Waltons 1.9: The Ceremony

Airdate: 11/9/72

A Jewish family arrives from Nazi Germany, but the father, a professor at a university in Berlin, finds it difficult to adapt to a life free from danger and persecution. He demands that they absolve their identities as Jews, but his son, Paul, is disheartened to forego his upcoming Bar Mitzvah. Grandpa Walton goes to see the family, resolve all misunderstandings, allay their suspicions, and encourage them to honor and celebrate their heritage; the Waltons even host the boy’s Bar Mitzvah!

Part of the appeal of The Waltons was the way it seemed to exist in a nurturing nook, apart from the rest of the country, and indeed, the world. But it still let the outside in, one person or family at a time. In “The Ceremony” it confronts the reality of the rise of Nazism, and presages how that conflict will ultimately affect the future of the Waltons themselves. Some sensitive portrayals here, intensified, perhaps, by our knowledge of how dire things really were in Europe at the time, and how much worse they would get.

Ellen Geer, who portrays the wife, Eva, is the real-life daughter of Will Geer, who plays Grandpa Walton.

In this episode, the radio announcer reports on the recently enacted Nuremberg Laws, putting the time period at September 1935.