AJHS Digital

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SEASON 1 TRAILER

Introducing The World in Front of Me with Bill Aron

In the summer of 2025, journalist and writer Ruth Andrew Ellenson sat down with famed photographer Bill Aron, and recorded more than 12 hours of interviews. For nearly 50 years, Bill traveled the world, photographing Jewish communities as near as his home of Los Angeles, and as far away as the Soviet Union. From the American South to Cuba, from New York to Jerusalem, Bill captured it all. This series reveals never before heard stories from the artist himself. The American Jewish Historical Society presents The World in Front of Me with Bill Aron, hosted by Ruth Andrew Ellenson. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss.

S1 Trailer

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2 min
01/07/2025

The Committee

In 1938, as fascism continued to spread across Europe and Asia, the Dies Committee was formed to investigate "subversive activities" within the United States. The committee, headed by Texas Democrat Martin Dies, was tasked with targeting Nazi sympathizers, but soon shifted its primary focus to rooting out those they believed to have communist ties, and paved the way for a second American red scare. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Matthew Dallek, author of Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right. Episode Image: American Nazi Party marches in support of HUAC. From the Abraham Shoenfeld Papers at AJHS, P-884 The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

01/07/2025

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27 min
02/04/2025

The Hollywood Ten

In November 1947, ten Hollywood writers and directors were cited for contempt of court for their refusal to testify before HUAC. Criminal charges were issued against the group that would become known as "the Hollywood Ten," and the first systematic Hollywood blacklist had begun. Of the ten, six were Jewish - John Howard Lawson, Herbert Biberman, Alvah Bessie, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, and Lester Cole - as were many of the studio executives who voted to blacklist them. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Thomas Doherty, author of Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist. Image: Anticommunist group protests the release of "Exodus" in 1960, written by Hollywood Ten "unfriendly" Dalton Trumbo. From the Abraham Shoenfeld Papers at AJHS, P-884. The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

02/04/2025

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21 min
01/21/2025

The Unionists

The film, television, and theater industries were represented by some of the largest unions in the United States, and in the late 1940s, with the full cooperation of Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan, organizations like the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Values sought to root out what they deemed the communist threat in entertainment. Unions from other industries were also targeted, and a narrative that communist infiltration was the true root cause of contemporary labor conflicts was embraced by a number of American politicians. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Thomas Doherty, author of Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist. Image: Strikers on the picket line at Warner Bros., in the early morning hours before violence broke out, October 5, 1945. Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

01/21/2025

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18 min
03/04/2025

The Defendants

On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death under the Espionage Act of 1917. The couple was accused of spying for the Soviet Union and providing classified information about nuclear weapons, radar, sonar, and jet propulsion engines. The trial, which was presided over by Judge Irving Robert Kaufman, captured international attention. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Martin J. Siegel, author of Judgment and Mercy: The Turbulent Life and Times of the Judge Who Condemned the Rosenbergs. Image: Cover of brochure produced by the National Committee to Secure Justice for Morton Sobell. From the Committee to Free Morton Sobell Collection at AJHS, I-356. The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

03/04/2025

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23 min
02/18/2025

The Professors

College professors and other educators were among those targeted by anti-communists, but the search for Communist Party members in the U.S. education system began much earlier. The so-called "Red-ucators" were among the first deemed subversives, and Harvard University, City College of New York, and many other schools were rocked by hundreds of subpoenas, calling them to testify in front of special committees that were formed to weed out communists in education. Morris Schappes, an English professor in the CUNY system and member of the American Communist Party, was one of these educators, and became a prominent symbol of the quest to purge school systems of subversives. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Gemma R. Birnbaum, executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society. Image: May Day Labor Parade, New York College Teachers Union 1930's - 1940's. From the Morris U. Schappes Papers at AJHS, P-57. The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

02/18/2025

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20 min

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Introducing The World in Front of Me with Bill Aron

The Committee

The Hollywood Ten

The Unionists

The Defendants

The Professors

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