{"id":70590,"date":"2019-06-23T17:05:31","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T15:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=70590"},"modified":"2019-06-11T18:56:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T16:56:52","slug":"02-05-39","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=70590","title":{"rendered":"Jewish MLB Player Turned WWII Spy Moe Berg"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>New Documentary Sheds Light on \u2018True Renaissance Man,\u2019 Jewish MLB Player Turned WWII Spy Moe Berg<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Shiryn Ghermezian<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Moe Berg in Switzerland. Photo: Courtesy of Linda McCarthy.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A new documentary set for a nationwide release this week tells the story of Moses \u201cMoe\u201d Berg, a Jewish Major League baseball player who later spied for the US during World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Spy Behind Home Plate,\u201d viewers learn about Berg\u2019s upbringing in Newark, NJ, as the son of Jewish immigrants, his time playing for five teams during baseball\u2019s Golden Age in the 1920s and 1930s and his best work \u2014 being a wartime spy for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was the forerunner of the CIA.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in 1902, Berg spoke eight languages, was an avid reader of newspapers, earned degrees from Princeton University, Columbia Law School and attended the Sorbonne. He was called the brainiest man in baseball. During his 15-season baseball career, he was part of the last Washington team to play in a World Series, in 1933, and the following year he joined the All-American Baseball Team for an All-Star exhibition tour in Japan with several future Hall of Famers, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.<\/span><\/p>\n

Berg spied for the US government in Europe and played a large role in America\u2019s efforts to undermine the German atomic bomb program during WWII. He took secret pictures of Tokyo during his baseball trip there in 1934 and later covertly traveled to Switzerland to investigate how close German physicist Werner Heisenberg was to developing an atomic bomb for the Nazis. In later OSS projects, he helped sabotage Nazi efforts to make a workable bomb.<\/span><\/p>\n

The athlete \u201cfelt a responsibility\u201d to get involved in the wartime efforts, according to Aviva Kempner, writer, producer and director of \u201cThe Spy Behind Home Plate.\u201d One reason was the fact that he was Jewish and of Eastern European descent, and, Kempner explained, \u201cMoe was [also] reading about what was happening and in 1932 he had gone to Berlin, and had a bird\u2019s eye view of where Germany was going.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing so aware, being the intellectual that he was, seeing books being burned, he wasn\u2019t going to stand by the sidelines,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Berg has been called a \u201ctrue Renaissance Man\u201d by the CIA, an \u201cideal role model,\u201d an American hero and more. He has \u201cbrawn, brain and brilliance\u201d both on the field and off, said Kempner, who is the founder and executive director of The Ciesla Foundation, a non-profit organization that produces documentaries that investigate and celebrate under-known Jewish heroes.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2018, Berg posthumously received a Congressional Gold Medal, along with the 13,000 men and women of the OSS. \u201cThe Spy Behind Home Plate\u201d is the first full-length documentary on Berg.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPutting together the pieces and mystery of his life was incredible,\u201d Kempner said about the filming process. \u201cAnd to be able to [learn] just how some people who are heroines or heroes of mine I didn\u2019t realize were in the OSS. These children of immigrants, it was these children who knew the typology of their family\u2019s countries, who knew the languages and customs, like Moe who made a difference in the OSS.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It was widely thought that Berg\u2019s first name was Morris, but Kempner found a document that revealed he was in fact born Moses Berg on May 3, 1902, also two months later than originally thought. Berg died in 1972 and his sister supposedly gave his ashes to a rabbi to take to Israel, but its unclear where they were scattered. \u201cMoe was a mystery from birth to death,\u201d said Kempner. \u201cEven with our [documentary], there\u2019s still a lot of mystery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kempner\u2019s documentary features rare historical footage and a multitude of interviews, including ones with Berg\u2019s teammates and relatives, former OSS members, OSS Society President Charles Pinck and US Senator Edward Markey. \u201cThe Spy Behind Home Plate\u201d also incorporated 18 interviews conducted from 1987 to 1991 by filmmakers Jerry Feldman and Neil Goldstein for \u201cThe Best Gloveman in the League,\u201d a film about Berg that they started but never completed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The documentary took about three and a half years to shoot and the day Kempner finished the film, April 29, was the 43rd anniversary of her father\u2019s death.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe irony is that my dad developed a love of baseball, the pride of being Jewish, the importance of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) and he never saw any of my movies. So I felt it was besheret,\u201d said Kempner, whose mother was a Polish Holocaust survivor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Spy Behind Home Plate\u201d explained that Berg\u2019s father refused to see any of his games, believing he was wasting his intellect by playing baseball.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kempner believes the documentary is very relevant to issues going on the world today, including efforts to hinder nuclear capabilities in North Korea and the Middle East. She concluded by saying, \u201cI think the saddest story for me is how [Berg\u2019s] father never came and watched him play as child, in college, or the major leagues. I would hope that parents would be more forgiving and understanding if their child wants to develop both their brain and their brawn.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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For a complete list of screenings of \u201cThe Spy Behind Home Plate\u201d across the US, click here<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. Watch the official trailer of \u201cThe Spy Behind Home Plate\u201d below:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

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