A deleted scene from Inglourious Basterds reveals the background behind Donny “The Bear Jew'' Donowitz's (Eli Roth) renowned baseball bat - and where the Basterds got their name. The movie is one of Tarantino’s infamous alternate versions of history; this time reimagining the fall of the Nazi regime and the brutal death of Hitler at the hands of the Basterds and Jewish French cinema owner, Shosanna Dreyfus.
Not much is revealed about Donny’s background in Inglourious Basterds, only that he's a Jewish Boston native and an avid baseball fan. Donny’s method of revenge is crushing the skulls of Nazis with his baseball bat, which gained him much notoriety with the Nazi army and the nickname “The Bear Jew.” Donny Donowitz's fame in the Basterds gave him entry into Operation Kino, where, under the alias “Antonio Margheriti,” he ended up being one of the two members to kill Hitler. The Inglourious Basterds screenplay shows that Donny originally had a scene explaining the origin of his bat and his introduction to the Basterds.
The deleted scene reveals Donny bought the heaviest bat from a sporting goods store while still a barber in Boston. Donny begins knocking on the doors of his Jewish neighborhood, including elderly Mrs. Himmelstein (Cloris Leachman), telling her he’s going to “beat every Nazi he finds to death” with his bat. Mrs. Himmelstein supports his decision and calls him a bastard, then states “a bastard’s work is never done,” which became one of Inglourious Basterds’ taglines. Donny explains he’ll be asking the neighborhood to sign names of loved ones who they fear for in Europe. Himmelstein then signs the first name on his bat: “Madeleine.”
Tarantino left the scene out of the final cut, suggesting he would use it for a planned Inglourious Basterds prequel that unfortunately was never made. Donny’s story provides more background for his enthusiasm with the Basterds, considering his focus was to exact vengeance on the Germans for the mass murders of his people. The scene also provided a context for Donny’s bat and why his hatred was so intense; he was doing it as revenge for all of the loved ones of his Jewish neighborhood at home.
Inglourious Basterds only showed Nazi brutality to Jewish people in Shosanna’s storyline, with only implied experiences for the Basterds. By including Donny’s bat storyline, the Basterds mission becomes more real, connecting their cause to the American Jewish people who were personally affected by lost loved ones in the Holocaust. The deleted scene details Donny's customer calling German Nazis “bastards,” foreshadowing how the Jewish-American Basterds got their name as a counter to Nazi cruelty.
Surprisingly, Inglourious Basterds didn’t portray Hitler as a victim of The Bear Jew's baseball bat, instead killing him by gunfire. Donny perishes in the cinema’s fire, but his legacy is survived by his son Lee Donowitz, whose film “Coming Home in a Body Bag” may have been a tribute to his father. Since Donny only uses a machine gun and dynamite as weapons in Operation Kino, it’s possible the bat was kept with the rest of the Basterds and remains an artifact of the war. In this timeline, Donny's bat would most likely be considered a major WWII antique - possibly kept in the Holocaust Museum considering the signed names include Anne Frank.