Hitler in Los Angeles

September 15, 2017

Winston Churchill said of World War II that, "This is a war of the unknown warriors." Nowhere was this truer than in the little-known story of attorney Leon Lewis and others who thwarted internal and external threats to the security of America during this era. Ross (history, Univ. of Southern California; Working Class Hollywood) brings his knowledge of both history and Hollywood to weave information from the considerable archives of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles. From 1933 until the end of the war in 1945, Lewis and his fellow agents risked their lives to counter Nazi and homegrown nationalist forces plotting sabotage and mass murder. Little has been written about Lewis and his network, despite that they helped the FBI capture and contain these forces. Because state and federal law enforcement were more focused on anti-Communist efforts, several plots came quite close to fruition. VERDICT This rich, academic tome lends an important aspect to the typical look at Hollywood studio acquiescence to Germany, such as Thomas Doherty's Hollywood and Hitler, and provides a counterpoint to Ben Urwand's The Collaboration. Readers interested in a detailed look at this spy operation can have confidence in this well-sourced account.--Maria Bagshaw, Elgin Community Coll. Lib., IL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017
During World War II, American Nazis planned to overthrow the U.S. government and eradicate Jews.The director of the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life and an award-winning film historian, Ross (History/Univ. of Southern California; Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics, 2011, etc.) tells a shocking story of Nazi efforts to infiltrate America. He focuses on Leon L. Lewis, a Los Angeles attorney who created a spy ring to infiltrate and undermine Nazi groups and faced widespread anti-Semitism throughout the country and in government. Nazis set their sights on the film industry, which they saw as dominated by Jews. Their plans included killing prominent entertainers, including Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Charlie Chaplin, and movie heads Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner. They proposed public executions of Jews and a plan to drop cyanide into an acid solution that would be blown into Jewish homes and synagogues to exterminate Jews--"like rats, that is the way to get rid of them," announced a Nazi leader. When Lewis solicited government support and funding for his operation, he was met with a mixed response: anti-Semites abounded there, too, and the FBI and newly created House Un-American Activities Committee were concerned more with routing out communists than in dealing with the Nazi threat. Movie executives contributed to Lewis' efforts but at the same time wanted to ensure that Germany would remain a strong outlet for their films. "However much they may have hated the German consul and the Hitler regime," Ross writes, "the movie moguls had to cooperate with both if they wished to remain in the German market." To halt production of one movie he deemed "detrimental to German prestige," the consul summoned German actors and threatened them with harm to family members living in Germany if they appeared in it. Ross puts his experience in film history to good use, and he creates lively portraits of the men and women whom Lewis recruited as spies and who succeeded in putting some dangerous Nazis behind bars. A vivid history of homegrown resistance.

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