PBS documentary captures anti-Semitism behind the Frank case

[Behind the Aegis]

Leo M. Frank may not be so well known among American Jews these days. His story is rarely taught in religious schools and rabbis barely acknowledge it from their pulpits on Shabbat.

In a way, that’s understandable. At a time when American Jews must worry about a nuclear arms threat from Iran, an international sanctions movement against Israel, and the long-term viability of their synagogues and schools, who’s got time to think about a pencil factory manager who got himself lynched by an angry Georgia mob way back in 1915?

Well, for the coming week at least, we all should.

PBS will air “The People v. Leo Frank,” a must-see documentary about the only known Jew to be lynched in the American South, Monday, Nov. 2, at 10 p.m.

But Frank’s story is significant for more than the way he died. His case gave rise to the modern Ku Klux Klan and it brought to prominence a fledgling organization called the Anti-Defamation League.

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[bertman]

1. Very informative. Thanks for posting that, Aegis. Rec.

[struggle4progress]

2. knr

[Canuckistanian]

3. I read a lot about the Frank case

And man, it was amazing that ANY white Christian man could be convicted in that area.

That place a was a powderkeg of hatred towards anyone who wasn't a WASP.

[Mosby]

4. KnR