Readers React: A disturbing memory of Nazis in Glendale — after World War II

To the editor: When I read Steven J. Ross’ op-ed article on the reaction by L.A. Nazis to Kristallnacht in 1938, an experience I had in Glendale decades ago flashed through my mind.

In the years after World War II, I was walking north on Glendale’s main north-south thoroughfare when suddenly I was aware of eight young men dressed in Nazi uniforms marching in step along the sidewalk. Everyone around was horrified by them.

One distraught man rushed up to them shouting and shaking his fist, and I — an English war bride who’d survived so close to the horror inflicted by the Nazis — stood there with tears streaming down my face.

Not here! Not here!

Nena Kelty, Glendale

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To the editor: As a Jew whose grandmother’s entire family was killed in Hungary by the Nazis, I feel I have to comment on the feeling of fear by many Jews.

This fear is not of white supremacists, but from far-left crowds in cities and universities. Many Jewish students are harassed by other students on the left. Republicans are harassed in restaurants and other public places by leftists, even encouraged by a Democratic member of Congress.

This is how the brownshirts in Germany got started.

Barbara Kimelman, Tarzana

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To the editor: Ross provides an important reminder of a little-known period of Los Angeles history and how a small group of men could help put an end to the Nazi wave of intimidation and infiltration in Southern California.

But like any good history lesson, this has stark applicability to the present. The Nazis chose the Jews as scapegoats; our president chooses immigrants as his. The Nazis told innumerable lies to gain political support; our president tells lies daily.

The comparison may, to some, seem out of place. I hope it is, but I fear it is not.

Ken Goldman, Beverly Hills

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