"We felt it was a good thing to do, the right thing tism," Rabbi Rosenzweig said. "This is quite differ- derful gift to the American television audience," he to do," said Bright. "We try to sponsor quality pro- ent from the blatant anti-Semitism that [Henry] Ford said. But, he conceded, "for some, it may be very ironic. If gramming and if that programming has redeeming had identified himself with." indeed this is [the company's] past history, social and educational value, then so what the Ford Division is doing is kind of much the better." wonderful." Clearly, something had to change in Bright said the company is aware of the the years since Henry Ford — in his founder's history. newspaper, The Dearborn Independent "I don't think there was any considera- — ranted about the world's social ills be- tion given to that in our choosing to sponsor ing directly attributable to Jews. this film," he said. "There is nothing we can In the time that followed Ford's death do about the past except to learn from it." in 1946, his grandson Henry Ford II took Henry Ford, too, appeared to learn from control of the auto giant. According to Al- his past. According to Lee's book, Ford is- bert Lee's book, Henry Ford and the Jews, sued a retraction for his-writings and urged the younger Ford also made every at- other Americans to disavow themselves of tempt to reconcile with the Jewish com- anti-Semitic leanings. munity for his grandfather's anti-Semitic At the end of his life, Ford suffered a se- actions, donating millions of dollars to ries of strokes but recovered and continued Jewish causes like the United Jewish Ap- to take an active role in the company he peal, the Israel Emergency Fund and the founded. Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. According to historical accounts, Mr. Ford Although times have changed, the was at the Rouge Plant's auditorium on a irony of the film's sponsorship is not lost day in May 1945. As he watched films doc- on Rabbi Charles Rosenzweig, executive umenting the Nazi's work toward their Fi- vice president and founder of the Holo- nal Solution at the Majdanek concentration caust Memorial Center in West Bloom- camp, he suffered his final stroke. field, Mich. A Holocaust survivor who Henry Ford never completely recovered. spent most of the war hidden from the (Gandhi) Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley Ralph Fiennes played Amon Goeth, He died nearly nine months later, in Feb- plays ltzhak Stern, the voice of conscience. Nazis, Rabbi Rosenzveig called the spon- an evil Nazi soldier. ruary 1946. ❑ sorship "a positive turn." Marvin Levy, publicist for Spielberg's Amblin En- "It is kind of an interesting phenomenon and a sign Schindler's List will be presented, without com- of the times perhaps that an institution that carries tertainment, said Spielberg was "enormously pleased mercial interruption, on NBC 7:30-11 p.m. Sun- the name of Ford is now undertaking a project that that Ford became the sole sponsor." day, February 23. "Doing it without commercial interruption is a won- brings into the forefront the consequences of anti-Semi- Sugiltara's Struggle Featured At Kovno. After hearing of the refugees' accounts knmyT kno some- e bile nearly e very Jewish he ro- of persecution at the hands of the Nazis, Sug thing about O skar Schin dler, few ihara and Zwartendijk devised a plan to is- ism ugillara. Yet, this couple, at the risk of their own lives sue visas to Curacao and Surinam, two and those of their children, saved between 6,000 and Caribbean Dutch agonies. To get to the 12,000 Polish Jews from the hands ofNazis during World Caribbean, the refugees would have to pass through the Soviet Union and Japan. War II. In the heat of the summer, Jews who heard A photo display documenting the altruiffn. ofthe Japan- ese diplomat and his wife opens Sunday, March 2, at the of the plan lined up outside of the Japanese Spertus Museum in Chicago. It will include original doc- consulate. Time was of the essence because uments issued by Sugihara as well as photos of the Japan- the Soviets had ordered all foreign embassies to leave Kovno. ese consul and the Jews he saved. Staying on a 20-day extension, Sugihara The Spertus curator of education, Susan Schaalman Youdovin, said the exhibit may be one way to explore asked his superiors to grant visas to the refugees. However, the Japanese government what goes into making "a decent human being." "The message is that somewhere in this terrible night- was not amenable to Sugihara's request. With the support of his mare of darkness, there were wife, &Amu disobeyed his some pockets of incredible de- superiors and signed as Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consular official serving in Lithuania, saved one of cency," she said. "It in no way many visas as possible be- the largest number of Jews in the Holocaust. compares to the unbridled evil fore he was forced to leave that was rampant at the time, 1985, Sugihara's actions were recognized by the Is- on August 28, 1940. Even from the train, raeli government, which awarded him with the country's but it is important to know that these tiny slivers of light he continued to sign the documents, highest honor, "Righteous Among Nations." He died the throwing them from the window as the next year. El did serve to save thousands." train pulled away from the station The couple's heroic efforts lil