Title: Joseph Roos
Collection no: 313
Description: The Archives consist of manuscripts of articles, correspondence, and autobiographical materials, along with emphemeral publications and some books. Joseph Roos (1905-1999) was a pioneering community relations adviser and activist who helped to infiltrate the prewar Nazi movement in Los Angeles. Roos was born in Vienna, Austria, and came to the US in 1928. He became a Chicago newspaperman during the height of the Depression, and in 1933 worked with then Col. George C. Marshall to launch the first government investigation of Nazi activities in America. Roos came West in 1934 to work in book publishing and wound up as a publicist for Universal Pictures. He later became a story editor at United Artists and RKO Studios. In 1938, more interested in stemming the rising tide of anti- Semitism and intolerance than in writing for Hollywood, Roos began work with the Jewish Community Committee, which became the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation Council. The pro-Nazi German American Bund, a national organization, arose in Los Angeles in the 1930s about the time Adolf Hitler gained power. Roos took a leading role in investigations that would expose white supremacy groups and help to arouse the local Jewish community to the seriousness of the Third Reich's threat. Under the leadership of the Hitler-appointed American Fuhrer, Fritz Kuhn, the Bund tried to organize boycotts of Jewish-run businesses, especially those in the movie industry. Ultimately, the group hoped to purge the United States of Jews, minorities, Communists and anyone who did not share its notion of Aryan supremacy. Roos went on to serve as executive director of the Committee from 1945 to 1969, when he retired. In his work with the Committee, Roos gained a nationwide reputation as a pioneer in the fields of race relations and community relations. In 1969 he started his own firm, Community Relations Consultants. In 1984, Roos helped to form USC's Office of Civic and Community Relations, the university's community outreach arm. Roos and USC genetics expert Michael Melnick went to the former Soviet Union with USC's authorization to offer academic appointments to six Jewish scientists who were refusniks. "These positions were swiftly and gladly accepted," Roos said in an interview published in the Heritage Jewish Press in 1994. He continued to advise USC on community relations matters until 1993. Roos was honored in 1979 by USC's School of Journalism with its Distinguished Achievement in Journalism Award and has been honored by the Los Angeles chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, which established the Joseph Roos Community Service Award. In 1997 at USC's second annual Jewish Community Luncheon, President Steven B. Sample awarded Roos a Lifetime Achievement Award for his service to the Southern California Jewish community. Roos was also founder and past board member of the Pacific Coast Council in Inter-Cultural Relations and of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations.
Extent: 20 linear ft.
Library: Feuchtwanger Memorial Library
Formats: Ephemera, Manuscripts, Pamphlets, Rare Books
Topics: Cinema, Communication, German Exile Literature, History, United States and Canada, Political Science, Sociology, Southern California Region, USC
Processing Status: This collection is unprocessed and may have restricted access.
Use of this collection is by appointment only. Please contact:
- Name: Michaela Ullmann
- Title: Feuchtwanger Curator
- Email: ullmann@usc.edu
- Phone: 213-740-8185
- Fax: 213-740-2343
