Fighting on Two Fronts: Jewish American Soldiers in World War II

FAIN: TR-50576-14

City Lore: NY Center for Urban Folk Culture (New York, NY 10003-9345)
Lisa Ades (Project Director: January 2014 to October 2025)

Production of a documentary film about the experiences of Jewish American soldiers who served during World War II.

"Fighting on Two Fronts: Jewish American Soldiers in World War II" tells the story of the 500,000 Jewish American men and women who fought for their nation and their people, struggled privately with anti-Semitism, and emerged transformed, more powerfully American and more deeply Jewish. Their remarkable stories will help dispel the myth that the Jewish experience during World War II was one solely of victimization. Combining on-camera interviews, rare archival footage, photographs and letters, the 90-minute documentary, directed by Lisa Ades and written by Maia Harris, will place the Jewish soldiers' experience against a backdrop of 1930s America, a time of uncertainty and doubt, trace the emergence of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and understand World War II as a transformative experience for America's ethnic groups. In the end, the story of the Jewish GIs is the story of all soldiers, a truly American story about democracy, religious freedom and tolerance.