Steven J. Ross shared this story in the book “Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America”. Layes.info will tell you more about the author and his study presented in this important historical work.
Steven J. Ross
He is a professor of history at the University of Southern California and the director of the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life. His research interests focus not only on the history of American Jews but also on immigration, urban and social history.
S. J. Ross authored many books, including “Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America.” This work won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize.
He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Historical Association. His study has contributed significantly to understanding the history and experience of American Jews.
He is married to Emmy-nominated producer Linda L. Kent. The couple lives in Southern California.
Los Angeles was an important city for the Nazis
According to the research of history professor Ross, no American city interested the Nazis more than Los Angeles. Here are several reasons why the city was so important to the Nazis:
- They considered the Hollywood film industry the most powerful propaganda tool. It is quite likely that they sought to take advantage of this.
- Los Angeles was always home to a large Jewish community. The Nazis considered it a threat and wanted to destroy it.
- Also, the Nazis might have been interested in this city because it symbolized everything that they hated, that is, dreams and their realization and wealth.
Unknown plans of the Nazis
The historian describes in his works how the Nazis planned to shoot Jews en masse in Los Angeles and deport them to concentration camps, as well as to sabotage military facilities in the country and other strategic targets.
For example, they intended to hang twenty prominent Hollywood figures, including:
- Al Jolson (real name Asa Yoelson) – a well-known American pop singer and actor. He was at the forefront of popular music in the USA. He came from a Jewish family. After immigrating from a Lithuanian town to the USA, his father Moses became a rabbi in one of the synagogues in Washington
- Charlie Chaplin – the legendary English and American actor and film producer who gained global fame as the greatest comedian in the history of world cinema. The Nazis believed he was “too close to Jews”
- Samuel Goldwyn (real name Szmuel Gelbfisz) – a Hollywood film producer who was involved in creating three film industries in Los Angeles that are operating today. He came from a poor family of Warsaw Jews.
The Nazis considered all of them “enemies of Germany,” so they planned to hang 20 famous Jewish figures in a park. After that, they would be shot with machine guns. Jewish spies exposed this as one of the Nazi conspiracies.
Besides other acts of sabotage, the Nazis actively discussed the intentions to blow up defensive structures along the Pacific coast to facilitate invasion and seize ammunition from National Guard warehouses to arm counterspies. The last point includes sabotage of railways and oil refineries.
The Nazis failed to carry out these plans. One of the reasons was the purposeful activities of Leon Lewis and his associates.
Leon Lewis
Steven J. Ross describes the person whom the Nazis called “the most dangerous Jew in Los Angeles.” This is Leon Lewis, a lawyer who organized a bold group of spies and, from 1933 until the end of World War II, led an espionage operation. This secret group included military veterans and their wives. The members of the operation infiltrated every Nazi and fascist group in the country. They collected information about the Nazis and reported it to the allies.
Who is Leon Lewis? He was a veteran of World War I, an activist of the Anti-Defamation League and a lawyer. After Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, he became concerned that the Nazi’’s representatives started to organize frequent meetings in Los Angeles, the city where he lived.
Already in the summer of 1933, the first rally took place in Los Angeles. Perhaps the modern reader will be surprised by the fact that, at that time, local police were less concerned about Nazis than they were about monitoring communists. Moreover, German Consul Georg Gyssling was sent to Hollywood to personally ensure that no film was being created that somehow belittled Hitler.
It is time to act
After Leon Lewis and the members of his spy organization gathered enough information, the man turned to the police and the FBI. He warned law enforcement agencies that they should pay more attention to the Nazis, but their response disappointed him. The police chief told him that the real problem was Jews and communists living in the Boyle Heights Jewish community.
This demonstration of antisemitism did not deter Lewis, so he and his like-minded fellows continued their dangerous but extremely important work.
The contribution of this group, led by Leon Lewis, was substantial. Interestingly, not all of Lewis’s spies were American Jews. Out of over two dozen spies, he was the only Jew.
This is a vivid example of how one person can change the world. He risked his life and was hunted by the Nazis, who wanted to catch him and kill him at any cost. This story is a reminder of how important courage and dedication to one’s cause are.