Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 25, 1993 Page: 9 of 43
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PASSOVER ISSUE - IN OUR 47TH YEARI-DALLAS, THURSDA Y, MARCH 25, 1993, TEXAS JEWISH POST
Op-Ed:
The Liberators: Tampering with History
By Abraham H. Fox man
NEWYORK(JTA)—In-
tended not merely as a piece
of history, but as a statement
on black-Jewish solidarity,
the film “The Liberators”
threatens to enlarge, rather
than close the gap of misun-
derstanding it misguidedly
addresses.
As well-meaning as the
producers may have been,
as well as those who have
tried to use the film as a
vehicle for improving rela-
tions, they have confused
and confounded important
issues.
This is not to say that the
depiction of how blacks
overcame discrimination
and racism in the military
during World War II was
not a worthy effort
Like the film “Glory,”
about blacks in the Union
Army during the Civil War,
this is a long overdue story
waiting to be told. The prob-
lem is rather than letting it
be a story of black military
glory, it became a story of
blacks liberating the Nazi
death camps.
As reports have emerged
in recent weeks, it appears
that the filmmakers had then-
facts wrong about dates, lo-
cations and the very concept
of liberating the camps as
applied to the black troops.
Clearly, there were black
soldiers who came into the
camps at some point and wit-
nessed the horror of the Nazi
regime. But ‘The Liberators:
Fighting on Two Fronts in
World War II” suggests that
it was black units who mili-
tarily freed the prisoners at
Buchenwald and Dachau, a
fact that is untrue.
We have come to know,
notjustbelievein—the sanc-
tity of facts, for in the wake
of the Holocaust have come
those who would deny that
the Holocaustever happened.
Now, the story of those
black soldiers who were, in
fact, witnesses to the atroci-
ties of the Holocaust, is be-
ing obscured by those who
would play fast and loose
with the facts of time and
place.
It’s clear that the film is
flawed and that it has been
put to political use. The flaws
in the film should not lead us
to overlook the true events
that took place and ignore a
poignant story that deserves
telling.
Let’s not throw out the pro-
verbial baby with the bath
water. We should, and must,
separate the true story of the
liberators from the version
of that story shown in “The
Liberators” film. The truth is
powerful enough and does
provide a legitimate basis for
black-Jewish discussion
without the need for embel-
lishment and distortion.
That blacks and Jews were
witness to acts of inhuman-
ity perpetrated against each
is an important, indeed, fun-
damental underpinning in
creating the empathy and
commonality upon which
mutual regard and shared
agendas can and have been
built.
But, the common memo-
ries of blacks and Jews —
black soldiers, who wit-
nessed and will testify to the
inhumanity of the I iolocaust,
andJews, who risked life and
limb in the civil rights
trenches of Mississippi —
these remembrances are not
— and should not — be el-
evated as the platform on
which current problems and
differences are to be solved.
The issues of today, like
all issues of consequence,
require hard choices, taking
difficult positions, and fight-
ing for them—not just good
feelings.
So we value those who
have been with us, who
know our pain and share our
aspirations, but we treasure
those who even at risk to
their reputations have not
hesitated to stand with us
where there were and are
hard choices.
We think of Bayard
Rustin, Martin Luther King
Jr. and Congressman
Mickey Leland. who were
with us in our struggle for
Israel, Soviet Jewry and
Ethiopian Jewry.
We know and remember
our history and we know
and remember who stood
with us when it mattered. It
is a pity that notwithstand-
ing good intentions, history
is distorted and asked to
carry a burden that is be-
yond its meaning or capac-
ity.
Abraham H. Foxman is
national director of the Anti-
Defamation League.
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Dallas Hadassah Group Call
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Spread Outstanding
Texas Jewish Post
On behalf of the members of the Dallas Chapter of
Hadassah, a sincere thank you for the outstanding spread
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We appreciate the care you always give to the news we
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Ruth Stem
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 25, 1993, newspaper, March 25, 1993; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754866/m1/9/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .