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Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides

Aryan Bookstore in Los Angeles

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As the Great Depression unfolded, the Aryan Book Store opened in March of 1933. The theme of the bookstore fundamentally boiled down to this: the Jews control everything, and the Jews ruin everything. Hitler’s speeches played on a phonograph. Other Nazi bookstores opened in Chicago and San Francisco.  Although the authorities downplayed the Nazi threat, American Jews did not

Aryan Bookstore

Aryan Book Store vandalized in the decade of the 1930's. This store was a hub for Nazi activity in America and specialized in antisemitic and anti-Communist literature.

Short Answer Questions

1. Based on this photograph, what was one way antisemitism manifested in the United States?

2. What Constitutional protections were guaranteed to the Aryan Bookstore?

3. In your opinion, should stores or businesses promoting hate speech and extremist views, like the Aryan Bookstore, have been allowed to operate during World War II?

4. What conclusion can be drawn from this photograph?

5. Do you think that there are any modern equivalents to the Aryan Bookstore in terms of promoting extremist or hate-driven ideologies?