{"id":4863,"date":"2017-09-06T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/historian-steve-ross-reveals-hitlers-menacing-reach-into-los-angeles\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T12:14:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:14:57","slug":"historian-steve-ross-reveals-hitlers-menacing-reach-into-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/historian-steve-ross-reveals-hitlers-menacing-reach-into-los-angeles\/","title":{"rendered":"Historian Steve Ross reveals Hitler\u2019s menacing reach into Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-2662-690x432.jpg\"\n                    data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Historian Steve Ross reveals Hitler\u2019s menacing reach into Los Angeles\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Nazi symbols could be spotted all over downtown Los Angeles in the 1930s. Here, a swastika hangs above the street outside a furniture store on the 200 block of South Broadway. Images courtesy of Steve Ross.\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Historian Steve Ross reveals Hitler\u2019s menacing reach into Los Angeles<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  In the 1930s, when too many Americans either ignored the swelling Nazi threat or thought Hitler was right, an amateur spymaster recruited civilians to do what Hoover\u2019s FBI would not. USC Dornsife\u2019s Steve Ross reveals the harrowing facts in his new book.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Susan L. Wampler<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">September 6, 2017<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 1.68841575 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, a clandestine war by Japan\u2019s Axis ally, Germany, had already been underway against the U.S. for nearly a decade. The battleground was not some distant shore but Los Angeles, and the soldiers were a malevolent group of Nazis and fascists whose plans included sabotage and assassinating some of Hollywood\u2019s foremost names.<\/p>\n<p>The government widely ignored the growing danger, but one man paid attention. His name was Leon Lewis. He was Jewish, a former executive secretary of the Anti-Defamation League \u2014 and among the first Americans to come to terms with the threat that would ultimately slaughter millions and engulf the world in war.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/hist\/people\/faculty_display.cfm?Person_ID=1003656\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steve Ross<\/a> tells the story of Lewis and his fellow patriots in the new book <em>Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America<\/em> (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017), due out on Oct. 24.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<div class=\"video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wkijPf8JlKQ?rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" Title=\"Hitler in LA\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Ross calls his book a cautionary story of \u201cwhat happens when hate groups move from the margins into the mainstream of American society, and when an American government seems complacent or, as some would argue, complicit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By writing it, Ross has fulfilled a childhood vow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy parents are both [Holocaust] survivors,\u201d says Ross, professor of <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/hist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">history<\/a> at USC Dornsife. \u201cMy father had been in the Warsaw Ghetto and then in Dachau. My mother was in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and then a munitions camp in Salzwedel, Germany.\u201d While hearing about their horrific experiences and learning about the Holocaust as a youth, Ross wondered why Jews didn\u2019t do more to stop the Nazis.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-image-landscape news-image-right\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/HitlerLA2-2662.jpg\" alt=\"Landscape Right\" width=\"450\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Professor of History Steve Ross. Photo by Mike Glier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Years later, while conducting research for his book <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/1036\/wag-the-elephant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Hollywood Left and Right<\/em><\/a> (Oxford University Press, 2011), Ross realized that Jewish inaction against the Nazis before World War II was a false narrative.<\/p>\n<p>Many Jews did try to do something, he says, \u201cbut they had a divided strategy. Some felt they should be in Hitler\u2019s face and be very aggressive with an international boycott, while other groups argued that would only force Hitler to double down and persecute Jews even more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By 1933, Lewis was tired of the unwillingness of U.S. law enforcement to investigate Nazi activities in L.A. After Nazis held their first open meeting in the city in July of that year, he set about addressing the dangers being ignored by the FBI and Los Angeles police.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-image-portrait news-image-left\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/HitlerLA3-2662.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait Left\" width=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Steve Ross\u2019 new book, <em>Hitler in Los Angeles<\/em> (Bloomsbury Publishing), is due out on Oct. 24.