Anti-Nazi film from 1940s goes viral in wake of white supremacist rally in Charlottesville

An anti-fascist propaganda film produced by the United States war department during the 1940s has gone viral in the wake of the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

Don’t be a Sucker, which was first released in 1943 and re-released in 1947, was produced as a cautionary tale following the rise of Nazism in Germany.

The 17-minute film depicts a man delivering a speech about “negroes and foreigners” taking “American jobs” in front of a small crowd a public square in the US.

Michael Oman-Reagan, a Canadian anthropologist, was one of the first post a clip of the film in a tweet that has since been shared nearly 150,000 times.

“1947 anti-fascist video made by US military to teach citizens how to avoid falling for people like Trump is relevant again,” he wrote.

“I see negroes holding jobs that belong to me and you,” the man says in the video. “Now I ask you, if we allow this thing to go on, what’s going to happen to us real Americans?”

“I tell you, friends, we’ll never be able to call this country our own until it’s a country without,” he says. “Without what? Without negroes, without alien foreigners, without Catholics, without Freemasons.”

A man who has been listening, and who believes the man “talks a lot of sense”, is spoken to by a Hungarian immigrant, who explains how similar the language is to that used by Adolf Hitler.

On Twitter, many drew parallels between the video and the current political climate in America following the white supremacist rally in Virginia, where one person died and 19 were injured.

In the video, the immigrant says he didn’t believe the Nazis could rise to power.

“I was a fool then,” he says. “I thought Nazis were crazy people, stupid fanatics. But unfortunately it was not so.

“You see, they knew that they were not strong enough to conquer a unified country. So they split Germany into small groups. They used prejudice as a practical weapon to cripple the nation.”

In the wake of the attack in Charlottesville, Donald Trump condemned the “violence on many sides”, but was widely criticised after he failed to directly denounce the far-right.

On Sunday, the White House issued a statement attempting to expand on the president’s remarks.

It said: “The president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred and of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazi and all extremist groups.“He called for national unity and bringing all Americans together.”

Cory Gardner, a Republican senator, tweeted: “Mr. President — we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism.”

On Monday, Trump finally condemned white supremacy.

“Racism is evil,” he said “And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”

Today it was revealed that Trump said he is “seriously considering” issuing a pardon for Joe Arpaio, the infamous former Arizona sheriff who ignored a court order banning him from detaining people he believed to be illegal immigrants.

The 85-year-old, self-styled as “America’s Toughest Sheriff”, was convicted last month of criminal contempt after ignoring a judge’s order to stop racial profiling.

“I might do it right away, maybe early this week. I am seriously thinking about it,” Trump told Fox News.

Cecillia Wang, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the move “would be an official presidential endorsement of racism.”