On March 3rd, the Jewish Museum of Florida – FIU opens (for members only) “Cinema Judaica: The War Years 1939-1949.” The exhibition, which comes from the Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion, features iconic Hollywood film posters from the war years and illustrates how some Hollywood studios complied with Nazi propaganda while others studios countered it.

A poster from “Gentleman’s Agreement.”

Hollywood played a significant role proffering propaganda during the war years and “countered America’s isolationism, advocated going to war against the Nazis, influenced post-war perceptions of the Jewish people and the founding of the State of Israel, and shaped the face of contemporary Jewish life.” The shape of Jewish life after the war can be traced back to Warner Brothers’ refusal to adhere to Nazi propaganda and demands laid out by Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.

“Only one studio, Warner Brothers, refused to comply with any of Goebbel’s demands and withdrew from the German market. Harry Warner and his brothers committed themselves to making anti-Nazi movies to alert the nation to the Nazi threat. Following the war, there were “exodus” films addressing the attempt by European war refugees to build their lives and cultures after the Holocaust. Included are posters from classic films such as: “Gentleman’s Agreement,” “Confessions of a Nazi Spy,” and “The Great Dictator.”

The opening event, sponsored by the Robert Arthur Segall Foundation, illuminates the film industry’s enduring power to inform and move our culture forward (or backward). It also shows the potential ramifications of a high concentration of power in just a few major film studios and how this power shaped and could have shaped of Jewish life after the war.

Exhibit is free for museum members at the $125 level and above. All other museum members, $18 per person. RSVP to [email protected] or 786-972-3175.