Skokie
(1981)
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Skokie was a made-for-TV movie based on the real events of Skokie, Illinois. A group of American Nazis wanted the right to march in the small suburb of Skokie. Being a predominately Jewish community, with some of its citizens having survived the Holocaust, this impending march obviously caused an uproar of varying opinions. Some felt they should simply ignore the Nazis. Others felt they needed to be quite vocal against them.
Danny plays Max Feldman, a survivor of the Holocaust and a businessman of Skokie, Illinois. [Max Feldman was a fictional character, not a real person.] He promises his wife that he's only going to the meeting at the Synagogue to hear what has to be said. After a listening to the comments, however, he decides he can't sit idly by. He stands up to let his opinion be known. My favorite scene is that speech. Danny did it superbly. In fact, many of the people at the meeting were not just extras...some of them were real Holocaust survivors who were incredibly touched and brought to tears by Danny's speech.
MAX
FELDMAN:
I am Max Feldman. I
am the president and founder of Precision Fabricating Incorporated which is
located here in Skokie on Springfield Boulevard. I just want to tell Mr. Rosen
from Chicago that what he said went straight inside me like...like an echo.
RABBI:
If you have a
question, Mr. Feldman--
MAX FELDMAN:
I kept saying myself, Max, Max, somewhere I heard that speech before, but not
here. Not in Chicago. Not in America. Where did I heard that speech? I heard it
in Germany. It came from the big city. Very fine professional men, all members
of the National Jewish Organization. I was very young but I remember what they
said. Nazis. Storm troopers. Hoodlums in the street. How many are there? A
handful? They're just petty criminals. Don't pay attention. Go home they said.
Close the doors. Pull down the window shades. Don't look. Nothing will happen.
Quarantine. They talked about quarantine. Strategies. Game plans. Tactics. I
don't mean to offend you. But it was then, Mr. Rosen, who said they are no
danger to the safety and to the security of the Jews. So my question to Mr.
Rosen is "No. No. No."
RABBI:
Mr. Feldman, Mr. Feldman. There'll be plenty of time for comments from the
floor. (Feldman rolls up his sleeve) And we do have outside guests.
MAX FELDMAN:
You know what this is? A tattoo. A number. It's a concentration camp number. Do
you know what that meant? Can you know what really happened? Can you know what
the swastika was? Can you know what is a Nazi?!
MR. ROSEN:
Mr. Feldman, I understand. Believe me, there is no way of minimizing or arguing
with the personal pain, tragedy and suffering of people who have come from the
Holocaust. I am trying to recommend a practical proven tactic for today's
reality.
HERSHKOWITZ:
Sit down.
MAX
FELDMAN:
No, no, no! I came
here to sit, to listen, not to say anything. But I don't want to hear about
tactics or strategies. This is not a game. I will not go home. I will not pull
down the window shades. Not this time. Not in my own town. Where I made a
business and a home. Where I raise my child. If a Nazi marches here in Skokie,
you can believe it. I will be there. I will be there with baseball bats, with a
gun, with anything. I will be in Skokie when the Nazis are marching!
(cheering and clapping)
Later at the
meeting...
MAX FELDMAN: Rabbi, I am telling you and Mayor Smith. You want to avoid violence? I will tell you how. If you want no violence, keep the Nazis out! Because if they march here, if they bring the swastika here, I swear to you, nothing, there is nothing that will keep me from fighting. On the memory of my mother, the Nazis will not march. On my life, on the grave of my mother, which was a lime pit at the death camp at Mauthausen, a pile, a heap of naked Jewish bodies, on that grave, I swear. (cheering and clapping)