Behind the Headlines Mood in Skokie; Relieved but Somber

Severe thunderstorms drenched this Chicago suburb yesterday, the day members of the American Nazi Party had threatened to march in this heavily Jewish residential community. The weather seemed to fit the mood here. Even as it helped clear the air, the steady rainfall contributed a certain somberness to the atmosphere already heavily laden with controversy which has focused international attention on this village of 40,000 Jewish inhabitants.

The persistent rain, however, did little to dampen the spirits of Skokie’s 7000 Holocaust survivors who breathed a collective sigh of relief that they would not once again be victimized by the spectacle of Nazi stormtroopers parading through the streets of their home town. There was a calm before the storm.

As Americans throughout the country grappled with their consciences on the heated controversial issues raised by the proposed Nazi demonstration, residents of this community privately marked what they hoped was the end of their year-and-a -half long ordeal which came last week with the Nazi decision to cancel the planned rally. As an expression of support for the people of Skokie, hundreds of Jews from across the country who had flocked here to participate in the planned counterdemonstration held a solemn memorial service for Holocaust victims yesterday morning. “We’ve come to Skokie to challenge evil, to keep American democracy impregnable,” said Rabbi Maurice Lamm of Los Angeles. Jewish community leaders, who admitted to being “emotionally drained” by the events of the past few weeks, expressed relief that Skokie residents were spared the trauma of reliving a horrible past.

JUST ONE ‘BATTLEFRONT’

Sol Goldstein, a member of the Political Actions Committee of the Chicago Jewish United Fund (JUF) that helped organize the intended counter-demonstration organize the intended counter-demonstration against the Nazis, said in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that it was the determination of those thousands of people to confront the Nazis which scared them off. Attempting to put the situation in Skokie into perspective, Goldstein, a Holocaust survivor, told the JTA that he considered Skokie only “one battlefront” of a much larger “war.”

“This battlefront gained a victory. But the war is not over. In another while we will have to step into another battlefront,” he said, adding that “we will come to any place the Nazis will appear.” He said that “Skokie served as an example to the whole world that you don’t have to hide, you have to resist. You have to come out and speak up,” he said. “I don’t expect the Nazis to return to Skokie,” he added. Goldstein said the lesson of Skokie was that the Nazis would back down when confronted by a determined American public.

A spokesman for the JUF termed Skokie “a focal point” and “rally point” for “anti-neo-Nazism.” Goldstein joined Jewish officials in expressing gratification over the outpouring of response received in the course of recent weeks. “I am encouraged by the hundreds of letters and telegrams from the world over,” he said. “I am getting letters saying ‘don’t stop, this is not the end. We have to plan for the future.’ the major constructive result,” of the entire affair has been “the warm and spontaneous” reaction it elicited, according to James Rice, executive vice-president of the JUF. Rice referred to “heartwarming letters of sympathy” received from across the globe. He compared Skokie’s impact to that of the Holocaust television series.

AMERICAN PUBLIC SENSITIZED

Goldstein agreed that Skokie had helped to further sensitize the American public to a greater awareness of the events of the Holocaust in which six million Jews perished. During World War II, “the people had an excuse. They said they didn’t know. Now everybody knows. All the Jewish people were in Auschwitz. They were all sentenced to death. Our commitment is to tell this story to the world, to force them to remember,” Goldstein added.

“There is a threat and the threat won’t disappear so easily,” according to Goldstein, who suggested the next battlefront may be faced in two weeks if the Nazis follow through on their plans to demonstrate in Chicago’s Marquette Park on July 9. He attacked the American Civil Liberties Union as “destroying the principles” for which it was organized by defending the Nazi action. “To display a swastika…is to discuss whether the Jews have a right to live. It is not a matter of free speech at all,” he claimed.

Could the Holocaust happen again, this time in the United States? “It may,” says Goldstein. “I cannot say to you it cannot happen. It can under certain conditions, under certain circumstances. I know it will not happen if we’ll stay alert and if we stop this cancer growth while there is still time.”