BY JOEL THURTELL
I was seventeen years old when I delivered the Youth Sunday February 10, 1963 sermon on intolerance at the First Congregational Church in my hometown, Lowell, Michigan.
My theme was the evil of racial prejudice, especially racism directed by whites against blacks.
But I also was concerned about Christian prejudice against Jews, Muslims, and other religions.
I was surprised to read my notes for that sermon and see that I was aware of Henry Ford’s newspaper attacks on Jews.
“It is not generally known,” I said, “that one of the pillars of American industry was an anti-Semite. Henry Ford, who introduced mass production, the reasonably priced automobile and the $5 day also financed an anti-Jewish newspaper called the Dearborn Independent. This paper continuously attacked what it called ‘the international Jewish conspiracy.’ The Jewish Anti-Defamation League won a public apology from Ford, but only after great harm had been done.”
How at seventeen, in 1963, did I know about Henry Ford’s scurrilous attacks on Jews?
Certainly not from my US history textbook.
My teacher was the father of the family who were my hosts the summer of 1962 when I was an exchange student living on a dairy and hog farm in northern Germany. My German father thought Henry Ford’s bigotry was something an American like me should be proud of. I was given this lesson one evening as the family and several neighbors sat around the living room with bottles of wine and beer emptying into glasses. Gemütlichkeit was flowing all over. Urged on by his pals, the father took a 78-rpm record from a drawer and placed it on a phonograph turntable. Not music, but a voice, high-pitched, came through the loudspeaker. I didn’t understand the German, but I knew I was listening to Hitler.
After a few minutes, the father switched off the record player. Attention now focused on me. A neighbor man lectured me:
“America has a Jewish problem. Just like Germany had. Germany had a solution, thanks to Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a good man with wonderful ideas about bettering mankind. One of the most important goals was the eradication of inferior races. The worst of these people are the Jews. They are subhumans who managed to get control of all walks of life. In the United States, you have Jews running your industries, your banks, even your newspapers. America made a big mistake by coming into the war on Britain’s side. With the help of America, Germany could have finished the work of exterminating the Jews.”
Not all of this garbage came from Hitler. They told me that a fellow American, Henry Ford, knew about the Jews and supported Hitler, a great admirer of Henry Ford. There was no internet back then, but these farmers knew about Ford and his newspaper and his arguments about the international influence of Jews.
They taught me that second to Hitler, Henry Ford was the most influential anti-Semite.
They forgot about Martin Luther.
Stay tuned for more thoughts on Nazis, great American fascists, and the great leader of the Protestant Reformation.
Drop me a line at joelthurtell(at)gmail.com
