An American Speaks (1948)

oh [Music] [Music] palestine jerusalem the mountains and valleys that lie between the shores of the mediterranean and the arabian desert this is the earth where david slew goliath and moses brought the tablet from the mount here jesus was born and suffered and died here 12 centuries before hebrew tribes from egypt crossed the jordan into canaan and settled the land the kingdom of israel prospered and grew under saul and david and solomon prospered and grew on the twin foundations of the talmud and the torah [Music] side by side they stand teaching in the law the basis of that theology known as judaism the basis of what we call civilization in their image a temple rose and a temple fell a wall remained the wailing wall left by the pagans and vandals who laid the temple in ruins and the jew began his wandering the men and women descended from the creators of these philosophies began their endless trudge across the face of the globe in the first century they went to tarsus by the 12th century they had moved to rome to spain to gaul to england and to germany and then in the 19th century the movement began again from russia from germany from galicia from romania a handful went back to palestine the majority went to the united states they became part of the new world they brought their traditions of law and music and art [Music] they built temples to their god [Music] they sent their sons to fight against aggression let us meet one of these sons milton kaufman a member of the jewish war veterans people who are making this picture think i have something to say that might be of interest to you honestly i don't know whether it will or not but here goes anyway i was drafted into the army like most of the kids i knew and got into the 45th division as a medical aid man in the field artillery battalion we were sent overseas and got into the first landing in italy there we go lots of us guys from california and iowa and long island catholics lutherans holy rollers atheists jews it didn't matter we had an enemy to knock off it was lousy fighting war is always tough and lousy anyway but at least we had plenty of supplies and the best equipment and terrific allies the british and the free french and some unexpected ones like these soldiers walking along the road see that patch on that truck on their tanks on their shell on their arm the star of david the jewish brigade recruited in palestine and trained by the british they died in the same fight for freedom we were fighting i'm an american but i was proud to see them i was proud they helped in our victory victory we chip the stone swastika away to erase it from the earth but milton kaufman didn't see it he got hit after 115 days of combat but his outfit went on into france and were the guys who opened dachau they watched the people hold services again look at those flags jews from every country in europe free to worship god again and to weep he was too tired to weep he too young he too starved he too mutilated but he could weep for his wife and child and she could weep and she too for their sons in this trench at auschwitz or in this pile at decal this terrible pile of what used to be decent men and women [Music] our guys joined them and then most of the yanks went home and so did they [Music] displaced persons camps [Music] they were a little bewildered because they look so much like concentration camps one year two years three years still there yeah still there we in america banded together to help to supplement unra to feed them and clean them and clothe them and give them medicine to keep them alive until the world decided their fate decided or debated with human life as the stake how are they to live and where were they to go here to the united states yes a few to palestine yes a few under the terms of the british mandate a pitiful handful were allowed to go to palestine but even they saw the land of their fathers through barbed wire [Music] they got off the ships but healthy into buses bought in st louis the sick were met by nurses supported by los angeles doctors whose salaries came from tacoma and placed in ambulances bought in brooklyn you made this possible all of you with the money you gave the united jewish appeal last year and the year before you made this possible families reunited these are all pictures you've seen them before but you've not seen these before illegal ships they call them [Music] boarded by the british and turned away from palestine they waited to go to cyprus and as they waited they remembered dachau displaced persons camps and now cyprus illegal entry what's illegal about survival [Music] and in the united nations they wrangled and talked and fought and finally they came out with a plan to partition palestine they came out with it and then they backed down [Music] they said they couldn't do it couldn't do it i wish i could get up at these meetings at the united nations and say to them there are a lot of things that i thought i couldn't do either in italy but i did them and if i had any reason is that people would stop being pushed around but they won't let me talk at lake success well milton maybe the time for talk is over in palestine they think so milton and i think there are two kinds of jews anyway jews like these who wail and cry their hearts out for a lost world or jews like these young and strong who train for the future not only for themselves but for the whole world we like these jews who make the desert grow we like these jews who spin and weave we like these jews who build ships and who fish the seas we like these jews and their university we're with kids like this who go and enlist we like these jews who are training to fight against aggression against an enemy who would deprive them of their land and their lives they're not soldiers they're like milton working in a post office or going to school who think nothing's more important than the fight for freedom they've got pride and they've got strength and they're going to fight sure the arabs are bombing them sure you even have to have machine guns mounted when you bury your dead [Music] sure these buildings built with sweat and hard labor are bombed and destroyed that doesn't stop them that doesn't stop them because they know they've got to fight because they know if they don't fight they'll be destroyed the men in the little settlements and the men in the cities and the women too have got guts the same kind of guts that their ancestors had the same kind of guts a lot of us over here have not got they dig the dead out of the ruins and we go to movies they man the gun positions of the holy land and we go to baseball games maybe we worry about them maybe we shed tears over the headlines but we don't do much of anything else except maybe give money to these people still in the displaced persons camps of europe in the cages of cyprus in the smoking ruins of their cities of palestine our money and our help is the only chance for survival without it they will perish without us they cannot survive but they'll go on fighting to the last battle for themselves for us and for men and women all over the world that's what i think i fought a war to bring peace and decency to the world i think those guys in palestine are fighting the same war and i want to help every way i can [Music] the uja is the only way i know i get 282 bucks from the government each month and i just signed a pledge for 40 of it how about you [Music] [Applause] you