587 00:31:11,570 --> 00:31:14,037 and free the men to fight. 588 00:31:14,073 --> 00:31:15,739 ♪♪ 589 00:31:15,774 --> 00:31:18,175 Mimi Rivkin was serving in Calcutta 590 00:31:18,210 --> 00:31:23,513 as a photo-lab technician when she met a pilot named Mike. 591 00:31:23,549 --> 00:31:27,885 -He was darling, Mike. I was very fond of him. 592 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:29,353 I can tell you that. 593 00:31:29,388 --> 00:31:31,622 He was a nice guy, and he was darling, 594 00:31:31,657 --> 00:31:35,692 and, you know, I really liked him. 595 00:31:35,728 --> 00:31:38,161 -Mike and Mimi dated until Mike's tour of duty 596 00:31:38,197 --> 00:31:40,097 came to an end. 597 00:31:40,132 --> 00:31:44,101 The fact that Mimi was Jewish never came up. 598 00:31:44,136 --> 00:31:47,037 -When he went home, he didn't say anything. 599 00:31:47,072 --> 00:31:50,474 He just was being discharged from the Army, 600 00:31:50,509 --> 00:31:53,710 and I thought, "That's it," but his friends kept telling me, 601 00:31:53,746 --> 00:31:57,614 "You're going to hear from him. You're going to hear from him," 602 00:31:57,650 --> 00:32:00,317 you know, and I sure heard from him. 603 00:32:00,352 --> 00:32:02,486 He went to see my parents. 604 00:32:02,521 --> 00:32:05,122 He learned that they were Jewish. 605 00:32:05,157 --> 00:32:09,059 I didn't really know that he had planned to marry me. 606 00:32:09,094 --> 00:32:10,560 I got a letter from him. 607 00:32:10,596 --> 00:32:14,031 Instead of a "Dear John" or "Dear Mary" letter, you know, 608 00:32:14,066 --> 00:32:18,902 that, "Your kind and my kind don't mix," 609 00:32:18,938 --> 00:32:21,605 and that sort of thing. 610 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:23,373 So he told me that, you know, 611 00:32:23,409 --> 00:32:26,243 "I'm not interested in marrying a Jew," 612 00:32:26,278 --> 00:32:29,980 so that was the end of that little romance. 613 00:32:37,356 --> 00:32:39,122 -Most Jewish servicemen hoped to serve 614 00:32:39,158 --> 00:32:43,760 in the European theater to do their part against Hitler, 615 00:32:43,796 --> 00:32:47,898 but some were assigned to the Pacific theater instead. 616 00:32:47,933 --> 00:32:50,067 Among them was Norman Mailer, 617 00:32:50,102 --> 00:32:54,071 the grandson of a rabbi and an aspiring novelist. 618 00:32:54,106 --> 00:32:58,275 He had been drafted just after his graduation from Harvard. 619 00:32:58,310 --> 00:32:59,943 -Norman Mailer was trying to write 620 00:32:59,979 --> 00:33:02,045 the great American war novel, 621 00:33:02,081 --> 00:33:04,848 but he found himself in the Pacific rather than in Europe, 622 00:33:04,883 --> 00:33:06,049 and as he wrote home, 623 00:33:06,085 --> 00:33:08,485 the real battle was being fought in Europe. 624 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,854 He was in this peripheral place. 625 00:33:10,889 --> 00:33:14,291 He felt the center of the battle was in Europe. 626 00:33:16,528 --> 00:33:19,496 -Mailer wrote nearly every day to his wife, Bea, 627 00:33:19,531 --> 00:33:23,433 who was serving as a WAVE in the Navy. 628 00:33:23,469 --> 00:33:26,970 In the Pacific, he would find plenty of material for his novel 629 00:33:27,006 --> 00:33:30,474 about the brutality of war. 630 00:33:30,509 --> 00:33:33,510 "It is not that the violence is horrible," he wrote. 631 00:33:33,545 --> 00:33:37,314 "It's also natural, so much a part of life, 632 00:33:37,349 --> 00:33:41,551 that you are never surprised and never shocked. 633 00:33:41,587 --> 00:33:44,287 It is this which frightens me." 634 00:33:46,058 --> 00:33:49,993 [ Gunfire and explosions ] 635 00:33:53,966 --> 00:33:56,500 Harry Corre, an 18-year-old soldier 636 00:33:56,535 --> 00:33:59,002 from an observant Jewish family in Boston, 637 00:33:59,038 --> 00:34:02,339 had been sent to the Philippines early in the war. 638 00:34:02,374 --> 00:34:05,375 He was on the Bataan Peninsula when American troops were forced 639 00:34:05,411 --> 00:34:07,644 to surrender to the Japanese army 640 00:34:07,679 --> 00:34:10,013 and was taken on what became known 641 00:34:10,049 --> 00:34:13,083 as the Bataan Death March. 642 00:34:13,118 --> 00:34:15,685 -The Japanese gathered us together 643 00:34:15,721 --> 00:34:18,955 and started us on a march. 644 00:34:18,991 --> 00:34:21,691 We didn't know where, just that we were marching. 645 00:34:21,727 --> 00:34:24,327 If a man had to go off to the side of the road 646 00:34:24,363 --> 00:34:28,231 or something to urinate and he didn't get permission, 647 00:34:28,267 --> 00:34:32,969 he got shot or bayonetted, or he got his head chopped off. 648 00:34:33,005 --> 00:34:36,873 The slightest infraction, a man got killed. 649 00:34:39,545 --> 00:34:42,946 -The Bataan Death March was a terrible event. 650 00:34:42,981 --> 00:34:48,852 20,000 Americans were captured on Bataan and marched, 651 00:34:48,887 --> 00:34:53,190 I think it was, 60 miles to their prison camp. 652 00:34:53,225 --> 00:34:58,929 It was a tremendous effort of will to survive. 653 00:34:58,964 --> 00:35:02,999 Anybody that survived that one, boy, is a hero. 654 00:35:03,035 --> 00:35:05,969 -I was put on the burial detail. 655 00:35:06,004 --> 00:35:10,540 I was burying about 150 bodies a day. 656 00:35:10,576 --> 00:35:15,545 They were all POWs, all American soldiers. 657 00:35:15,581 --> 00:35:21,118 I have to admit that I lost a lot of my religion 658 00:35:21,153 --> 00:35:26,890 because I saw too many of the guys that were in combat praying 659 00:35:26,925 --> 00:35:30,093 while they were in combat get killed, 660 00:35:30,129 --> 00:35:33,063 so that's when I lost a lot of my religion. 661 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:37,634 -From Egypt, British and American planes 662 00:35:37,669 --> 00:35:42,272 launched the first phase of a broad and well-timed attack. 663 00:35:42,307 --> 00:35:45,475 -The Allies' first victory on the continent of Europe 664 00:35:45,511 --> 00:35:51,181 was the successful invasion of Sicily in July 1943. 665 00:35:51,216 --> 00:35:54,351 As the Nazis retreated, rabbi chaplains, 666 00:35:54,386 --> 00:35:57,320 working hard to sustain the servicemen's faith, 667 00:35:57,356 --> 00:36:00,157 traveled across Sicily's mountainous terrain 668 00:36:00,192 --> 00:36:03,360 to hold services for all of the Jewish men. 669 00:36:03,395 --> 00:36:06,163 On October 9, hundreds of Jewish GIs 670 00:36:06,198 --> 00:36:08,298 gathered to observe Yom Kippur, 671 00:36:08,333 --> 00:36:13,837 the day of atonement, praying and fasting all day. 672 00:36:13,872 --> 00:36:17,274 -I remember Yom Kippur in Catania, Sicily, 673 00:36:17,309 --> 00:36:19,776 and we took over the movie theater, 674 00:36:19,811 --> 00:36:21,444 and we filled it up with soldiers, 675 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,313 wall-to-wall soldiers, 676 00:36:23,348 --> 00:36:26,816 and instead of yarmulkes, they had steel helmets, 677 00:36:26,852 --> 00:36:29,219 and I'd never had a service like that, 678 00:36:29,254 --> 00:36:32,856 such an intense, beautiful service. 679 00:36:32,891 --> 00:36:34,991 That's really praying. 680 00:36:35,027 --> 00:36:36,560 It was wonderful, 681 00:36:36,595 --> 00:36:39,196 and they were praying with my tallit, 682 00:36:39,231 --> 00:36:41,364 my prayer shawl on, and so I said, 683 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,201 "Jack, what are you doing? You're supposed to be flying." 684 00:36:44,236 --> 00:36:46,803 So I put the tallit on the chair. 685 00:36:46,838 --> 00:36:51,841 I rushed out, and my crew is going to the plane 686 00:36:51,877 --> 00:36:53,443 on this mission, 687 00:36:53,478 --> 00:36:55,212 and it was a rough mission. 688 00:36:55,247 --> 00:36:58,381 ♪♪ 689 00:36:58,417 --> 00:37:02,953 I remember weeping coming back, 690 00:37:02,988 --> 00:37:05,855 and twice in my life I cried, 691 00:37:05,891 --> 00:37:08,358 that time and when my mother died. 692 00:37:08,393 --> 00:37:09,926 It was a terrible thing 693 00:37:09,962 --> 00:37:13,163 to be flying on Yom Kippur and bombing. 694 00:37:13,198 --> 00:37:15,565 Can you imagine? 695 00:37:15,601 --> 00:37:17,033 ♪♪ 696 00:37:17,069 --> 00:37:20,070 -One week later, in Rome, 697 00:37:20,105 --> 00:37:24,841 the Nazis S.S. troops rounded up more than 1,000 Jews 698 00:37:24,876 --> 00:37:26,977 and deported them to Auschwitz. 