By David Strom
LA JOLLA, California — Congratulations to the San Diego Jewish Film Festival for the success of its 25th anniversary presentations. On the final day of the Festival, February 15, 2015 I was privileged to view two excellent films that were unified by a common theme, as expressed in Deuteronomy 16:20 “Justice, justice, thou shall pursue:
Joachim Prinz: I Shall Not Be Silent is a biography of Rabbi Prinz’s life in pursuit of social justice from the pulpit of a synagogue in Berlin in the 1930’s and in Newark, New Jersey after he was expelled by the Nazi regime from Germany and immigrated to the United States, and then marched arm in arm with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s.
The Grüninger File is the story of the Righteous Gentile, Swiss Police Captain Paul Grüninger, who granted temporary visas to Jews fleeing Nazi persecution when his nation’s officials closed their borders to refugees from Germany and Austria.
Together these films convey the message that silence and inaction in the face of injustice are the true problem at the root of the ills of humanity caused by racism, xenophobia and prejudice.
The pursuit of justice is a moral obligation and fundamental value of Judaism. Rabbi Joachim Prinz would not be silent when as a young rabbi in Nazi Germany, he viewed the persecution of innocent Jews, young and old and observed the beatings handed out by the Nazi hooligans upon German Jewish citizens along with the destruction of Jewish synagogues and shops. From his pulpit and in print Rabbi Prinz openly spoke out against these injustices. He could not and would not be silent. He urged German Jewry to leave Germany and go to Palestine if possible or anywhere where they could gain entry, legally or illegally.
Captain Paul Grüninger, a Swiss border policeman, risked his and his family’s livelihood and security to save fleeing Jewish refugees from the blood-soaked hands of the Nazis. Grüninger never met a Jew he didn’t want to save. Despite orders from above to turn in the captured refugees to be sent back to Austria and Germany, he followed his moral conscience and willfully disobeyed those orders. He used his bureaucratic authority to alter documents allowing illegal border crossers to find refuge from the Nazis in Switzerland.
In 1937, Rabbi Prinz and family were forced out of Germany and were fortunate enough to come to the United States. Once here, the Rabbi was invited to lead a congregation in Newark, New Jersey, where he continued his work for social justice. Once acclimated to the social and cultural aspects of the United States, Rabbi Joachim Prinz took up his prophetic call from the pulpit and in print to denounce institutional and individual racism. With Dr. Martin Luther King, Prinz marched against bigotry and hatred in the South. From the Biblical prophets and historical Jewish history, Prinz preached justice for all humans for all are made in God’s image.
It was just a matter of time before Captain Paul Grüninger would be caught for his “illegal” activities A petty government official seeking to rise in the bureaucratic governmental ranks finally denounced Grüninger for willfully disobeying the law by backdating the visas and other important documents of about 3600 refugees as to the date of their entrance neutral Switzerland.
After his trial Grüninger was dismissed from the police force for “official misconduct”, fined 300 Swiss francs, lost his pension, and eventually died in poverty. Operating in silence had saved many Jewish refugees from almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis. For Rabbi Prinz to be silent was to be complicit in the evil taking place. At the 1963 March on Washington, Prinz mentioned that in the phrase “Love thy neighbor” neighbor is more than a geographic term. It is a moral concept, all humanity that we love, black or white, Jew or gentile, believer or non-believer.
The movies Joachim Prinz: I Shall not be Silent and The Grüninger File were excellent films that inspire us to have the courage and the wisdom not to remain silent.
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Strom is professor emeritus of education at San Diego State University. Your signed comment may be posted in the space provided below or sent to david.strom@sdjewishworld.com