Eli Adler is the creator, co-director, narrator and one of the protagonists in the 2015 documentary film Surviving Skokie,” now streaming on Amazon. Adler remembers his youth in Skokie, Illinois – “we lived on the 8200 block of Harding Avenue with my sister, Paula, and my parents; during my early years. I took for granted that my family was similar to everyone else’s.”
“Our family lives seemed normal — birthday parties, barbecues and bicycle rides down Dempster Street. But when I visited my neighbors and buddies, I could tell there were things about my dad that were different from theirs. I would ask my dad, ‘why don’t I have any grandparents? Why don’t I have any aunts and uncles? Why don’t I have any cousins?’ The older I got the more I realized there were deep secrets in our family.
“In the discovery of my father’s heartbreaking past — I realized that dad lost his entire family in the Holocaust. My dad, Jack Adler, then 87, kept his past deeply buried and quietly went about raising a family and building a new life in Skokie.”
Surviving Skokie is divided into three parts. Part One is the tragic and painful history of the Adler family. Part Two is the story of how the American Nationalist Socialist (Neo-Nazi) Party led by Frank Collin attempted several marches in Skokie. Part Three is how Eli and Jack Adler together returned to Pabianice, a small Polish town where Jack grew up, the same town where the Nazis invaded and changed Jack’s life forever.
Part One: Jack Adler was born in Pabianice in 1929. In 1939, when Jack was just 10 years old, the Nazis invaded Poland and established the Pabianice ghetto in which Jack and his family were forced to live for years. When the ghetto was liquidated, Jack and his entire family was sent to the Dachau concentration camp. Then in 1945, Jack, while on the Dachau Death March, was liberated by American soldiers. Both of his parents, grandparents and all three of his siblings perished at the hands of the Nazis. As an orphan of the Holocaust, Jack left Poland in 1946 to travel to America.
Throughout the film, Jack shares his story of struggle and survival. Because of the Holocaust, Jack is a firm believer in the Golden Rule. “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” His mission now is to speak to audiences around the world comprised of students, military and non-Jewish communities saying, “Some of you are our future leaders, so it’s important that you never tolerate any racism or bigotry.” #neveragain.
Part Two: The film describes and explores the chaos and turmoil that existed when the American Nazi Party’s leader Frank Collin (George Dzundza) selected Skokie for its next march in 1977. While a neo-Nazi march would be controversial under any circumstances, the fact that one out of six people in Skokie were Holocaust survivors made it even more provocative.
Most of the Skokie Jewish Survivor population viewed the Neo-Nazi march as a dreadful warning and reminder of their horrific days as concentration camp prisoners.
The Skokie Jewish community, after much debate, decided as a whole to stand up against the neo-Nazi rally even if violence would occur. The Jewish community was determined at any and all costs to make sure that the Holocaust would never be forgotten or allowed to happen again.
A Holocaust Survivor said more than 60 plus years ago, he had been told in Germany to ignore the Nazis or their politics. And before he and everyone else knew what was happening, they all were in concentration camps. He vowed: “This time will be different. We will take action, and I’m ready to shed blood if necessary.” Led by this brave Survivor, who now turned spokesman, most members of the Jewish community agreed to protest the neo-Nazi march. The film in interesting detail explores with remarkable insight who was behind the Neo-Nazi march and the prevailing fight over First Amendment rights of freedom of speech vs condoning hatred and domestic terrorism. Sorry no spoilers here…
Part Three: The Adlers visit Pabianice. Eli comments: “Having gone back to Poland and touring the sites of my dad’s childhood, has made the two of us even closer, even if it meant for dad to relive again the ugly and painful memories of his past including the loss of his entire family”.
Eli said he knew of his father’s past before they visited Poland, but he didn’t fully grasp what the trip’s impact would have on my dad or himself. “Now having seen close up the places of my dad’s youth, plus the ghetto, the concentration camp where he was imprisoned and liberated from, it is so important for Dad to retell his personal story to schoolchildren and other audiences. They need to and do listen intently and absorb the painful lessons he shares.”
Eli continues: “I (always) had this tremendous pride for my dad and what he has gone through, but not to the degree I do now.”
Saving Skokie is a fascinating documentary which covers 60 plus years of Jack Adler’s life. It is a gripping cinematic experience that anyone who is interested in the topic of the Holocaust should view and share.
I chose to review this film now, because its content is also extremely timely. It includes problematic, dramatic, and hard to imagine scenes of the American Nazi party marching along the peaceful streets and parks of Skokie. These scenes immediately bring to the mind the most recent neo-Nazi and white supremacist marches of Charlottesville. “Blood and Soil.” One only can ask oneself…history indeed repeats itself?
In August 2017, hundreds of far-right extremists descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, ostensibly to protest the removal of a Confederate statue from a local park. Dubbed “Unite the Right,” the gathering was the largest and most violent public assembly of neo-Nazis and white supremacists in decades. It also demonstrated a resurgent and emboldened neo-Nazi and white supremacist movement.
The violence on the streets of Charlottesville has also kindled two major pathways of white supremacist activity. The first is the rampant dissemination of vile propaganda designed to spread their hateful views mostly against Jews and people of non-whiite races. The other, more troubling path is a broader series of violent attacks against people and property in the two years since Unite the Right Marches.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), white supremacists have committed at least 73 murders since Charlottesville, 39 of which were clearly motivated by hateful, racist ideology. These numbers include the deadly white supremacist shooting rampages in Parkland, Pittsburgh, Poway and El Paso, the latter being the deadliest white supremacist attack in more than 50 years. In each of these cities, white supremacist murderers acted on the threat embodied in the chant made famous in Charlottesville: “Jews will not replace us! You will not replace us!”
While white supremist violence has surged since Charlottesville, it didn’t begin there. The bloodshed we see today is part of a four-year resurgence of white supremacist activity and activism, driven in large part by the rise of the alt right. It’s part of the emboldened white supremacist culture that led rally organizers to believe “Unite the Right” could happen in the first place.
The events of August 11 and 12, 2017, are etched in the nation’s memory, and the violence and aftermath of those days continue to shape the white supremacist groups and individuals who were on the ground, as they struggle to reinvigorate and reimagine their movement, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Surviving Skokie is a film which I highly recommend but caution that it is only for viewers 10 years and older. I would also suggest that this movie will stir emotions in all of us and you will be asked questions about the Holocaust and the Alt-Right movement by your children who are watching. So one needs to be prepared to answer their many questions.
Jeffery Giesener, former CEO of SourceMob, has both public and private company experience. Today, retired and enjoying life in San Diego, he’s a freelance writer who has a passion for both cinema and baking his Mom’s (OBM) European recipes. This column is sponsored by Judi Gottschalk in memory of her parents, Agathe and Berek Ehrenfried.
Republished from San Diego Jewish World