699 00:37:30,983 --> 00:37:33,717 Sam Kessler was a radio operator, 700 00:37:33,752 --> 00:37:35,085 part of a tight-knit crew 701 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:40,690 flying a B-24 bomber called The Pale Ale. 702 00:37:40,726 --> 00:37:44,961 -On the very first mission, we lined up to go to the plane. 703 00:37:44,997 --> 00:37:47,631 There was a Catholic priest 704 00:37:47,666 --> 00:37:49,266 in front of the plane 705 00:37:49,301 --> 00:37:50,934 to give last rites, 706 00:37:50,969 --> 00:37:53,403 and nine people marched up there, 707 00:37:53,438 --> 00:37:57,207 and I realized that I was the only Jewish flier there, 708 00:37:57,242 --> 00:37:59,943 and I remained behind. 709 00:37:59,978 --> 00:38:03,246 They went up, and he blessed them. 710 00:38:03,282 --> 00:38:07,083 We flew the mission, and we came back safely, 711 00:38:07,119 --> 00:38:10,186 and I decided that if they was safe, 712 00:38:10,222 --> 00:38:12,122 I would be safe, too. 713 00:38:12,157 --> 00:38:15,058 The second time, I marched right up with them. 714 00:38:15,093 --> 00:38:19,262 He blessed me, and I certainly accepted that. 715 00:38:19,298 --> 00:38:23,133 For the next 10 missions, we were very, very successful. 716 00:38:27,172 --> 00:38:29,739 -On the morning of Kessler's 11th mission, 717 00:38:29,775 --> 00:38:31,641 the weather was bad. 718 00:38:31,677 --> 00:38:34,411 He was flying over Belgium toward Nuremberg 719 00:38:34,446 --> 00:38:38,548 when something went wrong with his plane. 720 00:38:38,583 --> 00:38:42,085 -All of a sudden, I heard a crack. 721 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:45,922 The pilot, Bob Gordon, was trying to keep the plane 722 00:38:45,957 --> 00:38:48,258 as level as he possibly could, 723 00:38:48,293 --> 00:38:53,463 and I'm pounding away, "S-O-S. S-O-S. S-O-S." 724 00:38:53,498 --> 00:38:55,799 He ordered me to bail out, 725 00:38:55,834 --> 00:39:00,603 and I waved to him to come follow me. 726 00:39:00,639 --> 00:39:02,706 I never saw him again. 727 00:39:04,343 --> 00:39:08,545 I had the luck to pull my rip cord, 728 00:39:08,580 --> 00:39:12,349 and the next thing I knew, I blacked out. 729 00:39:12,384 --> 00:39:16,219 When I woke up, I was floating in the air. 730 00:39:16,254 --> 00:39:17,954 All I saw was church steeples, church steeples, 731 00:39:17,989 --> 00:39:20,156 and church steeples. 732 00:39:20,192 --> 00:39:22,592 I slammed into the side of the steeple. 733 00:39:22,627 --> 00:39:29,265 My parachute caught the top of the steeple, and I hung there. 734 00:39:29,301 --> 00:39:31,401 I prayed the Kaddish. 735 00:39:31,436 --> 00:39:35,138 Kaddish was designed for people who were gone. 736 00:39:35,173 --> 00:39:37,841 In my particular case, I knew I was going to die. 737 00:39:37,876 --> 00:39:40,043 I was positive, of course. 738 00:39:40,078 --> 00:39:41,811 Once I say Kaddish, you know... 739 00:39:41,847 --> 00:39:44,681 [ Speaking Yiddish ] 740 00:39:44,716 --> 00:39:49,085 ...and about 20 minutes later, 741 00:39:49,121 --> 00:39:54,624 would you believe that church steeples have trap doors? 742 00:39:54,659 --> 00:40:00,263 Two men with a ladder, villagers, got me down, 743 00:40:00,298 --> 00:40:02,899 and that's why I'm still here. 744 00:40:07,372 --> 00:40:09,706 -By June 1944, 745 00:40:09,741 --> 00:40:12,942 the Allies had gained ground against the Nazis in Italy, 746 00:40:12,978 --> 00:40:17,781 but Hitler still controlled most of the European continent. 747 00:40:17,816 --> 00:40:19,949 Allied leaders now readied the troops 748 00:40:19,985 --> 00:40:22,652 for the most ambitious operation of the war, 749 00:40:22,687 --> 00:40:27,690 D-Day, the invasion of occupied France from the sea. 750 00:40:27,726 --> 00:40:31,227 More than 160,000 British, Canadian, and American men 751 00:40:31,263 --> 00:40:33,229 would be placed into harm's way, 752 00:40:33,265 --> 00:40:36,266 making it the most dangerous battle of the war. 753 00:40:38,336 --> 00:40:39,836 -Right before D-Day, 754 00:40:39,871 --> 00:40:44,107 I was in England training for the invasion. 755 00:40:44,142 --> 00:40:48,978 They told us, "Two out of three of you are not coming back." 756 00:40:49,014 --> 00:40:51,448 I wrote to my sister, Ethel, 757 00:40:51,483 --> 00:40:54,918 "Get the telegram before my parents 758 00:40:54,953 --> 00:40:57,320 and break it to them gently 759 00:40:57,355 --> 00:41:00,623 because I'm not coming home." 760 00:41:00,659 --> 00:41:04,527 I decided to draw a huge Star of David 761 00:41:04,563 --> 00:41:07,630 on the back of my Army field jacket. 762 00:41:07,666 --> 00:41:12,635 I wrote "Bronx, New York" around the Star of David. 763 00:41:12,671 --> 00:41:17,707 I had to let the Germans know where I was coming from. 764 00:41:17,742 --> 00:41:19,909 My fellow soldiers couldn't believe 765 00:41:19,945 --> 00:41:21,811 that I was going to do that. 766 00:41:21,847 --> 00:41:23,613 Guys in the outfit said, 767 00:41:23,648 --> 00:41:28,351 "The Germans are going to cut your so-and-sos off 768 00:41:28,386 --> 00:41:30,453 when they see that." 769 00:41:31,890 --> 00:41:36,593 ♪♪ 770 00:41:43,468 --> 00:41:49,639 We landed about 6:40 on Omaha Beach. 771 00:41:49,674 --> 00:41:53,376 [ Explosions and gunfire ] 772 00:41:53,411 --> 00:41:56,446 In landing, the man that I was covering 773 00:41:56,481 --> 00:42:01,050 came off the runway first, and he got machine-gunned. 774 00:42:01,086 --> 00:42:03,520 I was right behind him. 775 00:42:03,555 --> 00:42:08,358 Everybody in that boat was killed except for two of us. 776 00:42:10,529 --> 00:42:15,865 About 30 of our guys are hiding behind two tanks to survive. 777 00:42:15,901 --> 00:42:20,503 I decided, being Jewish, I better go straight in. 778 00:42:20,539 --> 00:42:22,505 I didn't want to look like a coward. 779 00:42:22,541 --> 00:42:28,711 I wanted the fellas to see that I didn't have the fear. 780 00:42:28,747 --> 00:42:31,180 I'm not going to take cover. 781 00:42:31,216 --> 00:42:34,017 My object was to reach the seawall. 782 00:42:34,052 --> 00:42:37,053 That was the only protection on the beach 783 00:42:37,088 --> 00:42:42,559 to the machine guns firing, and finally I got hit. 784 00:42:42,594 --> 00:42:48,264 A shell came in and blew this cheek right off 785 00:42:48,300 --> 00:42:52,669 and broke the upper jaw. 786 00:42:52,704 --> 00:42:54,671 My best buddy from the boat, 787 00:42:54,706 --> 00:43:00,176 he was laying facedown in 2 inches or 3 inches of water, 788 00:43:00,211 --> 00:43:06,883 and I could see his high school ring on his hand. 789 00:43:06,918 --> 00:43:10,820 There was my best buddy dead. 790 00:43:10,855 --> 00:43:17,794 I prayed the Shema during that day out loud. 791 00:43:17,829 --> 00:43:19,929 [ Speaking Yiddish ] 792 00:43:24,336 --> 00:43:26,302 Here, oh, Israel, the Lord our God. 793 00:43:26,338 --> 00:43:28,871 The Lord is one. 794 00:43:28,907 --> 00:43:31,841 That was the only prayer I said on the beach. 795 00:43:31,876 --> 00:43:33,876 ♪♪ 796 00:43:33,912 --> 00:43:36,679 It was a horrible day. 797 00:43:36,715 --> 00:43:41,050 It was the longest day. 798 00:43:41,086 --> 00:43:43,653 You're lucky to live through all of it. 799 00:43:43,688 --> 00:43:45,922 I did get wounded five times. 800 00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:55,865 -Everybody understood the enormity of that event. 801 00:43:55,900 --> 00:43:58,368 We went to synagogue that night. 802 00:43:58,403 --> 00:44:03,106 There was actually kind of an emergency service. 803 00:44:03,141 --> 00:44:06,409 I mean, that's how important that was. 804 00:44:06,444 --> 00:44:10,813 This was the beginning of the end. 805 00:44:10,849 --> 00:44:12,649 D-Day was the harbinger. 806 00:44:12,684 --> 00:44:16,386 It was also the, "What's coming next?" 807 00:44:18,790 --> 00:44:22,659 -D-Day was successful, placing an enormous Allied army 808 00:44:22,694 --> 00:44:28,364 in Northern Europe, but the losses were devastating. 809 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:31,634 Rabbi chaplains held services for the Jewish dead. 810 00:44:31,670 --> 00:44:33,770 The surviving men gathered together 811 00:44:33,805 --> 00:44:37,240 to honor the friends they had lost. 812 00:44:37,275 --> 00:44:38,474 -You make friends. 