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JB: So, thinking back to your high school days, I know you graduated from high school in 1936, but Hitler's aggression throughout Europe started in the early '30s, so did you hear about some of those aggressive moves even when you were in high school, or did most of your knowledge about Hitler begin when you were working at the newspaper after high school?

JF: No. I think, I think most, most people were aware of this, this guy and what he was trying to do.

JB: Throughout the '30s or at a certain time?

JF: Well, yeah, in the late, in the late '30s...

JB: The late '30s?

JF: ...when he started. Certainly, when he and Mussolini, when they got together, why, they had made a, on paper pretty formidable foe, except the Italians didn't have their heart in it.

SF: How did, how did Japan figure in the equation for folks who were living on the East Coast, and were they sort of part of the thing, or people didn't think about...

JF: I never even gave them a thought as far as I knew. I knew that they were -- this business of the "Rape of Nanking" and all of those battles with China, but that seemed to be so far away. And actually it was a hell of a long way away. But it came close, though in, in a big hurry. But I don't think a lot of people had the concern that they did about Hitler. I mean, after all, he was a mere ocean away from...

JB: What kind of concern did Americans have at that time about what Hitler was doing in Europe? Was that, was there a fear in America at that time, that Hitler --

JF: Gosh, I'm not sure there was fear. I think it was one of those, one of those things where people say, "Why doesn't somebody do something about this?" And the obvious thing to do was to stop him, but the British weren't about to try it, and they had such weak leadership that they were willing to, you know, turn their backs on just about anything Hitler did. And Chamberlain and his, "Oh, we're going to have peace from now on. Hitler's -- this is the last land that Hitler's going to grab and everything's going to be fine. He's perfectly content." And the next day the guy grabs off another nation. I think, I think most, most people I think had the idea that somebody has to do something about this, but nobody seemed to -- it's like one of these things that will go on today you say, "Well, we can't have that," but yet it's happening right there under our noses, and it's gonna happen, and yet there's no solidification or unification and a concerted effort to, to stop the guy.

JB: Do you think that was a desire for, on Americans' part, to protect democracy, or was that, many people were concerned about the countries they had come from being attacked by, by Hitler?

JF: The countries they came --

JB: For example, if they were French Americans, maybe they were concerned about their parents' homelands or something.

JF: Oh, I'm not, I'm not sure of that.

JB: I guess I was wondering if it was a, a pro-, protection of democracy that people were concerned about or democratic ideals.

JF: I guess it would filter down to that, but kind of a long way around the barn because I think mostly it was a matter of almost like fair play, you know? What right does, did they have to do these things and to kill these people who never did anything to him, except Hitler said they were going to do something to him. So rather than just stop the war, he killed them first. I mean, that's, that was his, that was always, "They were going to attack us, so we attacked them to save ourselves," idea. But I always thought it was a matter of, it was just, how much are they going to let this guy get away with, before somebody did something?

JB: So at that time, when Americans were pretty aware of, of what Hitler was doing, do you think there was any repercussions for German Americans? Was there, were there any negative feelings towards German Americans during that time?

JF: Well, we've talked about that somewhat. I'm, I really, I really don't know. Nothing, nothing that comes across my mind as I, as I think about that. I think maybe later -- as I mentioned, later on, the FBI would question people of known German descent and so forth, but earlier, I'm not quite, quite sure.

JB: Well, during the late '30s you were working at the Baltimore, Baltimore News Post. So were you covering these events in the newspaper?

JF: Oh, yeah. We were, the newspaper was covering them, yeah, but I was just handling pictures in the library. So I saw a lot more through the pictures that I was filing than I, that you would read in the newspaper, you see all of these pictures of Hitler triumphant, and this, all of his troops. And the enormity of his program was, was -- you'd just see these huge areas of barracks, just thousands and thousands and thousands of soldiers. And they'd been training for years, and they, they knew exactly what they were doing and what they could do and what they wanted to do.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.