Hollywood vs. Nazis

How the Movie Studios Took On Nazis Infiltrating Los Angeles

Michael Benson

• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780806544809
• Subtopic: Jewish History
• Index: History

The true story of Hitler’s plot to turn Hollywood’s Dream Factory into a Nazi propaganda machine—and the Jewish moguls’ clandestine operation to sabotage the Reich’s insidious reach.

World War II began at Hollywood and Vine.

From the moment Hitler took power in Germany in 1933, there was no American city he wanted to rule more than Los Angeles. Control the moviemaking capital of the world and Hitler could control the message that came out of it: As clear as black and white, America and all of Europe would see him as a hero and Jews as the villains. That the industry was run by Jewish men—Adolph Zukor, Sam Goldwyn, David O. Selznick, and the Warner brothers, among them—would make his victory all the sweeter.

Unfortunately for Hitler, he had no idea who he was dealing with or what he up against in the City of Angels. Recognizing the threat, the movie moguls pooled their resources and financed a clandestine operation to subvert the sabotage. Their teams of undercover spies would infiltrate the German-American pro-Hitler organizations already gestating in Southern California and take out the vile Nazi agents of chaos one by one—by any means necessary. This mission to protect the American way would span a decade.

Unfolding like a real-life World War II espionage thriller, and as explosive as nitrate, Hollywood vs. Nazis is one the most fascinating chapters in heroic American history—and true movie lore—ever told.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Books by Michael Benson
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Spy Code Key
• Introduction: “Judenfilm!”
• 1. L.A. in 1933
• 2. Corruption, Oil, and Burning Books
• 3. Let’s Be Friends
• 4. L. L. Lewis: “L.A.’s Most Dangerous Jew”
• 5. Agents on the Job
• 6. The National Guard Heist
• 7. William Dudley Pelley
• 8. Friends on Trial
• 9. The Civil Trial
• 10. The Hollywood Branch
• 11. Spies at Work
• 12. Birth of the Bund
• 13. The Hollywood Anti-Nazi League
• 14. Summer Games
• 15. Leopold McLaglen, Terrorist
• 16. On the Rhine with The March of Time
• 17. Lewis Gets a Partner
• 18. Kristallnacht
• 19. Deutsches Haus Riot
• 20. New Digs and Tragedy
• 21. The Mighty Voice
• 22. Out of Their Comfort Zone
• 23. “A Raging Volcano of War Fever”
• 24. War Comes to America
• Epilogue
• Appendix: Anti-Fascist Hollywood Movies Before Pearl Harbor: A Representative Filmography
• Sources
• Acknowledgments
• Index