By İdris Kardaş
Alev Alatlı in her book “Accomplice Hollywood” addresses the reader as follows:
“Hollywood was the most privileged and honored among American industries. Because this structure that produces unbelievably high-budget films was also the number one accomplice of the American image-creating mentality.
It could start wars, end wars, create heroes, identify cowards, terrorists, traitors, and create a trance state that made the world believe what was seen on the screen.”
The essence is that as a country, our awareness now is very high that Hollywood is the strongest propaganda phenomenon in modern history. Therefore, these lines are not unfamiliar to anyone. But knowing this reality and being under its influence are different things. In the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s, Hollywood clearly influenced our society with its films.
Most of us supported the American boxer Rocky against the Russian boxer Ivan. We proudly watched what Rambo did in Afghanistan. Over time, through hundreds of films, we went through a process of approaching being Americanized more.
Our politics, social fabric, cultural field, fashion approach, and of course our consumption habits were unfortunately shaped through Hollywood-produced films.
Similar processes happened in many countries of the world. Hollywood shaped the memory of societies in many points, from international relations to culture. Especially after the Second World War, it became a serious propaganda tool through the Holocaust.
In fact, until 1978, Hollywood remained indifferent to Hitler’s genocide, gas chambers, and mass killings. There were only a few weak voices. Although all the founders of Hollywood were European Jewish immigrants, they deliberately stayed away from this field.
Louis B. Mayer at MGM, Adolph Zukor at Paramount, Jack, Harry and Sam Warner at Warner Bros., Harry Cohn at Columbia, and Carl Laemmle at Universal were all Jewish-origin names. But they preferred not to mix their Jewish identity with their work.
The reason was essentially similar to Europe. At that time, there was resistance against Jews in the US. They were not accepted in elite business circles and respectable professions. Cinema was seen as a new and unserious business branch. These immigrants opened a space for themselves here. They used it to not be excluded from society and to prove they were the most loyal Americans.
They especially feared drawing attention and exclusion. Researches of that period showed that a significant part of the American public saw Jews as a threat. Therefore, Hollywood’s Jewish owners preferred to emphasize American values to be accepted. For this, they reflected Protestant, white, middle-class values in their films. American heroism, the sanctity of American families, and unparalleled family relations had a special place in these films.
The result was something like the construction of the “American Dream.” Production companies spread this idealized dream all over the world and created great admiration for America everywhere. What was interesting was that their main purpose was not spreading American idealism but applying such a tactic to get accepted by society.
Neil Gabler, a cultural historian born in Chicago, has books examining how Jewish origins founded and influenced Hollywood. For those interested, this is recommended, and let’s return to our topic.
After World War II, anti-Semitism was still widespread in America. Public opinion research from the late 1940s showed that about one-third of Americans found Jews overly influential.
The development that allowed Jews to gain acceptance in American society and even garner great sympathy was through the silver screen.
The 1978 NBC TV series “Holokaust,” about Nazi atrocities against Jews, reached approximately 120 million Americans, setting a significant record. Nearly every American household saw the genocide with full clarity, and for many, it was the first opportunity to confront the Holocaust.
Thanks to this production, the term “Holocaust” became widespread in American public opinion; it even became the dominant term used to describe the Holocaust.
Thus began the process of “Americanizing the Holocaust.”
Before, the Holocaust was only part of Jewish and European history. Now it became part of Americans too. The Holocaust, an element of American propaganda capable of influencing the whole world, created a global sense of victimhood for Jews.
When the Holocaust Americanized, it ceased to be only a crime against Jews and became something that all humanity had to fight against together. What was important for Americans had to be important for the world. For Jews, a new process started worldwide.
For example, thanks to the series, a significant wave of change happened in Germany, where the genocide occurred.
A year after the US, the series was broadcast in West Germany in 1979 and was watched by about 20 million Germans, one-third of the population at the time.
There was a great environment of public debate. Many young people began to question their families’ Nazi past.
Immediately after the broadcast, the TV channel ARD received tens of thousands of calls. Many viewers learned in detail about Nazi crimes for the first time.
Young people of that period began asking their parents directly about their Nazi past after watching the series.
German newspapers reported many parents confessed to their children about concentration camps, Nazi Party membership, or war crimes for the first time.
Famous German historian Alexander von Plato showed through surveys conducted after the series that a significant portion of young people had conversations about confronting the Nazi period within their families.
The series had such an impact that the Federal Germany Education Ministry made it mandatory for states to cover the Holocaust as a special topic in history lessons the following year.
Textbooks were rewritten; details such as the functioning of concentration camps, oppression of Jews, and Nuremberg Laws were added.
The practice of taking students to camps, especially Dachau and Bergen-Belsen, started. This allowed the younger generation to directly feel the trauma.
In the US, Holocaust memory work such as museums, monuments, and education programs accelerated.
Immediately after the series, President Carter signed a presidential decree to establish the National Holocaust Memorial and formed a commission. The establishment work of the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. began in this period.
The term “Holocaust” as a concept spread internationally.
Of course, this was just the beginning.
The next important production that increased Jewish sympathy in American society and trust was released in 1993.
Steven Spielberg, also of Jewish origin, created the film Schindler’s List, which won 7 Oscars, making the Holocaust known worldwide in an unparalleled way and spreading a wave of great sympathy. Almost no one worldwide had not watched this film.
When the film was first shown, it reached about 100 million viewers in the US… Polls after the film showed that 97% of Americans had heard of the Holocaust. Moreover, about 70% of schools in the US reported having the Holocaust in their curriculum in some way.
After the film, Spielberg recorded over 55,000 testimonies, which have become sources for all documentaries and films dealing with the Holocaust and World War II worldwide. These records are exhibited in Holocaust Museums in different cities worldwide as visuals, interviews, memories, photographs, and other materials.
These sources are used in almost every visual work, film, series, song, literature, and documentary telling the atrocities of Nazis and the victimization of Jews worldwide for several generations.
Hollywood’s process of telling the Holocaust to the world has continued rapidly since then. Films like Life is Beautiful, The Pianist, and many award-winning films have certainly stayed in our memories. The number of films, documentaries, books, and series about the Nazi period has risen tremendously.
The victimhood mechanism on which Israel has relied against the decades-long oppression of Palestinians has been formed in this way. The basic foundation of the unconditional sympathy and support given to Israel by Americans and many countries in the world was this intense propaganda process, which was delicately processed over many years by Americans owning the Holocaust and spreading this victimhood worldwide through Hollywood.
I say “until Gaza” because for the first time, we see the unconditional support for Israel decreasing. Today, in many parts of the world, people are protesting and raising their voices against Israel for Gaza.
Hollywood stars, actors, actresses, singers, activists, writers, journalists, and famous people stand with Palestinians against the global hegemonic cultural system due to the genocide in Gaza. Actors in global popular culture shout “Palestine” at award ceremonies. Most importantly, European states that had supported Israel’s propaganda and turned their backs on Palestine have announced they will recognize Palestine. For the first time, the sympathy for Israel has been damaged worldwide.
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This is the full translated content of the article “Holokost, Hollywood ve Gazze” by Idris Kardas as per the provided attachment. If further details or a summarized version is needed, please let me know.
Source: https://m.haberturk.com/ozel-icerikler/idris-kardas/3823978-holokost-hollywood-ve-gazze
