A Night at the Garden: A Frightening American Nazi Rally in 1939
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American Nazi Rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1939
The German-American Bund decided to hold a large Nazi rally on February 20, 1939.
It was designated on the sign outside as a “Pro American Rally.”
Here is a poster for the rally:
There were many thousands of Anti-Nazi protesters outside Madison Square Garden. Now they would be known as ANTIFA.
Field of Vision released this startling documentary in 2017.
It is frightening seeing so many Americans doing the Nazi salute in 1939. Were some of them true believers? Did some of them change their minds later after Germany invaded country after country?
Several months later, on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and World War II was underway.
This film is quite short, so please watch the entire video.
The Story Behind The Rally
According to NPR:
On the evening of Feb. 20, 1939, the marquee of New York’s Madison Square Garden was lit up with the evening’s main event: a “Pro American Rally.” The organizers had chosen the date in celebration of George Washington’s birthday and had procured a 30-foot-tall banner of America’s first president for the stage. More than 20,000 men and women streamed inside and took their seats. The view they had was stunning: Washington was hung between American flags — and swastikas.
History Unfolded continues:
The German American Bund, a pro-Nazi organization for Americans of German descent, demonized Jews and Communists and dreamed of a fascist America. Fritz Kuhn, the Bund’s leader, tried to portray himself as the “American führer,” though he never received the support from the Nazi Party in Germany that he desired.
What Happened Later?
Fritz Kuhn, the main speaker at this rally, had become an American citizens in 1934, but he was deported back to Germany in 1945 due to acting as a foreign agent. He had served time in American and Germany prisons. He died in German in 1951.
The man who was viciously beaten? That was Isadore Greenbaum,
According to the Washington Post:
In the footage from the film, you can see the glee of the young men in the band on the stage as Greenbaum is assailed — and Greenbaum’s terror as he’s dragged off the stage by the police, losing his pants to the crowd.
Greenbaum was arrested immediately and taken to the police station. He faced 10 days in jail unless he paid a $25 fine for disorderly conduct; his wife managed to scrape the money together.
Two years later the United States was at war with Germany.
Response to the Film
This film went “viral” on social media. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
According to Wikipedia:
The documentary was produced using footage of the rally originally intended for newsreels that had never been widely issued due to its controversial content. Many film exhibitors avoided footage of Hitler and Nazism due to strongly negative reactions and even disorderly conduct from audiences.
Further Reading
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