Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

274 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 4:271
dom.”) Yet, the next year the same censorship board in Madrid had lifted its
ban on the film. 7
So powerful was the film that in the National Museum of American
Jewish History there is a plaque noting that, in 1948, a year after the film
debuted, “the Journal of Psychology published a study showing that nearly
three-quarters of those who had viewed the movie felt that it gave them a
more positive attitude toward Jews.”
Coincidently, Gregory Peck, who portrayed Phil Green, was a hero as
well in the classic film To Kill a Mockingbird, in which he starred as white
lawyer Atticus Finch, who defended a black man wrongly accused of rape.
The setting was the American South, where racism was rampant. By
defending a despised person, Finch placed himself and his family in danger.
This is also seen in Gentleman’s Agreement, when the star’s son is taunted
at school for being perceived as Jewish.
As Atticus Finch says, “You never truly know someone until you’ve
stood in their shoes and walked around in them.” The second part of this
two-part essay will appear in the next issue of the Journal for the Study of
Antisemitism.
*Daniel Vahab is a freelance writer, proofreader, and copywriter. He is currently
writing a book on antisemitism.
7. “Madrid Lifts Ban on Film,” The New York Times, August 22, 1949.