813 00:44:38,510 --> 00:44:40,743 You lose them, and then it becomes very hard. 814 00:44:40,779 --> 00:44:43,112 Archie Stein was his name, 815 00:44:43,148 --> 00:44:45,581 sounded Jewish, 816 00:44:45,617 --> 00:44:47,550 and they picked on him. 817 00:44:47,585 --> 00:44:50,787 He happened to be a Lutheran from Aitkin, Minnesota, 818 00:44:50,822 --> 00:44:52,488 and he was my best friend, 819 00:44:52,524 --> 00:44:54,857 and unfortunately he was killed in action. 820 00:44:54,893 --> 00:44:56,993 ♪♪ 821 00:44:57,028 --> 00:44:59,996 -My brother, Buck, he was a tank commander, 822 00:45:00,031 --> 00:45:04,233 and he was a very, very good soldier. 823 00:45:04,269 --> 00:45:06,436 His tank was hit head on, 824 00:45:06,471 --> 00:45:09,439 and he didn't survive. 825 00:45:09,474 --> 00:45:13,976 Jews are not looked upon as fighting. 826 00:45:14,012 --> 00:45:16,979 Someone who was in the same tank as my brother 827 00:45:17,015 --> 00:45:19,248 said the men loved him. 828 00:45:19,284 --> 00:45:22,885 He was a terrific commander, 829 00:45:22,921 --> 00:45:26,823 and they called him The Fighting Jew, 830 00:45:26,858 --> 00:45:29,792 The Fighting Jew. 831 00:45:29,828 --> 00:45:35,631 He was proud of being a Jew fighting for his country. 832 00:45:35,667 --> 00:45:39,602 ♪♪ 833 00:45:39,637 --> 00:45:44,173 ♪♪ 834 00:45:44,209 --> 00:45:49,378 -In combat together, our lives depended on each other. 835 00:45:49,414 --> 00:45:53,716 Religion was far in the back. 836 00:45:53,752 --> 00:45:58,821 Maybe they were biased at some point, 837 00:45:58,857 --> 00:46:01,657 but the Army knocks that out of you 838 00:46:01,693 --> 00:46:05,561 because what you find out about a person is his character 839 00:46:05,597 --> 00:46:09,766 and what his values are, not what his religion is. 840 00:46:09,801 --> 00:46:13,736 -Jews were largely perceived as the other part of World War II, 841 00:46:13,772 --> 00:46:15,972 but during the war and these relationships 842 00:46:16,007 --> 00:46:18,040 that developed amongst these individuals 843 00:46:18,076 --> 00:46:19,542 really helped Americans 844 00:46:19,577 --> 00:46:22,945 begin to perceive Jews as Americans. 845 00:46:26,084 --> 00:46:29,085 -On August 25, 1944, 846 00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:31,020 American troops marched in triumph 847 00:46:31,055 --> 00:46:33,623 down the Champs-Elysees. 848 00:46:33,658 --> 00:46:36,559 After 4 long years of Nazi control, 849 00:46:36,594 --> 00:46:39,996 the city of Paris was free. 850 00:46:40,031 --> 00:46:43,332 The streets filled with victorious American soldiers 851 00:46:43,368 --> 00:46:45,601 and joyful French men and women. 852 00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:51,340 But the few remaining Jews stayed in hiding, 853 00:46:51,376 --> 00:46:53,910 still afraid. 854 00:46:53,945 --> 00:46:55,978 Captain Maurice Paper arrived in Paris 855 00:46:56,014 --> 00:46:59,315 soon after liberation with a personal mission: 856 00:46:59,350 --> 00:47:04,020 to discover if any of his French relatives had survived. 857 00:47:04,055 --> 00:47:07,557 -I had a list from the family back home 858 00:47:07,592 --> 00:47:10,126 of about 10 names of relatives 859 00:47:10,161 --> 00:47:12,061 that never got to America. 860 00:47:12,096 --> 00:47:17,900 They stayed in France, and I see a man is leaning on a lamppost, 861 00:47:17,936 --> 00:47:20,236 and he's reading a Yiddish newspaper, 862 00:47:20,271 --> 00:47:23,973 and I get up close to him, and I said... 863 00:47:24,008 --> 00:47:25,074 My God! 864 00:47:25,109 --> 00:47:27,343 The paper comes down. He looks at me. 865 00:47:27,378 --> 00:47:29,545 He says, "Yeah, it's Yiddish." 866 00:47:29,581 --> 00:47:33,382 I said, "Yes, I speak Jewish." 867 00:47:33,418 --> 00:47:35,852 He says, "Leave me your list, 868 00:47:35,887 --> 00:47:38,087 and I'll make some investigation. 869 00:47:38,122 --> 00:47:41,524 We have a Jewish underground. 870 00:47:41,559 --> 00:47:45,661 We find out who's dead, who's alive, where they live." 871 00:47:45,697 --> 00:47:48,097 Within a week, I actually found my relatives 872 00:47:48,132 --> 00:47:50,466 that were not killed, the ladies. 873 00:47:50,501 --> 00:47:52,001 The men were all gone, 874 00:47:52,036 --> 00:47:55,538 but I found two aunts and four cousins. 875 00:47:55,573 --> 00:48:02,078 ♪♪ 876 00:48:02,113 --> 00:48:04,513 -Rabbi Chaplain David Max Eichhorn 877 00:48:04,549 --> 00:48:07,350 had landed in France a few weeks after D-Day, 878 00:48:07,385 --> 00:48:09,685 attached to an infantry unit. 879 00:48:09,721 --> 00:48:12,622 He stayed with his men in the thick of combat, 880 00:48:12,657 --> 00:48:16,559 driving a Jeep marked with a Jewish star. 881 00:48:16,594 --> 00:48:19,462 -He talks about how he'd be driving 882 00:48:19,497 --> 00:48:20,863 down the road in his Jeep, 883 00:48:20,899 --> 00:48:23,199 and, you know, Nazi planes with swastikas on them 884 00:48:23,234 --> 00:48:26,135 would come strafing down the road, 885 00:48:26,170 --> 00:48:28,537 and they'd have to dive out of the Jeep. 886 00:48:28,573 --> 00:48:32,241 He went through occupied France as we were liberating. 887 00:48:32,277 --> 00:48:37,647 One of their missions, as a chaplain, was to find Jews, 888 00:48:37,682 --> 00:48:39,515 and they would go to the synagogues, 889 00:48:39,550 --> 00:48:42,585 most of which had been completely desecrated 890 00:48:42,620 --> 00:48:43,986 by the Nazis. 891 00:48:44,022 --> 00:48:46,822 Manure was put into the synagogues, 892 00:48:46,858 --> 00:48:49,191 and the buildings were destroyed 893 00:48:49,227 --> 00:48:54,330 and just used for all sorts of horrific things. 894 00:48:54,365 --> 00:48:57,099 As he would go from town to town, 895 00:48:57,135 --> 00:49:00,703 he would be presented at times with Torahs 896 00:49:00,738 --> 00:49:05,975 that the townsfolk had saved from the Nazis. 897 00:49:06,010 --> 00:49:09,245 -Rabbi Eichhorn held services for the GIs, 898 00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:12,014 reading from the desecrated Torah scrolls, 899 00:49:12,050 --> 00:49:15,918 the Jews' most sacred text. 900 00:49:15,954 --> 00:49:18,254 "The more they see and hear about what has happened 901 00:49:18,289 --> 00:49:20,556 to the Jewish communities of Europe," 902 00:49:20,591 --> 00:49:23,426 he wrote, "our men are more intensely 903 00:49:23,461 --> 00:49:28,297 and proudly Jewish than I have ever known." 904 00:49:28,333 --> 00:49:30,433 In September 1944, 905 00:49:30,468 --> 00:49:33,169 American troops crossed the Siegfried Line, 906 00:49:33,204 --> 00:49:37,606 a massive Nazi fortification 400 miles long. 907 00:49:37,642 --> 00:49:40,242 The Jewish servicemen had finally entered 908 00:49:40,278 --> 00:49:43,212 Hitler's Germany. 909 00:49:43,247 --> 00:49:45,748 Among them was Private Si Lewen, 910 00:49:45,783 --> 00:49:50,686 who had fled the Nazis as a teenager only 10 years before. 911 00:49:50,722 --> 00:49:52,855 He drove along the front lines 912 00:49:52,890 --> 00:49:55,257 in a truck outfitted with loudspeakers 913 00:49:55,293 --> 00:49:59,128 trying to persuade the Germans to surrender. 914 00:49:59,163 --> 00:50:02,665 -My very first mission, I was afraid that 915 00:50:02,700 --> 00:50:06,102 when I would stop talking to them, 916 00:50:06,137 --> 00:50:12,141 my voice would give me away that really I'm very much afraid, 917 00:50:12,176 --> 00:50:16,879 but then I would close my eyes, and I just belted into it. 918 00:50:16,914 --> 00:50:19,081 [ Speaking German ] 919 00:50:19,117 --> 00:50:25,488 You know, and once that was out, it was out. 920 00:50:25,523 --> 00:50:28,124 As I would say to the Germans, 921 00:50:28,159 --> 00:50:31,460 "You're all in this boat together so let's be done. 922 00:50:31,496 --> 00:50:33,462 Give up now." 923 00:50:33,498 --> 00:50:36,699 -Little did they know, when they put down their weapons, 924 00:50:36,734 --> 00:50:39,402 that the American soldier they were surrendering to 925 00:50:39,437 --> 00:50:43,205 was in fact a German-Jew. 926 00:50:43,241 --> 00:50:45,174 -I'm a little guy there. 927 00:50:45,209 --> 00:50:49,612 I would always stand on the highest part of my truck 928 00:50:49,647 --> 00:50:52,848 to seem taller than I really am. 929 00:50:52,884 --> 00:50:58,988 I felt tall, and then of course these Nazis surrender. 