An elected leader has a responsibility to build or improve a sense of community for the people they represent. As First Selectman, I did just that when I worked closely with my friend Ann Armeno, the chair of the Economic Development Commission, on branding the town. Working with a diverse group of people, we came up with a motto of “Our History, Your Story” the logo and a video (Southbury: Our History, Your Story)
This resonated with me as I had already seen the power of Southbury’s 1937 story in helping to improve our sense of community. I first learned of this story from former Town Clerk Joyce Hornbecker when I moved to Southbury in 2004.It is a compelling story of people working together to stop a group that wanted to spread hate and fear of others. Since then, I’ve played a pivotal role in bringing this narrative to the forefront for the people of Southbury, the State of Connecticut, and the entire United States.
They were already operating many such camps to spread Adolph Hitler’s ideology of antisemitism and pro-Nazi. They were intent on building their largest camp in Southbury. The plans called for room for 1,000 campers and space to hold rallies for 10,000 people. The residents of Southbury quickly united to prevent this Nazi presence in their town. Organized by the Reverend M.E.N. Lindsay, the Reverend Felix Manley, First Selectman Ed Coer and other town leaders, the townspeople established a zoning commission which included forbidding using land in the town for “military training or drilling, with or without arms, except by the legally constituted armed forces of the United States of America.” The ruling effectively closed Southbury to the Bund. Southbury was the only Government that stood up to Nazis prior to the end of 1937.
After years of conversations with Rabbi Eric Polokoff and Reverend Shannon Wall, who also saw the importance of this story, we made a commitment in 2011 to create a proper documentary that would include as much oral history as possible about the events in 1937. I led the committee that sponsored the documentary, which we called “Home of the Brave: When Southbury Said NO to the Nazis”. The weekend of the documentary’s premier was an important event in Southbury as so many wanted to attend. The 1,000-seat auditorium at Pomperaug High School was full and there were subsequent screenings that week in Town Hall. The weekend justified its own documentary to show the positive response of the community.
Everyone felt a sense of pride because this story was about the town where they lived. The weekend of the documentary’s premier was an important event in Southbury as so many wanted to attend. The 1,000-seat auditorium at Pomperaug High School was full and there were subsequent screenings that week in Town Hall. The weekend justified its own documentary to show the positive response of the community. Everyone felt a sense of pride because this story was about the town where they lived.
After a number of showings at local movie theaters, libraries, schools, the Connecticut State Capitol, and the US Capitol, we were asked to make a version for Connecticut Public TV. However, to do this, we needed to raise another $5,000 to obtain a license for some of the copyrighted historical video used in the documentary. I was able to convince the Ion Bank Foundation to sponsor this version of the documentary to bring the story to the attention of people all over Connecticut.
As I will explain in my next blog, I continued to pursue many other ways to enable more people to learn about the story including inclusion in a Special Exhibit at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, writing an award-winning illustrated children’s story, developing an “Educator’s Guide” for teachers, participating in numerous webinars, installation of historical signs in Southbury and coordinating an 85th Anniversary weekend. You can find out more information at the webpage I designed with the assistance of the Town’s webmaster: www.southbury-ct.org/1937