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The New York Nazis Who Loved Hitler, Hated Jews, and Packed Madison Square Garden

On February 20, 1939, the German-American Bund filled Madison Square Garden with a rally that paired American flags with swastikas and antisemitic slogans.
Opened Runtime3 min Written byDocumentaryTube Team
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On February 20, 1939, more than 20,000 people gathered at Madison Square Garden for a rally organized by the German-American Bund, an antisemitic, pro-Nazi organization led by Fritz Kuhn. The Bund called it a “Pro-American Rally,” surrounding American flags and a portrait of George Washington with swastikas while speakers attacked Jews and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The spectacle made the Bund’s central contradiction visible: it claimed to defend America while advancing Nazi ideology.

Who were the German-American Bund?

The Bund grew after Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933. It became the largest pro-Nazi organization in the United States, according to German History in Documents and Images. Led by Fritz Kuhn, it borrowed organizational forms from the Nazi Party, including uniforms, bodyguards, indoctrination camps, and family programs.

Antisemitism was central to the Bund’s ideology and public messaging. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum describes the group’s propaganda and community outreach as modeled on Nazi ideology. It also operated roughly two dozen youth camps, including Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, New York.

The organization’s reach is harder to pin down than its public presence. Kuhn claimed the Bund had as many as 100,000 members, but historians cited by the National WWII Museum estimate that it had about 20,000 to 30,000 members at a time. Those estimates are not equivalent to rally attendance: the Madison Square Garden event drew a crowd of more than 20,000.

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Why did the Bund rally in New York in 1939?

After the anti-Jewish violence of Kristallnacht in Germany in November 1938, the Bund chose to stage a conspicuous demonstration in the United States. PBS historians describe the rally as an effort to project relevance and popularity in New York, which then had the country’s largest Jewish population. The event took place on February 20, 1939, George Washington’s birthday.

The Bund presented the rally as patriotic. A giant portrait of Washington and American flags appeared beside swastika banners, and the event was billed as a “Pro-American Rally.” The imagery let speakers frame their cause as a defense of the United States even as their slogans promoted antisemitism and their crowd chanted “Heil Hitler.” Fritz Kuhn cultivated the image of an American Hitler and claimed legitimacy from a meeting with Hitler in 1936, according to the National WWII Museum.

What happened inside Madison Square Garden?

The crowd filled the Garden. German History in Documents and Images gives the attendance as 22,000; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum describes it as more than 20,000. The sources differ in precision, but both establish that the rally drew a crowd in excess of 20,000.

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Bund signs included “Wake Up America—Smash Jewish Communism” and “Stop Jewish Domination of Christian America.” The crowd booed Roosevelt and chanted “Heil Hitler.” Kuhn called for a “white, Gentile-ruled United States” and gentile-controlled labor unions. In the speech transcribed by PBS, he demanded “a socially just, white gentile-ruled United States” and labor unions “free from Jewish Moscow directed domination.”

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A protester rushes the stage

During Kuhn’s attack on Jews, Isidor Greenbaum—also rendered Isadore Greenbaum—a 26-year-old Jewish New York plumber, rushed the stage. PBS reports that Bund stormtroopers beat him until police intervened; German History in Documents and Images also records that a Jewish American was beaten back and removed by police.

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Protests outside the Garden

Thousands of anti-Bund demonstrators gathered outside. PBS describes clashes involving protesters, police, and Bund members. New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia allowed the rally under free-speech principles. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reproduces his explanation: “If we are for free speech we have to be for free speech for everybody and that includes the Nazis.”

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What happened to Fritz Kuhn and the Bund?

After the rally, New York investigators pursued Kuhn’s finances. PBS reports that he was charged with grand larceny and forgery. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says he was convicted of larceny and forgery of financial records, served more than three years in prison, lost his U.S. citizenship, and was deported to Germany in 1944.

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The Bund’s existence was short-lived. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum records that it officially disbanded on December 16, 1941, after the United States entered World War II. Its large Garden rally showed its ability to stage a public spectacle, but the crowd should not be mistaken for evidence of a settled nationwide membership figure.

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A documentary record of the rally

Marshall Curry’s 2017 archival short documentary A Night at the Garden is identified by German History in Documents and Images as a visual companion to the event. The rally’s surviving images capture the contrast between American patriotic symbols and Nazi banners that defined the Bund’s public performance.

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