Hollywood’s Jewish founders knew exactly what a pogrom is. So why is its elite silent on Hamas now?

Do you know who Hirsch, Abraham, Schmuel, and Jacob Wonsal were? Shmuel Gelbfisz or Wilhelm Fried Fuchs? And what about Herschel and Bryna Danielovitch, for that matter?

When these Jews fled Eastern Europe, they found refuge from pogroms in America, changed their names — and created Hollywood.

The Wonsols became the Warner Brothers; Gelbfisz became Sam Goldwyn and started MGM; Fuchs founded the Fox Film Corporation; and the Danielovitchs’ son, Issur, became Kirk Douglas.

Between them, a group of Jews whose families had lived in constant fear of persecution gave America, and the world, the golden age of cinema. 

Classics from “The Wizard of Oz” and “Singin’ in the Rain” to “Ben Hur” and “Gone with the Wind” exist because of them.

Jack Warner, Harry Warner and Albert Warner, born Jacob, Hirsch and Abraham Wonsal. All but Jack were born in modern-day Poland and fled pogroms and hatred before creating Warner Bros. Bettmann Archive Pictured above is the aftermath of a pogrom in then Kishinev, part of the Russian empire, now Chișinău, the capital of Moldova.Heritage Images/Getty Image...
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