Sunday, February 12, 2017

A New Documentary on the Holocaust and the US's First Ambassador to Israel--worth watching!

Hello all, 

I  am on my way back from Guatemala after having an amazing  volunteering experience for two weeks.  Last Monday with 30 others in Antigua I saw an amazing new documentary  called "A Voice Among the Silent:  The Legacy of James G McDonald", maybe a Lamed Vavnik of his time. He was a Catholic and" Hard Wired for decency."  
Image result for james mcdonald, the US first ambassador to israel
In his earlier years, when he worked for NBC radio

 

A Voice Among The Silent: The Legacy of James G. McDonald

A Voice Among The Silent: The Legacy of James G. McDonald tells the remarkable story of a man who warned the wor...
 

Because of a job McDonald had with a US refugee organization, he traveled to Germany in 1933 and met with Hitler and heard him say that no one liked the Jews and that he planned to help the world and eliminate them.  McDonald tried to tell Roosevelt and others in power in the US, bug were not interested in pursuing the matter for a number of reasons.    

About 12 years ago, missing parts of McDonald's journals with this key information were discovered by the daughter of his secretary, and given to the Washington DC Holocaust Museum.  It contained a gold mine of information!


 The producer of this movie, an Israeli American, Shuli Eshel heard a lecture about McDonald in Chicago by the staffer at the DC Holocaust museum who went through over 10,000 pages in McDonald's diary, and she vowed to make a movie on it.  She managed to interview McDonald's two elderly daughters for the movie too.  I did buy a copy. and we should all see it.   I've told the Seattle Film Festival about it and the Holocaust Center for Humanity.  I could show it at my home too to friends.  I don't usually recommend a Holocaust movie bu this is a one that I feel many should see, Jewish or non-Jewish.



 Later McDonald became the first Us Ambassador to Israel, the most positive one that ever was in that position.

Image result for james mcdonald, the US first ambassador to israel
With Ben Gurion when Ambassador
Click on the link near the top of the blog for more information.

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