930 00:50:59,023 --> 00:51:01,023 I felt elated. 931 00:51:01,059 --> 00:51:03,526 I felt elated. 932 00:51:03,561 --> 00:51:09,165 ♪♪ 933 00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:12,401 -The first German city to fall to American forces 934 00:51:12,437 --> 00:51:16,772 was Aachen on Germany's western border. 935 00:51:16,808 --> 00:51:18,707 There, on October 29, 936 00:51:18,743 --> 00:51:21,911 with Nazi artillery still exploding in the distance, 937 00:51:21,946 --> 00:51:24,180 a group of American-Jewish GIs 938 00:51:24,215 --> 00:51:28,384 held a service that was broadcast around the world. 939 00:51:28,419 --> 00:51:30,019 -The National Broadcasting Company, 940 00:51:30,054 --> 00:51:32,421 in cooperation with the American Jewish Committee, 941 00:51:32,457 --> 00:51:34,056 brings you now a special broadcast 942 00:51:34,092 --> 00:51:36,092 of historic significance 943 00:51:36,127 --> 00:51:39,562 with the first Jewish religious service broadcast from Germany 944 00:51:39,597 --> 00:51:42,364 since the advent of Hitler. 945 00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:45,835 [ Singing in Hebrew ] 946 00:51:45,870 --> 00:51:49,205 ♪♪ 947 00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:52,308 -Lieutenant Max Fuchs, who had been studying to become 948 00:51:52,343 --> 00:51:56,245 a cantor, volunteered to sing that day. 949 00:51:56,280 --> 00:52:00,583 -You know, they asked me to do the service in Aachen, Germany. 950 00:52:00,618 --> 00:52:04,253 The GIs wanted to do some praying, you know, 951 00:52:04,288 --> 00:52:09,758 and some singing, so this was my part of the service. 952 00:52:09,794 --> 00:52:12,461 -Since the U.S. is beginning to occupy Germany, 953 00:52:12,497 --> 00:52:15,197 in the middle of these tank barriers, 954 00:52:15,233 --> 00:52:16,432 they held a Jewish service, 955 00:52:16,467 --> 00:52:19,034 and it was broadcast both over the air in Germany 956 00:52:19,070 --> 00:52:21,337 and was also broadcast by NBC, 957 00:52:21,372 --> 00:52:23,939 and it was just an extraordinary statement 958 00:52:23,975 --> 00:52:25,374 about the defeat of the Nazis, 959 00:52:25,409 --> 00:52:29,578 about overturning the horrible policies of Germany 960 00:52:29,614 --> 00:52:31,714 against the Jews. 961 00:52:31,749 --> 00:52:34,416 -The Jewish chaplain spoke about peace on Earth 962 00:52:34,452 --> 00:52:37,786 and things like that in part of the service. 963 00:52:37,822 --> 00:52:40,256 It was a wonderful thing, a Yiskor service. 964 00:52:40,291 --> 00:52:45,361 Yiskor means a remembering, 965 00:52:45,396 --> 00:52:47,997 remembering all the GIs 966 00:52:48,032 --> 00:52:50,332 that had fallen. 967 00:52:51,502 --> 00:52:55,938 You say a prayer for those GIs. 968 00:52:55,973 --> 00:52:59,842 [ Singing in Hebrew ] 969 00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:04,813 -That's when it really hit me, 970 00:53:04,849 --> 00:53:07,283 you know, what was happening in Europe. 971 00:53:07,318 --> 00:53:11,754 While I was doing that service, things sort of hit you. 972 00:53:11,789 --> 00:53:15,324 You know, you get melancholy because you start to think 973 00:53:15,359 --> 00:53:20,429 about your family, you know, 974 00:53:20,464 --> 00:53:23,365 all the people that I knew. 975 00:53:23,401 --> 00:53:26,468 You see, I knew these people because I was 12 years old 976 00:53:26,504 --> 00:53:29,305 when I came here from Poland. 977 00:53:29,340 --> 00:53:30,873 The cousins, I knew the uncles. 978 00:53:30,908 --> 00:53:33,943 I knew grandparents. 979 00:53:33,978 --> 00:53:38,380 When I looked out and I saw so many Jewish GIs, 980 00:53:38,416 --> 00:53:40,115 I wasn't the only one. 981 00:53:40,151 --> 00:53:44,353 There wasn't one GI there that didn't have an extended family 982 00:53:44,388 --> 00:53:46,956 in Europe somewhere lost. 983 00:53:51,062 --> 00:53:53,028 They all perished. 984 00:53:53,064 --> 00:53:55,631 [ Singing in Hebrew ] 985 00:54:01,872 --> 00:54:04,873 -As American forces marched through Hitler's Europe 986 00:54:04,909 --> 00:54:08,510 in the winter of 1944, rumors that the Nazis 987 00:54:08,546 --> 00:54:13,148 were murdering Jewish prisoners of war continued to spread. 988 00:54:13,184 --> 00:54:15,918 Hearing news that Jewish soldiers in the Soviet army 989 00:54:15,953 --> 00:54:18,053 had been singled out and shot, 990 00:54:18,089 --> 00:54:19,388 some American officers 991 00:54:19,423 --> 00:54:23,125 encouraged their men to destroy their dog tags. 992 00:54:26,163 --> 00:54:30,399 On December 16, deep in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, 993 00:54:30,434 --> 00:54:34,803 the Germans launched a massive assault on American forces, 994 00:54:34,839 --> 00:54:39,775 what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge. 995 00:54:39,810 --> 00:54:46,615 -So this huge German onslaught came as an absolute surprise. 996 00:54:46,651 --> 00:54:48,384 That was just the beginning 997 00:54:48,419 --> 00:54:51,620 of what became a very brutal battle. 998 00:54:51,656 --> 00:54:56,358 You had whole American, you know, regiments that were... 999 00:54:56,394 --> 00:55:01,063 American prisoners by the score were taken there. 1000 00:55:01,098 --> 00:55:04,600 -19,000 Americans died in the Battle of the Bulge, 1001 00:55:04,635 --> 00:55:08,871 and 15,000 more were captured. 1002 00:55:08,906 --> 00:55:12,041 -The Germans came at us in force, 1003 00:55:12,076 --> 00:55:14,610 pushed through on our flanks. 1004 00:55:14,645 --> 00:55:16,512 I threw away my dog tags, 1005 00:55:16,547 --> 00:55:20,182 which had my religion on it. 1006 00:55:20,217 --> 00:55:23,552 -Sergeant Lester Tanner and his unit were taken prisoner, 1007 00:55:23,587 --> 00:55:26,322 and in late January, he and the other officers 1008 00:55:26,357 --> 00:55:30,793 were moved to a prison camp called Stalag IX A. 1009 00:55:30,828 --> 00:55:34,330 -They announced that the Jews had to form up 1010 00:55:34,365 --> 00:55:36,832 in front of the barracks the next morning, 1011 00:55:36,867 --> 00:55:39,134 and those who do not will be shot. 1012 00:55:41,505 --> 00:55:43,639 -Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, 1013 00:55:43,674 --> 00:55:46,108 a Protestant from Knoxville, Tennessee, 1014 00:55:46,143 --> 00:55:48,143 was known for his strong leadership 1015 00:55:48,179 --> 00:55:50,779 and deep moral conviction. 1016 00:55:50,815 --> 00:55:52,581 He was the commanding officer in charge 1017 00:55:52,616 --> 00:55:57,486 of the 1,275 American prisoners. 1018 00:55:57,521 --> 00:56:01,990 -Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds told his officer, 1019 00:56:02,026 --> 00:56:06,095 "We will all be there in the morning in formation, 1020 00:56:06,130 --> 00:56:09,331 and I will be at the head." 1021 00:56:09,367 --> 00:56:11,700 The next morning, we were lined up. 1022 00:56:11,736 --> 00:56:14,436 Major Siegmann strides over. 1023 00:56:14,472 --> 00:56:16,672 He says, "You can't all be Jews." 1024 00:56:16,707 --> 00:56:20,876 Roddie said to him, "We're all Jews here." 1025 00:56:20,911 --> 00:56:23,212 You don't tell a Gestapo man 1026 00:56:23,247 --> 00:56:25,748 that you're not going to listen to his order. 1027 00:56:25,783 --> 00:56:32,221 The German takes out his Luger, points it at Roddie's forehead, 1028 00:56:32,256 --> 00:56:33,989 and he says, 1029 00:56:34,024 --> 00:56:40,295 "You will order the Jewish-American soldiers 1030 00:56:40,331 --> 00:56:44,700 to step forward, or I will shoot you right now." 1031 00:56:46,036 --> 00:56:50,706 And he said to him, "Major, you can shoot me, 1032 00:56:50,741 --> 00:56:53,609 but if you do, you're going to have to shoot all of us 1033 00:56:53,644 --> 00:56:55,677 because we know who you are, 1034 00:56:55,713 --> 00:57:00,783 and this war is almost over, and you will be a war criminal," 1035 00:57:00,818 --> 00:57:06,121 and the major just spun around and went back to his barracks, 1036 00:57:06,157 --> 00:57:10,058 and Roddie dismissed the men. 1037 00:57:10,094 --> 00:57:14,763 -Edmonds saved nearly 200 Jewish-American men that day. 1038 00:57:14,799 --> 00:57:17,399 They would never forget the extraordinary risk 1039 00:57:17,435 --> 00:57:19,501 he took on their behalf. 