Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Is the New ‘Star Wars’ Villain a Nazi?

I don’t know about you, but I CAN’T WAIT for the new Star Wars movie. Yes, I rejoice at the idea of being reunited with Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie in “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens,” But beyond that, I’m also curious about which World War II parable we will be privy to in this installment.

After all, Stormtroopers were inspired by the Nazi Stormtroopers; the Great Jedi Purge alludes to the Holocaust. Planets , Hoth and Tatooine (Tataouine was a WWII arena of war) are also WWII references. And there’s more.

Read: 9 Jewish Things About Star Wars

So what about “The Force Awakens?”

Here’s what we know: The villains in the upcoming sequel are Supreme Leader Snoke (played by the amazing Andy Serkis) and his minion (we assume!) Kylo Ren (played by ‘Girls” Adam Driver). In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, J.J Abrams elaborated on the villains’ origins:

“Kylo Ren is not a Sith. He works under Supreme Leader Snoke, who is a powerful figure on the Dark Side of the Force.”

Yet it that seems that unlike George Lucas, who alludes to actual events, Jewish director J.J Abrams was inspired by a hypothetical dystopian world, in which the Nazis who escaped Germany “rise again” and try to finish Hitler’s job:

“That all came out of conversations about what would have happened if the Nazis all went to Argentina but then started working together again?’ What could be born of that? Could The First Order exist as a group that actually admired The Empire? Could the work of The Empire be seen as unfulfilled? And could Vader be a martyr? Could there be a need to see through what didn’t get done?”

That sounds scary! And awesome. Will this be a “Star Wars” meets “Inglorious Basterds” type thing?

To paraphrase on Chandler Bing, “Could we be more excited about this movie?

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.