SKOKIE (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television historical drama film is based on the legal battle involving a group of Neo-Nazis in Chicago, Illinois in the late 1970s. The story begins as members of the so-called "National Socialist Party," a Nazi fringe group led by Frank Collin, are angered to hear that they have been slapped with a $350,000 insurance bond for a permit to congregate in Chicago's Marquette Park and decide to march in protest. Village attorney Bert Silverman and police Chief Buchanan meet with Mayor Albert J. Smith, who frets that the large population of those "of the Hebrew persuasion" will be angered by the Nazis' presence when the insurance request is presumably thrown out. Elsewhere, teenager Janet Feldman comes home to find her parents Bertha and Max, both Holocaust survivors, in a state of agitation, and despite Bertha's desire to protect Janet from the grim news, Max tells her that he plans to attend a special meeting at his synagogue to discuss the Nazis' plans to march. At the meeting, Abbot Rosen assures the congregation that they should simply ignore Collin's "tiny splinter party," but Max angrily interrupts and says that German Jews were also told to "quarantine" themselves from the rising Nazi Party prior to the Holocaust. Several other survivors speak out, agreeing that they will fight tooth and nail to prevent the Nazis marching in their city.
Janet, upset by her parents' comments, confides to her friend Penny that she does not know what truly happened to her grandparents and feels that she has "lost something and can never find it." The young Rabbi Steinberg tells Buchanan and Silverman that the "radical" Jewish Defense League will confront the Nazis with violence, if necessary, and Max tells a frightened Bertha that the Holocaust survivors intend to form their own special group of protestors. Janet asks her father outright about his mother's death, and he tells her of his nightmarish experience in a work camp, recalling his sense of helplessness as he witnessed his ill mother being sent to the gas chambers. Max receives threatening phone calls as the JDL gathers in preparation for the Nazis' arrival on May 1st, and Mayor Smith scrambles to find a legal loophole through which to prevent their march. Collin receives word that the village of Skokie has officially sought an injunction against the group, and he visits his lawyer Herb Lewisohn at the American Civil Liberties Union and demands action. Lewisohn agrees that it is a First Amendment violation, though his colleague David Hamlin expresses discomfort with the idea of defending Nazis, particularly as Jews themselves.
At a civil hearing at the Circuit Court of Cook County, Lewisohn argues that Collin and his cohorts are permitted by the Constitution to display their views, though Silverman counters that the high population of Holocaust survivors in Skokie creates an "exceptional circumstance." He questions a survivor, who states that he may be provoked to violence by the hateful sight of a swastika, given his experiences in the camps. Lewisohn interviews Collin, who freely admits to espousing the views of Adolf Hitler, but states that he intends to break no laws during the demonstration, and Lewisohn declares that banning his group would be a "heckler's veto," implying an unfair silencing of one's free-speech rights to prevent a negative reaction from others. The judge agrees and forbids the group from marching or displaying uniforms or swastikas, and Lewisohn immediately opts to appeal, though Silverman calls him out for betraying his own people. The ACLU receives a deluge of calls from angry donors, furious that the group is defending Nazis, and a prominent member, Morton Weisman, arrives to deliver his letter of resignation in person, calling Lewisohn's defense of the group "monumentally inappropriate." Max happily tells Bertha that the injunction was upheld, sure that the complex appeal process will delay the march indefinitely, though Collin appears on television and announces that his group will march on April 30th instead, thus getting around the ruling. Janet, watching the news with Max, admits that the Nazis "look familiar" to her.
A counter-protest assembles as Silverman frantically tries to track down a judge, and Buchanan stops a uniformed Collin on his way into Skokie and presents him with a new court order, updated to cover their newly chosen date. Max is greatly relieved by the last-second reprieve, though Silverman addresses the Skokie officials and explains that the higher courts will likely throw out the "prior restraint" ruling when Lewisohn appeals, and suggests a number of other methods of barring or delaying the march. Protesters break into the ACLU office, as board members debate the tense situation, but Lewisohn maintains that they have a duty to defend the Constitution. The Supreme Court soon rules that the Illinois court can no longer delay ruling on Collin's appeal for the march permits, which Collin views as a victory over the "Jew government," and the JDL publicly vows to meet the Nazis wherever they appear. A panicked Bertha begs Max to simply leave Skokie, but Max heatedly urges her to stand up for herself and "live." He attends another meeting, where Rabbi Steinberg desperately tries to keep the peace, and ACLU national lawyer Aryeh Neier tries to explain why it is "practical" to defend the First Amendment, pointing out that any ruling against the Nazis could be used against Jews or other minorities in the future, adding that he himself narrowly escaped Berlin and lost family members in the Holocaust.
