Americans and the Nazi Threat: What Did Arizonans Know?

While media around the country provided frequent and vivid accounts of rising Nazi brutality in Europe, Americans tended to focus inward on domestic issues during the 1930s and 1940s. Step back in time with Museum and local experts to explore headlines, artifacts and other materials from that time period in Arizona, which will include articles unearthed in local newspapers by volunteer citizen historians.

Panelists will discuss surprising actions taken by nearby communities, including Native American tribes in response to the growing Nazi threat in Europe. They include:

Dr. Donald Fixico, Distinguished Foundation Professor of History, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University.

• Dr. Edna Friedberg, Historian, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Author of “Why They Parade By Torchlight,” featured in The Atlantic magazine on Aug. 21.
• Dr. Michael Rubinoff, Lecturer, Leadership and Interdisciplinary Studies, College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Arizona State University.
• Moderator: Mi-Ai Parrish, President and Publisher, Republic Media.

“Americans knew more about the rising Nazi threat in the 1930s and 40s than many people realize,” said Steven Klappholz, the Museum’s Western Regional Director. “In fact, part of our research for the forthcoming exhibition, ‘Americans and the Nazi Threat,’ was a crowdsourcing project, “History Unfolded,” in which citizen historians in communities nationwide identified how Nazism was covered in local newspapers.

“At Arizona State University alone, more than 50 faculty and students contributed more than 100 related articles from eight Arizona newspapers and other publications, providing important research that will inform the exhibition.”

The “Americans and the Nazi Threat: What did Arizonans Know?” program is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required at ushmm.org/events/nazi-threat-tempe. For more information, contact the Museum’s Western Regional office at 310.556.3222 or email at [email protected].