In an analysis of President Donald Trump’s use of the word “infest” in his 19 June 2018 tweet, Aviya Kushner cites the 1940 anti-Semitic film Der Ewige Jude. Kushner quotes the following from an article published by the American Holocaust Museum, “One of the film’s most notorious sequences compares Jews to rats that carry contagion, flood the continent, and devour precious resources.”

I frequently teach an excerpt from Der Ewige Jude which includes the scene where Jews are compared to rats (beginning at 6:45) in my classes. When viewing this scene, students are rightly horrified. Unfortunately, it is becoming more difficult—and sometimes impossible—to teach texts such Der Ewige Jude because access to them is limited or blocked.

On 27 July 2014, YouTube informed me that

We have received a legal complaint regarding your video. After review, the following video: “Der ewige Jude” (1940) — Excerpt has been blocked from view on the following YouTube country site(s):

Poland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Italy, Germany, France, French Polynesia, Czech Republic, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, French Guiana, Mayotte, Guadeloupe, French Southern Territories, Switzerland, Austria, Israel, Martinique, Reunion

YouTube blocks content where necessary to comply with local laws.

This list has since been expanded to include Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, United Kingdom, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia.

On 14 March 2018, because the excerpt of Der Ewige Jude which I have uploaded into YouTube contains “content [which] has been identified by the YouTube community as inappropriate or offensive to some audiences,” YouTube disabled certain features for the video. As YouTube explained:

Our Community Guidelines prohibit hate speech that either promotes violence or has the primary purpose of inciting hatred against individuals or groups based on certain attributes. YouTube also prohibits content intended to recruit for terrorist organizations, incite violence, celebrate terrorist attacks, or otherwise promote acts of terrorism. Some borderline videos, such as those containing inflammatory religious or supremacist content without a direct call to violence or a primary purpose of inciting hatred, may not cross these lines for removal. Following user reports, if our review teams determine that a video is borderline under our policies, it may have some features disabled. [Hot links are included in original.]

Der Ewige Jude is a hateful piece of propaganda that could be used as a recruiting tool for white supremacists and other anti-Semites. But it is vital to have Der Ewige Jude available to teach about anti-Semitism and the power of propaganda. To simply cite the film is not sufficient.

To block historical speech can be self-defeating because it prevents us from important artifacts we need to understand historical precedent. To see specific examples of how the Nazi’s dehumanized individuals can help us recognize dehumanizing propaganda today. This is not to say that Trump’s use of the word “infest” makes him a Nazi. It doesn’t. However, as an historian who promotes critical thinking and verifying information, I don’t want to simply trust Kushner’s analysis. I want access to the historical materials on which she builds her argument; access that will allow me to verify the veracity of her statements.

Although Kushner does not manipulate her evidence, this is not always the case. For example, many sources are claiming that during an 18 June 2018 interview, acting ICE director Thomas Homan used the Nuremberg defense. Although Homan’s observation that ICE agents “are simply enforcing laws enacted by Congress” is arguably problematic on many levels, it is not the same as saying that “ICE agents are just following orders.” But if we did not have access to Adolf Eichmann 29 May 1962 letter in which he asked for clemency based on what is now known as the Nuremberg defense and other historical evidence, we would have no basis on which to judge the validity of the click bate headlines that have appeared online. We might find ourselves believing what is not true.

Even though Der Ewige Jude is a hate filled film, I decided to include it as one of the films students can choose to watch in my online film course. Der Ewige Jude has much to teach a society which has leaders who support the idea that non-Americans—some of whom are seeking asylum—are animals intent on infecting our country.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

 

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