William Appleman Williams

Nazis in Skokie

The Chicago suburb where I grew up turned locus of national news in 1978 when a group of neo-Nazis decided to celebrate Hitler's birthday by provoking the sizable Jewish population with a march through town. The ethical and ethnic complexities multiplied when the ACLU, with a heavy Jewish membership, fought efforts to prevent the Nazis from marching, on free-speech grounds.

I was a thousand mile away, in Salem, Ore., where you might find all of 30 Jewish families among the 80,000 people. I was definitely an exotic. I realized that in writing about the event I could explain the emotional stakes to people far removed from my life experience. And it would help me sort out the issues for myself.

The paper ran my first-person story on the front page, as you see here (note the typewriter; this was still the day of hot type). It drew a great reception. For a little while I was a local celebrity out there.

I was thrilled when the story got more exposure in the Miami Herald, which ran it several weeks later.

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