1040 00:57:23,140 --> 00:57:25,140 Private Morton Brooks was also captured 1041 00:57:25,176 --> 00:57:27,276 during the Battle of the Bulge. 1042 00:57:27,311 --> 00:57:29,978 He was taken to Stalag IX B 1043 00:57:30,014 --> 00:57:32,648 and imprisoned in separate Jewish barracks 1044 00:57:32,683 --> 00:57:34,550 under S.S. guard. 1045 00:57:34,585 --> 00:57:37,853 Then, they were told that 350 men would be moved 1046 00:57:37,888 --> 00:57:39,688 to another camp. 1047 00:57:39,723 --> 00:57:41,490 Because there weren't enough Jews, 1048 00:57:41,525 --> 00:57:43,826 they also sent men who looked Jewish 1049 00:57:43,861 --> 00:57:46,195 or had Jewish-sounding names 1050 00:57:46,230 --> 00:57:49,231 and those who were considered troublemakers. 1051 00:57:50,935 --> 00:57:53,836 [ Train whistle blows ] 1052 00:57:53,871 --> 00:57:57,773 -We pulled in to what we saw was Berga. 1053 00:57:57,808 --> 00:58:01,710 We saw that it was one of the concentration camps, 1054 00:58:01,745 --> 00:58:04,847 striped outfits behind the barbed wire. 1055 00:58:04,882 --> 00:58:07,883 The people behind them were Jewish. 1056 00:58:07,918 --> 00:58:11,820 Then, of course, we knew that it wasn't a POW camp. 1057 00:58:11,856 --> 00:58:13,789 That was clear. 1058 00:58:13,824 --> 00:58:16,792 -Berga, a subcamp of Buchenwald, 1059 00:58:16,827 --> 00:58:19,728 was one of hundreds of slave-labor camps, 1060 00:58:19,763 --> 00:58:23,699 where prisoners were deliberately worked to death. 1061 00:58:23,734 --> 00:58:26,635 Each morning, the men marched through the snow 1062 00:58:26,670 --> 00:58:29,004 and worked 10 hours a day, 1063 00:58:29,039 --> 00:58:34,142 digging tunnels for the Nazis' underground ammunition factory. 1064 00:58:34,178 --> 00:58:37,179 -The overseer in the mine shaft that I was in 1065 00:58:37,214 --> 00:58:39,181 was a particularly brutal man. 1066 00:58:39,216 --> 00:58:43,852 He carried a rubber hose and a pickax handle, 1067 00:58:43,888 --> 00:58:46,722 and if he didn't think you were working hard enough, 1068 00:58:46,757 --> 00:58:49,424 he would use it on you. 1069 00:58:49,460 --> 00:58:52,361 There were some fellows who tried to escape, 1070 00:58:52,396 --> 00:58:55,197 and, of course, they were shot. 1071 00:58:57,568 --> 00:59:01,703 -Of the 350 American POWs who were sent to Berga, 1072 00:59:01,739 --> 00:59:05,607 only 63 survived. 1073 00:59:05,643 --> 00:59:07,175 -Oh. 1074 00:59:07,211 --> 00:59:12,981 I used to dream about revenge and what I would do. 1075 00:59:13,017 --> 00:59:16,919 The cruelty was unbelievable. 1076 00:59:16,954 --> 00:59:19,888 I was almost half my weight. 1077 00:59:19,924 --> 00:59:21,990 I was about 74 pounds. 1078 00:59:25,029 --> 00:59:29,731 To go through a German concentration-camp experience 1079 00:59:29,767 --> 00:59:32,634 never entered my thoughts. 1080 00:59:32,670 --> 00:59:36,104 Of course, we didn't really know about those things at the time. 1081 00:59:39,476 --> 00:59:42,844 -By early 1945, millions of Americans 1082 00:59:42,880 --> 00:59:45,113 had been sent into combat. 1083 00:59:45,149 --> 00:59:48,850 Wherever servicemen went, chaplains went with them, 1084 00:59:48,886 --> 00:59:54,890 offering spiritual comfort in the face of the horrors of war. 1085 00:59:54,925 --> 00:59:58,160 Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn was stationed in the Pacific, 1086 00:59:58,195 --> 01:00:02,097 the only Jewish chaplain with the Fifth Marine Division. 1087 01:00:02,132 --> 01:00:04,700 A committed pacifist before the war, 1088 01:00:04,735 --> 01:00:08,604 the fight against Hitler's evil had changed his mind. 1089 01:00:08,639 --> 01:00:10,839 "According to Jewish law," he wrote, 1090 01:00:10,874 --> 01:00:13,108 "It was a war of obligation. 1091 01:00:13,143 --> 01:00:16,912 In such a war, every Jew must fight." 1092 01:00:21,919 --> 01:00:23,585 On February 20th, 1093 01:00:23,621 --> 01:00:25,921 Rabbi Gittelsohn went ashore with the Marines 1094 01:00:25,956 --> 01:00:28,423 in the invasion of Iwo Jima, 1095 01:00:28,459 --> 01:00:32,694 one of the bloodiest battles of the war. 1096 01:00:32,730 --> 01:00:36,164 Afterwards, he was asked to lead an interfaith service 1097 01:00:36,200 --> 01:00:38,533 honoring the dead, 1098 01:00:38,569 --> 01:00:41,136 but some of the other chaplains objected to a Jew 1099 01:00:41,171 --> 01:00:42,971 presiding over a memorial 1100 01:00:43,007 --> 01:00:45,540 for men of all religions. 1101 01:00:45,576 --> 01:00:48,010 Reluctantly, the head chaplain agreed 1102 01:00:48,045 --> 01:00:50,846 to hold three separate services instead. 1103 01:00:54,852 --> 01:00:57,719 Rabbi Gittelsohn spoke at the Jewish service, 1104 01:00:57,755 --> 01:01:00,689 reading the words he had originally written to honor 1105 01:01:00,724 --> 01:01:02,557 all of the men. 1106 01:01:02,593 --> 01:01:05,560 [ "Taps" plays ] 1107 01:01:05,596 --> 01:01:08,530 ♪♪ 1108 01:01:08,565 --> 01:01:12,134 "Here lie officers and men, 1109 01:01:12,169 --> 01:01:17,139 black and white, rich and poor together. 1110 01:01:17,174 --> 01:01:23,845 Here are Protestants, Catholics and Jews together. 1111 01:01:23,881 --> 01:01:28,550 Among these men, there is no discrimination, 1112 01:01:28,585 --> 01:01:33,355 no prejudices, no hatred. 1113 01:01:33,390 --> 01:01:37,359 Whoever of us lifts his hand in hate against a brother 1114 01:01:37,394 --> 01:01:39,494 or who thinks himself superior to those 1115 01:01:39,530 --> 01:01:44,199 who happen to be in the minority makes of this ceremony 1116 01:01:44,234 --> 01:01:47,302 and the bloody sacrifice it commemorates 1117 01:01:47,337 --> 01:01:51,339 an empty, hollow mockery." 1118 01:01:51,375 --> 01:01:56,978 -"This was," Gittelsohn said, "The reason why these men died, 1119 01:01:57,014 --> 01:01:59,147 and if you, the living, 1120 01:01:59,183 --> 01:02:03,985 don't carry on this vision of equality 1121 01:02:04,021 --> 01:02:09,825 to eliminate these distinctions between men, 1122 01:02:09,860 --> 01:02:16,798 then you will be betraying the deaths of your fellow soldiers." 1123 01:02:16,834 --> 01:02:22,804 -"We here solemnly swear that this shall not be in vain. 1124 01:02:22,840 --> 01:02:27,142 Out of this will come, we promise, 1125 01:02:27,177 --> 01:02:31,947 the birth of a new freedom for the sons of men everywhere." 1126 01:02:38,188 --> 01:02:43,391 By April 1945, after 4 long years of fighting, 1127 01:02:43,427 --> 01:02:47,062 the Allies had advanced deep into Germany. 1128 01:02:47,097 --> 01:02:50,365 American troops triumphantly marched into Nuremberg, 1129 01:02:50,400 --> 01:02:53,902 the symbolic center of the Nazi regime. 1130 01:02:53,937 --> 01:02:57,239 -[ Speaking German ] 1131 01:02:57,274 --> 01:03:00,175 -It was there, in the Zeppelin Stadium, 1132 01:03:00,210 --> 01:03:02,978 that Hitler had held his massive rallies 1133 01:03:03,013 --> 01:03:07,983 with huge crowds of Germans cheering him on. 1134 01:03:08,018 --> 01:03:11,286 On April 21st, Rabbi David Max Eichhorn 1135 01:03:11,321 --> 01:03:14,790 drove into the stadium carrying a portable arch 1136 01:03:14,825 --> 01:03:18,059 and a small Torah in his Jeep. 1137 01:03:18,095 --> 01:03:20,762 At the very podium where Hitler had stood, 1138 01:03:20,798 --> 01:03:26,501 the Rabbi and a group of Jewish GIs began to pray. 1139 01:03:26,537 --> 01:03:29,871 -My grandfather said how proud they were 1140 01:03:29,907 --> 01:03:32,941 to give a different type of symbol to Hitler 1141 01:03:32,976 --> 01:03:35,544 to demonstrate that, you know, now we are here, 1142 01:03:35,579 --> 01:03:37,212 and you are no longer. 1143 01:03:37,247 --> 01:03:40,182 This is where the American forces blew up 1144 01:03:40,217 --> 01:03:41,850 the large swastika 1145 01:03:41,885 --> 01:03:45,453 that was on top of the stadium, which he was there to witness. 1146 01:03:45,489 --> 01:03:47,956 They, you know, they relished it. 1147 01:03:58,368 --> 01:04:00,235 -As the Nazis retreated, 1148 01:04:00,270 --> 01:04:04,906 they began to abandon their vast network of concentration camps, 1149 01:04:04,942 --> 01:04:08,610 which stretched across all of occupied Europe. 1150 01:04:08,645 --> 01:04:11,780 By January 1945, the Soviet Army 1151 01:04:11,815 --> 01:04:14,749 had liberated the Nazi death camps in Poland, 1152 01:04:14,785 --> 01:04:17,686 including Majdanek and Auschwitz. 