Lewisohn receives angry phone calls at home as the court modifies its ruling, stating that the Nazis can appear in their uniforms but cannot display swastikas. Collin remains determined to appeal every aspect of the rulings, and the tension in the Feldman household finally comes to a head when Janet accuses her father of obsessing over the past and the current situation at the expense of the family. Stunned, Max admits that he has been too fearful to allow her to grow up, realizing that she "is his survival." Lewisohn's colleague Sheila tells him about the ADL's newest tactic, arguing "menticide" and a "willful infliction of emotional harm" with the presence of the swastikas, and Lewisohn admits that the case is "getting to him." Lewisohn is shunned by several attendees at an NAACP fundraising dinner, and Rosen informs him that he is missing the bigger picture of active anti-Semitism in America, though Lewisohn counters that he has a responsibility to view the issue from an objective legal perspective. The Illinois Supreme Court rules that the swastikas do not count as "fighting words" and are therefore permitted, and the United States Federal Court eventually throws out all of the ordinances against Collin's group as un-Constitutional, though Lewisohn cannot bring himself to celebrate the victory.
Mayor Smith is then stunned to learn from Silverman that Collin has made a deal and canceled the Skokie protest in exchange for the permits for Marquette Park, suggesting that the entire legal battle had been a manipulative strategy. Collin boasts that he gained the media attention he desired and made an important statement for his cause, though admits that only 12 people came to the rally. Rosen states that he is glad that the case stirred the public's awareness of modern-day fascism, and Janet confesses that she is still struggling to understand her parents' experiences. Lewisohn describes receiving continual disapproval from other Jews and reaffirms why he took the case, and Max concludes that he was allowed to survive the concentration camps in order to "be a witness" to the specter of racial hatred. Commercials deleted.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Michael Finkelstein and Sue-ann Friedman.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 17, 1981 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:01:01
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T85:0385
- GENRE: Drama, historical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, historical; Drama, legal; American Civil Liberties Union; Nazism; Antisemitism; Chicago
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1981
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Herbert Brodkin … Executive Producer
- Robert Berger … Producer
- Thomas De Wolfe … Associate Producer
- Herbert Wise … Director
- Ernest Kinoy … Writer
- Danny Kaye … Cast, Max Feldman
- John Rubinstein … Cast, Herb Lewisohn
- Carl Reiner … Cast, Abbot Rosen
- Kim Hunter … Cast, Bertha Feldman
- Eli Wallach … Cast, Bert Silverman
- Brian Dennehy … Cast, Chief Buchanan
- George Dzundza … Cast, Frank Collin
- Ed Flanders … Cast, Mayor Albert J. Smith
- Charles Levin … Cast, Rabbi Steinberg
- Stephen D. Newman … Cast, Aryeh Neier
- James Sutorius … Cast, David Hamlin
- Lee Strasberg … Cast, Morton Weisman
- Marin Kanter … Cast, Janet Feldman
- Robin Bartlett … Cast, JDL Girl
- David Hurst … Cast, Sol Goldstein
- Joseph Leon … Cast, Hershkowitz
- Ruth Nelson … Cast, Grandma Jannsen
- Robin Morse … Cast, Penny
- Michele Shay … Cast, Sheila
- Douglas Alan-Mann … Cast, Minister
- Jack Callahan … Cast, Father Kelly
- Dan Conway … Cast, Anchorman
- Richard Cusak … Cast, Board Member
- Harry Elders … Cast, Judge
- Beatrice Fredman … Cast, Survivor
- Robert J. Jones Jr. … Cast, Reporter
- Pamela Kesler … Cast, Reporter
- Marge Kotlisky … Cast, Board Member
- Dan Le Monnier … Cast, Murray
- Teri Liss … Cast, Justice
- Mitch Litrofsky … Cast, C.A.R. Leader
- Marie Mathay … Cast, Phyllis
- Bob McCord … Cast, Bailiff
- Ward Ohrman … Cast, Judge
- Jack R. Orend … Cast, Nazi
- Chelcie Ross … Cast, Nazi
- Ned Schmidtke … Cast, Reporter
- Taylor Williams … Cast, Reporter
- Patti Wilkus … Cast, Survivor