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Starting with four World War I veterans and their wives, Lewis recruited a civilian spy ring. Unlike the swashbuckling spies portrayed on the silver screen, these were men and women from humble backgrounds. But they were even more courageous, because the risks they took were real in infiltrating every Nazi and fascist group in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the next 12 years, [Lewis] discovered plots for sabotage, destruction, mass murder and execution by hanging of famous Hollywood figures and their Christian sympathizers \u2014 men like Louis B. Mayer, Al Jolson, Charlie Chaplin and James Cagney,\u201d Ross says.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1930s, however, isolationist sentiments ran high due to the Great Depression\u2019s economic woes and the previous \u201cwar to end all wars\u201d still seared into the national consciousness. So even after Lewis\u2019 network began getting results, many still refused to heed the warnings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJ. Edgar Hoover was so obsessed with tailing Reds that he completely ignored the Nazis and fascists,\u201d Ross says. \u201cAnd L.A. Police Chief Jim \u2018Two Guns\u2019 Davis told Lewis that Hitler was doing the right thing.\u201d Meanwhile, the Justice Department claimed to be hamstrung unless ordered into action by Washington.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-image-landscape news-image-right\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/HitlerLA4-2662.jpg\" alt=\"Landscape Right\" width=\"450\" height=\"290\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This raising of the swastika was part of a 1936 German Day celebration in Los Angeles\u2019 Hindenberg Park, now Crescenta Valley Community Regional Park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>To uncover the actions taken by Lewis and his compatriots, Ross sorted through 200 boxes of their reports. \u201cIt took me a while to figure out the story,\u201d he admits, but those documents let him tell much of what happened in the voices of those who were there. \u201cMany of the reports include the actual dialogues of the spies and Nazis involved \u2014 including the American Silver Shirt fascists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not all the stories of heroism and courage found by Ross ended happily. Three of Lewis\u2019 spies died under suspicious circumstances, and the book\u2019s final section leads up to what finally forced the entire nation into action \u2014\u00a0the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-image-portrait news-image-left\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/HitlerLA5-2662.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait Left\" width=\"225\" height=\"303\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A Nazi call to boycott Hollywood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>After that grim event, FBI agents immediately rounded up nearly 100 Nazis, as well as Italian fascists and Japanese-American agents. Since the bureau had conducted little in the way of investigation before those raids, Ross is convinced the information that triggered them came from Lewis\u2019 network, which had supplied the FBI, Naval Intelligence, and Army Intelligence with the names and information about suspected German, Italian, and Japanese spies and fifth columnists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FBI claimed all of it as their own, but Leon Lewis didn\u2019t care about publicity,\u201d Ross says. \u201cHe just wanted the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his extensive research to share the tale, Ross realized that the question asked by his childhood self \u2014 as well as by fellow historians deep into adulthood \u2014 about why Jews didn\u2019t take more action was the wrong one. The real question, according to Ross, is why the American government didn\u2019t do more.<\/p>\n<p><em>Hitler in Los Angeles<\/em> is the story of the brave men and women, both Jewish and Gentile, who did more. \u201cThey were fighting to protect American democracy and for equality for all,\u201d Ross says.<\/p>\n<p>For this, their only reward was knowing they helped defeat the Nazi scourge. For decades, their story went untold. With his latest book, Ross rectifies this in riveting detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 1930s, when too many Americans either ignored the swelling Nazi threat or thought Hitler was right, an amateur spymaster recruited civilians to do what Hoover\u2019s FBI would not. USC Dornsife\u2019s Steve Ross reveals the harrowing facts in his new book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[71,75,181,433],"class_list":["post-4863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","tag-history","tag-humanities","tag-los-angeles","tag-steve-ross"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Historian Steve Ross reveals Hitler\u2019s menacing reach into Los Angeles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/historian-steve-ross-reveals-hitlers-menacing-reach-into-los-angeles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Historian Steve Ross reveals Hitler\u2019s menacing reach into Los Angeles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the 1930s, when too many Americans either ignored the swelling Nazi threat or thought Hitler was right, an amateur spymaster recruited civilians to do what Hoover\u2019s FBI would not. 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