1153 01:04:19,823 --> 01:04:22,357 On April 4, 1945, 1154 01:04:22,392 --> 01:04:25,760 American troops on patrol south of Gotha, Germany, 1155 01:04:25,796 --> 01:04:30,599 came upon Ohrdruf, a subcamp of Buchenwald. 1156 01:04:30,634 --> 01:04:32,634 -None of us were prepared for what we saw 1157 01:04:32,669 --> 01:04:34,502 when we hit that camp. 1158 01:04:34,538 --> 01:04:39,307 As a Jew, I had heard stories, but we were not prepared. 1159 01:04:39,343 --> 01:04:41,977 The prisoners, they worked them to death. 1160 01:04:42,012 --> 01:04:45,647 They starved them, and when they died, they burned them. 1161 01:04:45,682 --> 01:04:48,183 I was not the only one who threw up. 1162 01:04:48,218 --> 01:04:51,353 I was not the only one who cried, 1163 01:04:51,388 --> 01:04:55,490 but it made us angry, very, very angry. 1164 01:04:56,760 --> 01:04:57,959 -One week later, 1165 01:04:57,995 --> 01:05:01,229 Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower 1166 01:05:01,265 --> 01:05:04,132 visited Ohrdruf. 1167 01:05:04,167 --> 01:05:06,301 Shocked by what he saw, 1168 01:05:06,336 --> 01:05:09,905 Eisenhower ordered all American units in the area 1169 01:05:09,940 --> 01:05:13,041 to visit the camps. 1170 01:05:13,076 --> 01:05:15,644 "We are told that the American soldier does not know 1171 01:05:15,679 --> 01:05:18,079 what he is fighting for," he said. 1172 01:05:18,115 --> 01:05:22,450 "Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against." 1173 01:05:25,422 --> 01:05:27,622 Allen Moskin was an 18-year-old soldier 1174 01:05:27,658 --> 01:05:30,392 with the 71st Infantry Division 1175 01:05:30,427 --> 01:05:33,595 when his unit discovered Gunskirchen Lager, 1176 01:05:33,630 --> 01:05:38,867 a subcamp of Mauthausen Concentration Camp, in Austria. 1177 01:05:38,902 --> 01:05:44,039 -All of a sudden, the most overpowering, nauseating stench, 1178 01:05:44,074 --> 01:05:47,776 it was a smell that got into your nostrils, into your body. 1179 01:05:47,811 --> 01:05:50,278 It's a smell I can never, ever forget. 1180 01:05:50,314 --> 01:05:52,280 I'm going to tell you, entering that camp 1181 01:05:52,316 --> 01:05:54,249 was the most horrific sight 1182 01:05:54,284 --> 01:05:58,219 I've ever seen or ever hope to see the rest of my life. 1183 01:05:58,255 --> 01:06:00,655 Their cheeks were all hollowed out, 1184 01:06:00,691 --> 01:06:04,125 their eyes sunken back into their sockets of their heads. 1185 01:06:04,161 --> 01:06:06,061 They all looked alike. 1186 01:06:06,096 --> 01:06:09,531 I remember seeing many chanting prayers, looking skyward. 1187 01:06:09,566 --> 01:06:11,766 Some were crawling. 1188 01:06:11,802 --> 01:06:14,803 -My buddies, they couldn't have been nicer to myself 1189 01:06:14,838 --> 01:06:16,538 and another Jewish fellow. 1190 01:06:16,573 --> 01:06:19,741 Just pissed off, I tell you, as much as I was, if not more. 1191 01:06:19,776 --> 01:06:21,977 They were going to kill every Nazi S.O.B. 1192 01:06:22,012 --> 01:06:25,647 They screamed and hollered, "My god. These are civilians. 1193 01:06:25,682 --> 01:06:28,817 How can you treat people like this?" 1194 01:06:28,852 --> 01:06:31,553 -The horrified servicemen tried to help, 1195 01:06:31,588 --> 01:06:35,423 handing out rations to the desperate prisoners. 1196 01:06:35,459 --> 01:06:38,259 Most of the survivors did not speak English, 1197 01:06:38,295 --> 01:06:39,828 and so when they could, 1198 01:06:39,863 --> 01:06:42,731 Jewish GIs spoke to them in Yiddish, 1199 01:06:42,766 --> 01:06:46,835 the language shared by most European Jews. 1200 01:06:46,870 --> 01:06:49,237 -The lieutenant knew I was Jewish, and he said, 1201 01:06:49,272 --> 01:06:52,707 "Moskin, say something in Yiddish." 1202 01:06:52,743 --> 01:06:59,047 So when I said, in German... [ Speaking German ] 1203 01:06:59,082 --> 01:07:01,816 That means that I am also a Jew. 1204 01:07:01,852 --> 01:07:05,253 I remember this elderly man, he came toward me, 1205 01:07:05,288 --> 01:07:07,122 and then he wrapped his arms around me. 1206 01:07:07,157 --> 01:07:10,291 [ Speaking foreign language ] 1207 01:07:10,327 --> 01:07:14,496 You know, "American Jew soldier, thank you," 1208 01:07:14,531 --> 01:07:19,267 and then I felt tears on my cheek as he came up. 1209 01:07:19,302 --> 01:07:22,670 He was holding me tight, and I started to cry, 1210 01:07:22,706 --> 01:07:28,576 and I'm not embarrassed to say that it was very emotional. 1211 01:07:28,612 --> 01:07:31,846 -Many more soldiers on patrol throughout Germany 1212 01:07:31,882 --> 01:07:35,950 would also bear witness to the camps. 1213 01:07:35,986 --> 01:07:39,220 Henry Kissinger was with a division that liberated Ahlem, 1214 01:07:39,256 --> 01:07:42,824 a subcamp of Bergen-Belsen. 1215 01:07:42,859 --> 01:07:46,161 -They knew they were free, but they didn't know exactly. 1216 01:07:46,196 --> 01:07:52,033 I just told them they were free and what we would do. 1217 01:07:52,069 --> 01:07:54,436 -Years later, Kissinger discovered 1218 01:07:54,471 --> 01:07:57,272 that his grandmother had passed through the same camp 1219 01:07:57,307 --> 01:07:59,641 he had helped liberate. 1220 01:07:59,676 --> 01:08:02,977 -The Germans kept meticulous records, 1221 01:08:03,013 --> 01:08:06,981 so I found out that my grandmother died 1222 01:08:07,017 --> 01:08:10,585 on the death march 1223 01:08:10,620 --> 01:08:14,923 3 days before the end of the war. 1224 01:08:14,958 --> 01:08:20,228 Thirteen members of our family died in concentration camps. 1225 01:08:20,263 --> 01:08:27,202 Three sisters of my father, my step-grandmother, 1226 01:08:27,237 --> 01:08:31,339 second cousins were all sent to Auschwitz. 1227 01:08:31,374 --> 01:08:34,709 ♪♪ 1228 01:08:34,744 --> 01:08:37,312 -Si Lewen went to Buchenwald, 1229 01:08:37,347 --> 01:08:42,684 where 20,000 survivors had been liberated by the American Army. 1230 01:08:42,719 --> 01:08:46,354 -I had gone to the crematorium, 1231 01:08:46,389 --> 01:08:50,992 and the ovens, they still had the ashes in them, you know. 1232 01:08:51,027 --> 01:08:57,132 You can tell that they were still burning bodies 1233 01:08:57,167 --> 01:08:59,968 very recently, 1234 01:09:00,003 --> 01:09:05,573 and...I broke down. 1235 01:09:07,544 --> 01:09:09,811 I completely fell apart. 1236 01:09:11,948 --> 01:09:15,917 I went to the medical station, 1237 01:09:15,952 --> 01:09:18,987 and I told them, "I can't go on." 1238 01:09:19,022 --> 01:09:21,089 ♪♪ 1239 01:09:21,124 --> 01:09:24,792 The war was over for me, 1240 01:09:24,828 --> 01:09:28,863 and within a few days, 1241 01:09:28,899 --> 01:09:31,499 I was on the hospital ship... 1242 01:09:31,535 --> 01:09:34,769 ♪♪ 1243 01:09:34,804 --> 01:09:38,540 ♪♪ 1244 01:09:38,575 --> 01:09:40,575 ...going home. 1245 01:09:40,610 --> 01:09:47,248 ♪♪ 1246 01:09:47,284 --> 01:09:51,819 -Rabbi David Max Eichhorn arrived at Dachau on April 30th, 1247 01:09:51,855 --> 01:09:54,889 the day after he was liberated. 1248 01:09:54,925 --> 01:09:57,992 "We cried not merely tears of sorrow. 1249 01:09:58,028 --> 01:10:01,229 We cried tears of hate," he wrote later, 1250 01:10:01,264 --> 01:10:05,133 "Combat-hardened soldiers, gentile and Jew, 1251 01:10:05,168 --> 01:10:08,703 black and white cried tears of hate." 1252 01:10:14,044 --> 01:10:18,112 [ Singing in Hebrew ] 1253 01:10:24,387 --> 01:10:28,423 -After 6 days of tending to the survivors at Dachau, 1254 01:10:28,458 --> 01:10:31,326 Rabbi Eichhorn held a religious service for them. 1255 01:10:32,929 --> 01:10:34,729 ♪♪ 1256 01:10:34,764 --> 01:10:39,133 -Today, I come to you in a dual capacity 1257 01:10:39,169 --> 01:10:42,036 as a soldier in the American Army 1258 01:10:42,072 --> 01:10:47,775 and as a representative of the Jewish community of America. 1259 01:10:47,811 --> 01:10:51,713 We are proud to know that we have had a share 1260 01:10:51,748 --> 01:10:56,951 in the destruction of the most cruel tyranny of all time. 1261 01:10:56,987 --> 01:10:59,721 We are proud to salute you 1262 01:10:59,756 --> 01:11:04,225 who have been the bravest of the brave. 1263 01:11:04,261 --> 01:11:07,295 We know your tragedy. 1264 01:11:07,330 --> 01:11:10,398 We know your sorrows. 1265 01:11:10,433 --> 01:11:15,536 We know that upon you was centered the venomous hatred. 1266 01:11:15,572 --> 01:11:19,240 ♪♪ 1267 01:11:19,276 --> 01:11:21,542 [ Singing in Hebrew ] 1268 01:11:21,578 --> 01:11:26,514 -The Torah Eichhorn prayed with had been given to him in France, 1269 01:11:26,549 --> 01:11:28,883 salvaged from a desecrated synagogue 1270 01:11:28,918 --> 01:11:30,785 and hidden from the Nazis. 1271 01:11:30,820 --> 01:11:32,887 [ Singing in Hebrew ] 1272 01:11:47,203 --> 01:11:48,469 -Eichhorn would discover later 1273 01:11:48,505 --> 01:11:50,672 that one of his own family members, 1274 01:11:50,707 --> 01:11:55,877 his namesake, Uncle Max, had been murdered at Dachau. 1275 01:11:55,912 --> 01:12:00,048 ♪♪ 1276 01:12:00,083 --> 01:12:03,651 Nearly 6 million Jews had been killed by Nazi Germany 1277 01:12:03,687 --> 01:12:06,888 and its collaborators. 1278 01:12:06,923 --> 01:12:11,292 One thousand years of Jewish life and culture in Europe 1279 01:12:11,328 --> 01:12:13,161 had all but been destroyed. 1280 01:12:13,196 --> 01:12:17,365 ♪♪ 1281 01:12:17,400 --> 01:12:21,602 ♪♪ 1282 01:12:21,638 --> 01:12:25,807 ♪♪ 1283 01:12:25,842 --> 01:12:31,379 ♪♪ 1284 01:12:31,414 --> 01:12:34,082 On May 7, 1945, 1285 01:12:34,117 --> 01:12:37,285 Germany surrendered to the Allied forces. 1286 01:12:37,320 --> 01:12:39,020 Just one week earlier, 1287 01:12:39,055 --> 01:12:42,890 Adolf Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin, 1288 01:12:42,926 --> 01:12:46,861 where he had been hiding for months. 1289 01:12:46,896 --> 01:12:48,463 Although the war against the Japanese 1290 01:12:48,498 --> 01:12:50,832 still raged in the Pacific, 1291 01:12:50,867 --> 01:12:54,235 the Allies declared victory in Europe. 1292 01:12:54,270 --> 01:12:55,903 -"It's V.E. Day!" 1293 01:12:55,939 --> 01:12:57,672 Everybody was yelling and screaming 1294 01:12:57,707 --> 01:12:59,874 and running in the streets. 1295 01:12:59,909 --> 01:13:01,943 -V.E. Day happened. 1296 01:13:01,978 --> 01:13:04,412 We were in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. 1297 01:13:04,447 --> 01:13:07,982 That's where all the good beer comes from. 1298 01:13:08,017 --> 01:13:10,017 So we had a good drink of beer. 1299 01:13:10,053 --> 01:13:15,256 ♪♪ 1300 01:13:15,291 --> 01:13:17,191 -While many celebrated, 1301 01:13:17,227 --> 01:13:19,360 some Jewish servicemen were overwhelmed 1302 01:13:19,396 --> 01:13:22,497 by the horrors they had witnessed. 1303 01:13:22,532 --> 01:13:25,533 26-year-old Sergeant J.D. Salinger, 1304 01:13:25,568 --> 01:13:28,336 the grandson of a rabbi from Lithuania, 1305 01:13:28,371 --> 01:13:31,873 had survived D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge 1306 01:13:31,908 --> 01:13:35,910 and helped liberate the concentration camps. 1307 01:13:35,945 --> 01:13:38,146 Throughout it all, he had carried with him 1308 01:13:38,181 --> 01:13:39,480 a collection of stories 1309 01:13:39,516 --> 01:13:41,182 he had written during his service, 1310 01:13:41,217 --> 01:13:45,453 the first draft of "The Catcher in the Rye." 1311 01:13:45,488 --> 01:13:50,191 Now, he spent V.E. Day alone sitting on his bed, 1312 01:13:50,226 --> 01:13:53,561 holding a loaded pistol. 1313 01:13:53,596 --> 01:13:56,364 Soon afterward, he checked himself into a hospital 1314 01:13:56,399 --> 01:13:57,999 in Nuremberg 1315 01:13:58,034 --> 01:14:01,102 and was diagnosed with battle fatigue. 1316 01:14:01,137 --> 01:14:03,204 ♪♪ 1317 01:14:03,239 --> 01:14:05,573 -J.D. Salinger experienced firsthand 1318 01:14:05,608 --> 01:14:08,609 many of the most horrific campaigns in Europe. 1319 01:14:08,645 --> 01:14:13,281 If you look at his stories, the shadow is so strong of the war, 1320 01:14:13,316 --> 01:14:15,416 particularly in the short story he wrote 1321 01:14:15,452 --> 01:14:19,720 in which the main protagonist is a Jewish GI, 1322 01:14:19,756 --> 01:14:23,324 and the story ends with him committing suicide. 1323 01:14:23,359 --> 01:14:26,661 So it's this deep shadow over this notion of what it meant 1324 01:14:26,696 --> 01:14:29,130 to be a Jew after the war. 1325 01:14:29,165 --> 01:14:31,732 [ Explosions ] 1326 01:14:34,270 --> 01:14:36,070 -Meanwhile, in the Pacific, 1327 01:14:36,105 --> 01:14:38,940 the Allies continued to battle the Japanese. 1328 01:14:41,911 --> 01:14:45,213 Then, in August 1945, 1329 01:14:45,248 --> 01:14:51,285 the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 1330 01:14:51,321 --> 01:14:52,787 On August 14th, 1331 01:14:52,822 --> 01:14:56,390 Japan formally agreed to an unconditional surrender, 1332 01:14:56,426 --> 01:14:59,894 and the Allies declared victory over Japan. 1333 01:14:59,929 --> 01:15:05,533 Now, finally, World War II had come to an end. 1334 01:15:06,903 --> 01:15:13,841 -I recently came upon a letter that I had written from camp 1335 01:15:13,877 --> 01:15:18,880 to my parents on the day the war ended. 1336 01:15:18,915 --> 01:15:22,583 The last sentence was underlined and said, 1337 01:15:22,619 --> 01:15:26,721 "Fred will be coming home soon." 1338 01:15:26,756 --> 01:15:32,059 My brother, in the Pacific, would be coming home. 1339 01:15:32,095 --> 01:15:36,564 Just multiply that by 15 million families 1340 01:15:36,599 --> 01:15:38,399 who also had somebody saying, 1341 01:15:38,434 --> 01:15:41,402 "And now, Charlie will be coming home." 1342 01:15:43,406 --> 01:15:46,574 ♪♪ 1343 01:15:46,609 --> 01:15:50,044 -The servicemen were joyfully reunited with their parents, 1344 01:15:50,079 --> 01:15:54,615 their siblings and their wives and girlfriends. 1345 01:15:54,651 --> 01:15:57,618 -I saw my wife. We didn't talk. 1346 01:15:57,654 --> 01:16:00,187 We sat in the back of the car that picked us up 1347 01:16:00,223 --> 01:16:02,857 5 to 10 minutes without saying one word, 1348 01:16:02,892 --> 01:16:07,028 just staring at each other, just staring. 1349 01:16:07,063 --> 01:16:10,031 No words were spoken. 1350 01:16:10,066 --> 01:16:15,369 Then finally, we broke down and hugged and kissed each other. 1351 01:16:15,405 --> 01:16:17,171 It was wonderful. 1352 01:16:19,876 --> 01:16:22,143 -Synagogues stayed open around the clock 1353 01:16:22,178 --> 01:16:27,081 to accommodate all of the couples who wanted to marry. 1354 01:16:27,116 --> 01:16:30,651 Some rabbis performed as many as eight weddings a day. 1355 01:16:30,687 --> 01:16:34,455 ♪♪ 1356 01:16:34,490 --> 01:16:38,826 ♪♪ 1357 01:16:38,861 --> 01:16:41,195 In the years after the war, 1358 01:16:41,230 --> 01:16:43,464 the returning servicemen would challenge America 1359 01:16:43,499 --> 01:16:47,301 to live up to the values they had fought for so fiercely, 1360 01:16:47,337 --> 01:16:51,906 democracy, equality, and religious tolerance for all. 1361 01:16:51,941 --> 01:16:54,976 ♪♪ 1362 01:16:55,011 --> 01:17:00,381 -One of the things that happens to Jewish soldiers after the war 1363 01:17:00,416 --> 01:17:03,985 is that the military teaches you how to fight, 1364 01:17:04,020 --> 01:17:05,953 how to stand up for yourself, 1365 01:17:05,989 --> 01:17:10,591 and Jewish servicemen in Miami, for example, 1366 01:17:10,627 --> 01:17:16,530 would put on their uniforms and go from hotel to hotel 1367 01:17:16,566 --> 01:17:18,566 that had these signs of, 1368 01:17:18,601 --> 01:17:22,637 you know, "No Jews, no dogs," and say, "We're Jews. 1369 01:17:22,672 --> 01:17:27,942 You should not discriminate. We served." 1370 01:17:27,977 --> 01:17:31,312 -I think seeing what had happened to Jews 1371 01:17:31,347 --> 01:17:33,547 and knowing that people 1372 01:17:33,583 --> 01:17:36,450 were trying to wipe us out completely, 1373 01:17:36,486 --> 01:17:41,188 I knew I had to do more about being a Jew 1374 01:17:41,224 --> 01:17:44,158 than just being a Jew. 1375 01:17:44,193 --> 01:17:46,694 I had to be active in some way. 1376 01:17:46,729 --> 01:17:50,297 ♪♪ 1377 01:17:50,333 --> 01:17:52,199 -Some Jewish veterans chose to fight 1378 01:17:52,235 --> 01:17:54,902 for a Jewish homeland in Israel. 1379 01:17:54,937 --> 01:17:57,371 They smuggled arms into Palestine, 1380 01:17:57,407 --> 01:18:00,074 helped refugees emigrate from Europe 1381 01:18:00,109 --> 01:18:03,544 and even joined the Israeli Air Force. 1382 01:18:03,579 --> 01:18:05,980 -Many American soldiers became stronger Zionists 1383 01:18:06,015 --> 01:18:09,116 after they witnessed what had happened in the Holocaust. 1384 01:18:09,152 --> 01:18:10,951 They believed that Israel was the solution. 