Racism in Europe and the U.S. - Jewish Holocaust

Pages: 1 | 2 Map courtesy of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum From Swastika to Jim Crow The Jewish refugees of the early 1930s arrived in a country rife with conflict but ripe for change. Activities of civil rights organizations just before World War II gave rise to a tide of opposition across the nation. Public opinion may have been influenced by the paradox of a nation urging war for democracy overseas while at the same time tolerating discrimination at home. John Biggers while student at Hampton Institute Fleeing horrible persecution at home only to encounter plenty of anti-Semitism and anti-foreigner sentiment abroad, German-Jewish refugee scholars were in many ways condemned to a "double exile" experience. Opportunities were scarce, especially in academia, and more so for foreign Jews. Administrators at Black colleges in the South saw in these immigrants, prominent scholars who might share a unique understanding of oppression with their Black students. These historically Black private institutions offered students a rare opportunity for educational advancement and - because they were exempt from local segregation laws - a unique sense of freedom. On campus, Blacks and Whites associated freely and an atmosphere of mutual respect between faculty and students was encouraged. Fifty-one refugee professors found positions at 19 different institutions. From the start, Southern Whites in the segregated communities surrounding these academic havens looked suspiciously upon their new neighbors. Close relationships between the refugee professors and their Black students only added fuel to the fire. Faculty who attempted to eat meals with students in town or invited students to their homes were often harassed, threatened, or accused of being German spies. Off-campus, professors could be arrested for fraternizing with Blacks in public restaurants because this was interpreted as "incitement to riot," a violation of the still-effective Jim Crow Laws. I came from a situation of forced segregation [in Germany] where we were victims and now suddenly I was on the other side. I belonged not to the oppressed, but to the oppressor. And that was very, very uncomfortable for me." - Ernst Manasse, professor at North Carolina Central University, 1939-1973 The irony did not escape the immigrant scholars. Talledega College teacher Lore Rasmussen recounted, "When they found out that I had escaped the Nazis and I was a refugee, they said, 'Well, you should be glad to be in a place where there is democracy and freedom.'" Despite their different histories, the Jewish refugees and their Black students understood racial tension and oppression. This common understanding and mutual respect could well serve Jewish-Black relations today. There is a history, there is a kinship, and it goes beyond the rhetoric. Look, there's never going to be a crisis in Irish-Black relations or Italian-Black relations, because they have no relations. But we do. - Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League  Back
Story | Black-Jewish Relations | Racism | Black Colleges | Lessons |Talkback | Film | Resources | ITVS Watch Quicktime Preview Nazi soldiers bar German Jews from entry Prof. Ernst Borinski at Tougaloo College Only months after Hitler seized power in 1933, Jewish intellectuals who had held prestigious positions in Germany's renowned universities were targeted for expulsion. Those who dared to oppose the edicts were met with brutal suppression. Often leaving with little more than the clothes on their backs, many of these scholars fled to America, hoping to continue their academic careers. They soon found themselves in a strange and mysterious country, a nation reeling from the Depression and ripe with anti-Semitic and anti-German sentiment. While the most famous refugees, like Albert Einstein, were welcomed into the hallowed halls of Eastern academia, most of these refugee scholars faced an academic world that was aloof, if not downright hostile. Much to their surprise, many of them were welcomed into a group of colleges that the vast majority of white American professors ignored - the historically all-Black colleges in the South. For the Black colleges - including Howard University, Hampton Institute, and Tougaloo and Talladega Colleges - the refugee professors provided the opportunity to add great talent to their faculty; for the professors, the arrangement provided a new home, a classroom of students eager to learn, and an insider's look at an America that few ever see. While most of these pairings between Jewish refugees and Black colleges began as marriages of convenience, very often they blossomed into love matches that lasted a lifetime. "They found a place where they could make a contribution, and they found a place where they could pursue their intellectual life. They found a place where they could make a difference." - Dr. Ismar Schorsch, Chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary  Through interviews with several surviving academics and many of their former students, a fascinating story unfolds of men and women who found a true home in a community that, on the surface, was as remote as possible from the world they had known. Living in the rural South during segregation, the refugees didn't fit on either side of the line. Ostracized by their White neighbors, they socialized mostly within the university. If they invited their Black students and colleagues home, they risked a visit by the Ku Klux Klan. Anti-Jewish propaganda "I've heard Dr. Manasse say that when he first came to America as a freshly-minted Ph.D. from one of the most respected and revered institutions in Germany - perhaps in all of Europe - that he found it strange that he encountered nearly as much anti-Semitism here as he did in Europe." - Eugene Eaves, provost former student, North Carolina Central University But professors and students shared a profound connection - a common history of oppression and the knowledge of what it is like to be despised and persecuted based on race or religion.  "[Art Professor Viktor Lowenfeld] was interested in our inner feelings.... We lived a restricted life of segregation and discrimination, so art became the way that we could speak. Viktor chose Hampton because it was a Black school. He understood racial prejudice in America, and felt that he should cast his lot with those people who were working against racism." - John Biggers, artist former student, Hampton Institute From the 1930s to the rise of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, FROM SWASTIKA TO JIM CROW is a mesmerizing chronicle of Jim Crow America and a profoundly moving tale of two seemingly different groups - the formal, heavily-accented European scholars and their young, Southern Black students - who enriched each other's lives in ways still being felt today.  Story | Black-Jewish Relations | Racism | Black Colleges | Lessons |Talkback | Film | Resources | ITVS