Nadene Goldfoot
In 1977, the Nazi Party, called the National Socialist Party of America, had the chutzpa to have enough members in it to hold mini parades in the streets of Skokie, Illinois while wearing brown-shirt uniforms and brandishing swastika banners.
They chose Skokie on purpose because it was home to the largest percentage of Jewish Holocaust survivors "of any town in America."
Reports from family members of Skokie told of a survivor almost having a nervous breakdown by turning extremely pale and calling friends on the phone with the warning, "The Nazis are coming back! they're coming again!" They would be hysterical! It was PTSD setting in setting them back years of remembering the horrors they had gone through. This was documented by Howard Reich, son of a Skokie Holocaust survivor. The facts of this march were shown on TV news.
Then the Nazis petitioned to stage a full-scale march through Skokie, replacing mini-parades. The community said "NO WAY" and the authorities denied the Nazis, on the grounds that it would create violence, knowing how their voters would take it, but the Nazis turned around and sued the town. This case hit the TV News again, but much more and became national news. The ACLU stepped in with their idea of who was right.
Dershowitz urged the ACLU to support the right of the Nazis to march through Skokie. It didn't matter to him that the Jewish survivors were being traumatized by being exposed to this scene, passing by their own homes even though he is also Jewish and had lost members of his family in the Holocaust. To him, he only considered the first Amendment and civil liberties as well as a few others thrown in. He was against censorship.
"The case, known as the "Skokie case," involved a legal battle over free speech, with Skokie officials attempting to block the march and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) representing the Nazis to defend First Amendment rights. Although Skokie passed ordinances to prevent the demonstration, the case ultimately went to the Supreme Court, which affirmed the Nazis' right to march due to free speech concerns."
His stand brought on Anti-Semitism big time. Many called him with threats against his own life and certainly of all Jews. The Supreme Court even agreed with Dershowitz.
There's something I have thought of, however that they may not have mentioned.
We fought a war against the Nazis and won. That was a world War, the 2nd one we had to fight. Jews world-wide were threatened while 6 million were slaughtered. If they hadn't been stopped by the USA's help, they would have taken over the whole world.
We lost Approximately 407,316 U.S. military personnel in World War II, with the European theater being the deadlier combat zone for American troops. Of the total deaths, around 250,000 occurred in Europe and 160,000 died in the Pacific.
Estimates for World War II's death toll range from 70 to 85 million people, making it the deadliest conflict in history. The majority of deaths were civilians, with estimates of 50 to 55 million civilian deaths compared to 21 to 25 million military deaths. Civilian casualties were caused by genocide, massacres, bombing, disease, and starvation, while military deaths resulted from combat and other war-related causes.
The Nazi Party should not have rated any citizenship rights.
They had not earned the right to march in Skokie with the point
being to cause fear within the Jews. It was a demonstration of
their strength and the taking advantage of this right. We had
fought them once and even taken their high officials to court.
Such horrors had no rights anymore in this country. I don't
believe that those who wrote the 1st amendment could have
envisioned such a demonstration taking place.
Approximately 7,000 Holocaust survivors were directly affected by the planned Nazi march through Skokie, Illinois, in 1977, along with about 40,500 Jewish residents in total who lived in the community at the time. The town was home to more concentration camp survivors than any other in the United States, making the planned march particularly traumatic.
Nazis caused the Jewish people who had come here for pro-tection and safety, and they were not given it. Where weretheir rights?
I love Dershowitz. However, I'm one of those many who justcan't understand how he could defend Nazis, for the Nazi Party was simply not a defendable movement, or party, butwas a deplorable death machine. This was Anti-Semitism at itsfullest, and our presidents have wondered how it ever got to out of hand? You allowed the geni to get out of the bottle ! There'sa limit! We must not think like a robot. We arehumans.
On my 2nd and 3rd thought of the morning is that this is an exceptional case; a case whereby the Jewish people were beingemotionally attacked on purpose by the same group who tooktheir 6 million people! The Jews of Skokie should have sued the
Nazi Party! They should have hired a well-knownlawyer, a lawyer usually for the underdog; Alan Dershowitz! Yes, Alan, in this case, you were really on the wrong side andyour mother was quite right. That's a double evil done to theseJewish people.
Resource:
Edited 5:00am 10/12/2025
Book: Legal Gladiator, The life of Alan Dershowitz by Solomon Schmidt
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