ARNIE BERNSTEIN - SWASTIKA NATION
ARNIE BERNSTEIN
Acclaimed non-fiction author and historian, ARNIE BERNSTEIN, joined the conversation at the Skokie Theatre on May 25th to discuss his book Swastika Nation, which explores Fritz Kuhn and the 1930s
Bund movement in the United States.
Arnie Bernstein on what he wants readers
to take away from Swastika Nation:
“That it happened here… that a major Nazi movement happened here but that it was put down. People spoke up and spoke against it. There’s a wonderful story in this book about a town in Connecticut where they tried to establish one of these Nazi camps and the town fought back and forced them out. That’s really it … I mean at the end of the day yes, these elements exist … I mean we’re in Skokie for god’s sake. I went to Niles West the year of the Nazi march … I was there the day they were supposed to march at the city hall and boy were people waiting for them there that day … looked like it was going to be a lot of fun … but they wisely turned tail and ran … so it can happen here, but we can put it down. We have the freedom of speech, and that’s the difference between here and Germany. They didn’t have freedom of speech”
"Arnie Bernstein's balanced perspective on a wide range of topics is refreshing and knowledgeable, equal parts historian and commentator." Ed Tracy, host of Conversations with Ed Tracy