Safe Haven

Anti-Semitism in domestic and foreign policy. Internment of families in crowded camps circled by barbed wire. Nazi Germany? No. These words describe American actions which led to the imprisonment at Fort Ontario in upstate New York of nearly 1000 refugees from Hitler’s Europe in 1944 and 1945. In an exceptional locally-produced documentary narrated by actor Robert Clary (himself a former refugee), the program tells a story of callousness, hatred and bureaucratic malaise which is a blot on the American conscience. Executive producer Christopher Zimmerman and producer/director Paul Lewis are to be congratulated for making a particularly timely statement about the undercurrent of racism and bigotry which afflict all governments. For holding a mirror to an ugly face, a Peabody Award to WXXI-TV, Rochester, NY for Safe Haven.