1385 01:18:10,987 --> 01:18:13,187 They worked hard for it to become the Jewish state 1386 01:18:13,222 --> 01:18:15,656 in the years after the war. 1387 01:18:15,692 --> 01:18:21,195 -In May 1948, the state of Israel was established. 1388 01:18:21,230 --> 01:18:25,633 One-third of its citizens were survivors of the Holocaust. 1389 01:18:28,571 --> 01:18:32,139 The United States now had the largest Jewish community 1390 01:18:32,175 --> 01:18:36,544 in the world numbering some 5 million. 1391 01:18:36,579 --> 01:18:38,479 It would be their responsibility 1392 01:18:38,514 --> 01:18:42,216 to create a new Jewish-American culture and society. 1393 01:18:42,251 --> 01:18:45,986 ♪♪ 1394 01:18:46,022 --> 01:18:47,455 In the next decade, 1395 01:18:47,490 --> 01:18:50,391 they broke ground on thousands of synagogues 1396 01:18:50,426 --> 01:18:53,661 and supported hundreds of philanthropic organizations 1397 01:18:53,696 --> 01:18:55,996 at home and abroad. 1398 01:18:56,032 --> 01:18:58,165 ♪♪ 1399 01:18:58,201 --> 01:19:01,368 -I joined the B'nai B'rith right after the war. 1400 01:19:01,404 --> 01:19:04,171 I became active in United Jewish Appeal 1401 01:19:04,207 --> 01:19:06,107 I just think you had to remember, 1402 01:19:06,142 --> 01:19:07,708 you know, where you came from. 1403 01:19:07,744 --> 01:19:10,511 ♪♪ 1404 01:19:10,546 --> 01:19:13,547 -In the 1950s, 1405 01:19:13,583 --> 01:19:19,253 Judaism really becomes an American religion. 1406 01:19:19,288 --> 01:19:23,257 You can't talk about a Christian country anymore. 1407 01:19:23,292 --> 01:19:28,362 Now you talk about a Judeo-Christian country, 1408 01:19:28,397 --> 01:19:33,067 and discriminating against people who are Jews 1409 01:19:33,102 --> 01:19:38,205 or who are blacks makes us like the very Nazis 1410 01:19:38,241 --> 01:19:41,142 whom we defeated. 1411 01:19:41,177 --> 01:19:45,246 -For some of the GIs, getting involved in civil rights 1412 01:19:45,281 --> 01:19:47,882 was really an extension 1413 01:19:47,917 --> 01:19:51,619 of what they had been fighting for in the war. 1414 01:19:51,654 --> 01:19:55,456 Fighting for democracy or for equality, 1415 01:19:55,491 --> 01:19:59,994 all of this translated into fighting for civil rights. 1416 01:20:00,029 --> 01:20:03,130 -I went on five Freedom Rides. 1417 01:20:03,166 --> 01:20:06,567 I spoke to many churches down South. 1418 01:20:06,602 --> 01:20:09,537 I went with Martin Luther King across the bridge in Selma. 1419 01:20:09,572 --> 01:20:12,373 I'm not going to be part of a silent majority 1420 01:20:12,408 --> 01:20:14,642 when people are being persecuted. 1421 01:20:14,677 --> 01:20:16,811 I want to help people. 1422 01:20:19,115 --> 01:20:21,682 ♪♪ 1423 01:20:21,717 --> 01:20:24,318 -The triumphs and horrors of World War II 1424 01:20:24,353 --> 01:20:28,923 had changed the Jewish servicemen and women forever. 1425 01:20:28,958 --> 01:20:31,992 Some would become the voices of their generation, 1426 01:20:32,028 --> 01:20:34,295 describing the war they had lived through 1427 01:20:34,330 --> 01:20:36,397 with a critical eye. 1428 01:20:36,432 --> 01:20:39,834 Norman Mailer's novel, "The Naked and the Dead," 1429 01:20:39,869 --> 01:20:41,735 based on his service in the Pacific, 1430 01:20:41,771 --> 01:20:46,373 would skyrocket its 25-year-old author to fame. 1431 01:20:46,409 --> 01:20:49,844 J.D. Salinger would draw on the pain of his own experience 1432 01:20:49,879 --> 01:20:51,712 in "The Catcher in the Rye," 1433 01:20:51,747 --> 01:20:56,116 which would become a great classic of American literature. 1434 01:20:56,152 --> 01:20:58,652 Other Jewish veterans of World War II, 1435 01:20:58,688 --> 01:21:03,591 including Herman Wouk, Leon Uris, and Joseph Heller 1436 01:21:03,626 --> 01:21:05,860 would also write bestselling novels, 1437 01:21:05,895 --> 01:21:09,630 bringing a Jewish perspective to the story of war. 1438 01:21:09,665 --> 01:21:12,132 ♪♪ 1439 01:21:12,168 --> 01:21:15,336 Si Lewen, who would become a celebrated artist, 1440 01:21:15,371 --> 01:21:19,506 incorporated his memories of the war into his painting. 1441 01:21:19,542 --> 01:21:23,444 In 1951, Albert Einstein sent Lewen a letter 1442 01:21:23,479 --> 01:21:25,613 after seeing his drawings. 1443 01:21:25,648 --> 01:21:30,784 "Our time needs you and your work," he wrote. 1444 01:21:30,820 --> 01:21:35,589 -Perhaps it makes people think I hated war. 1445 01:21:35,625 --> 01:21:38,826 Much of my work consists of what I like 1446 01:21:38,861 --> 01:21:43,631 to think of anti-war material. 1447 01:21:43,666 --> 01:21:47,034 -Max Fuchs became a cantor in 1946, 1448 01:21:47,069 --> 01:21:50,938 continuing the religious singing he loved so much. 1449 01:21:50,973 --> 01:21:54,541 He would always remember leading his fellow servicemen in prayer 1450 01:21:54,577 --> 01:21:58,913 that victorious day in Aachen, Germany. 1451 01:21:58,948 --> 01:22:03,284 -After the war, I went back to orthodoxy, 1452 01:22:03,319 --> 01:22:06,120 religious all over again. 1453 01:22:06,155 --> 01:22:09,223 -After the war, I was badly scarred. 1454 01:22:09,258 --> 01:22:13,060 I'm badly scarred and no teeth. 1455 01:22:13,095 --> 01:22:18,465 I looked terrible until I got my plastic surgery. 1456 01:22:18,501 --> 01:22:21,936 I thought, "God saved me for a reason, 1457 01:22:21,971 --> 01:22:25,773 to help people and do good in the world." 1458 01:22:25,808 --> 01:22:27,408 I became a doctor. 1459 01:22:27,443 --> 01:22:32,413 I helped a lot of people, saved people's lives. 1460 01:22:32,448 --> 01:22:34,815 -Dahlia Pobianski became actively involved 1461 01:22:34,850 --> 01:22:36,583 with the League of Women Voters 1462 01:22:36,619 --> 01:22:38,485 and the local democratic party 1463 01:22:38,521 --> 01:22:42,122 and ran for mayor of Stamford, Connecticut. 1464 01:22:42,158 --> 01:22:45,526 -The greatest thing, personally, was I found 1465 01:22:45,561 --> 01:22:49,596 that I could do things that I had no idea I was capable. 1466 01:22:49,632 --> 01:22:52,132 I think it has strengthened me in terms 1467 01:22:52,168 --> 01:22:54,368 of what I knew I could do. 1468 01:22:54,403 --> 01:22:59,340 After the war, there was nothing I was afraid to do. 1469 01:22:59,375 --> 01:23:01,508 -After the war, I had to decide, 1470 01:23:01,544 --> 01:23:03,711 what am I going to do now? 1471 01:23:03,746 --> 01:23:06,146 I thought, "I've done so much destruction. 1472 01:23:06,182 --> 01:23:09,116 I want to help people now." 1473 01:23:09,151 --> 01:23:11,352 I thought, "I'll become a rabbi." 1474 01:23:11,387 --> 01:23:16,523 I encouraged Jews to maintain their faith, 1475 01:23:16,559 --> 01:23:19,059 not to lose faith. 1476 01:23:19,095 --> 01:23:21,662 We have to improve mankind. 1477 01:23:21,697 --> 01:23:24,598 That's our mission. 1478 01:23:24,633 --> 01:23:28,469 -I didn't talk about my service for 50 years, 1479 01:23:28,504 --> 01:23:31,071 but now, I speak all over. 1480 01:23:31,107 --> 01:23:33,007 It's like a calling with me. 1481 01:23:33,042 --> 01:23:36,677 I want these young people what happened back then. 1482 01:23:36,712 --> 01:23:38,479 I've always felt proud to be a Jew, 1483 01:23:38,514 --> 01:23:41,782 and I try to get along with all different people. 1484 01:23:41,817 --> 01:23:44,118 I always repeat what Maya Angelou said, 1485 01:23:44,153 --> 01:23:45,953 "We are more alike than different," 1486 01:23:45,988 --> 01:23:50,090 no matter whether you're Jewish or Catholic or black or white. 1487 01:23:50,126 --> 01:23:53,761 I do the best I can to try to get rid of the hate. 1488 01:23:53,796 --> 01:23:56,463 That's the only reason I talk about it. 1489 01:23:56,499 --> 01:24:00,300 I'm just telling how it affected me as a young American GI 1490 01:24:00,336 --> 01:24:03,937 because I want the young people to know the truth. 1491 01:24:03,973 --> 01:24:07,141 I want to be sure that they have a better world. 1492 01:24:07,176 --> 01:24:08,942 ♪♪ 1493 01:24:10,879 --> 01:24:16,884 ♪♪ 1494 01:24:16,919 --> 01:24:19,820 -"GI Jews" is available on DVD. 1495 01:24:19,855 --> 01:24:23,123 To order, visit shop.pbs.org 1496 01:24:23,159 --> 01:24:25,893 or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS. 1497 01:24:25,928 --> 01:24:30,397 ♪♪ 1498 01:24:30,433 --> 01:24:34,902 ♪♪ 1499 01:24:34,937 --> 01:24:39,406 ♪♪