February 20, 1939. New York City. Imagine walking down 8th Avenue and seeing a massive, thirty-foot tall portrait of George Washington. Nothing weird about that, right? Except he's flanked by giant swastikas. That happened. It wasn't a movie set or a bad dream. It was the night the German American Bund filled the "old" Madison Square Garden with 22,000 American Nazis.
Most people think of 1939 Madison Square Garden and picture Joe Louis boxing or maybe some early hockey games. But this specific night? It’s arguably the most uncomfortable moment in the history of the world's most famous arena. It was loud. It was violent. It was weirdly, terrifyingly "American."
The event was billed as a "Pro-American Rally." They called it a celebration of "True Americanism." Honestly, if you saw the footage today—which you can, thanks to the Marshall Curry documentary A Night at the Garden—it looks like a fever dream. You've got the Stars and Stripes waving next to the Nazi party flag. You've got the "Ordnungsdienst" (their version of the SS) wearing grey uniforms and Sam Browne belts, acting like they owned the place. It was a bizarre mashup of colonial patriotism and fascist pageantry.
The German American Bund and the "Newer" Patriotism
Fritz Kuhn was the man behind the curtain. A naturalized citizen and former chemical analyst, Kuhn was the "Bundesführer." He wasn't some fringe loony living in a basement; he headed an organization with thousands of members and summer camps for kids, like Camp Siegfried in Long Island.
By the time the 1939 Madison Square Garden rally rolled around, Kuhn was trying to convince the public that you could be a good Nazi and a good American simultaneously. He literally claimed George Washington was "the first Fascist" because he supposedly knew "democracy wouldn't work."
It’s easy to look back and think this was just a small group of radicals. It wasn't. While 22,000 people were inside cheering, another 100,000 protesters were outside. The NYPD had to stage the largest police presence in the city's history up to that point. We’re talking 1,700 officers. They were everywhere—on rooftops, on horseback, patrolling the subways. The city was a powder keg. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who was half-Jewish and hated the Bund, actually allowed the rally to happen on Free Speech grounds. He thought letting them show their faces was the best way to expose them.
Was he right? Sorta. But it came at a high cost of public trauma.
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What Actually Happened Inside the Garden
The atmosphere was electric, but in a disgusting way. The speeches were filled with vitriol against "Jewish Moscow" and the Roosevelt administration, which they mockingly called the "Jew Deal."
Then, the chaos hit.
A 26-year-old Jewish plumber’s helper from Brooklyn named Isadore Greenbaum decided he’d heard enough. He didn't have a weapon. He didn't have a plan. He just climbed onto the stage during Kuhn's speech.
He was absolutely mauled.
The Bund’s "Order Service" jumped him, punching him and kicking him before the NYPD could even intervene. They literally pulled his pants off while they beat him. There’s a famous photo of the police dragging a half-naked, bruised Greenbaum away while the Nazis in the background are smirking and cheering. When he was later asked why he did it, he basically said he couldn't just sit there and listen to that talk against his people.
He was fined $25 for disturbing the peace.
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The rally continued, but the image of Greenbaum being beaten on American soil by men in Nazi uniforms started to turn the tide of public opinion. It was a PR disaster disguised as a triumph.
The Venue Itself: Not the Garden You Know
Just a quick clarification because people get confused: this wasn't the current Madison Square Garden on top of Penn Station. This was the third version, located on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets.
- Capacity: Roughly 18,500 for hockey, but they squeezed over 22,000 in for this rally by using the floor space.
- Acoustics: Terrible. The boos from the 100,000 people outside could be heard through the walls.
- The Vibe: It was a gritty, smoky cathedral of sports that suddenly felt like Nuremberg-on-the-Hudson.
The Immediate Fallout and the End of the Bund
If you think the Bund rode off into the sunset after their "successful" rally, think again. The 1939 Madison Square Garden event was actually the beginning of their end.
The sheer audacity of the event forced the government's hand. District Attorney Thomas Dewey—yes, the "Dewey Defeats Truman" guy—didn't go after Kuhn for his politics. He went after him for his wallet. Dewey’s investigators found that Kuhn had embezzled over $14,000 from the Bund (mostly spent on his mistress and dental work).
Kuhn went to Sing Sing for grand larceny.
When the U.S. entered World War II after Pearl Harbor, the Bund was basically finished. Many members were interned as enemy aliens. The "patriots" who stood under Washington’s portrait in the Garden were suddenly looking at the business end of a treason charge.
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Why We Still Talk About February 20, 1939
History isn't just a list of dates. It's a warning. The 1939 Madison Square Garden rally matters because it shows how easily extremist ideologies can wrap themselves in the flag and claim to be "the real Americans."
It’s a reminder that democracy is loud and messy. The fact that the rally was allowed to happen is a testament to the First Amendment, but the fact that 100,000 people showed up to scream "No" is the part of the story we should probably focus on more.
There's a nuanced debate here about the limits of tolerance. Some historians, like Arnie Bernstein (who wrote Swastika Nation), point out that the Bund wasn't just a German import; it was a home-grown American movement that found a fertile patch of soil in the anxieties of the Great Depression.
Actionable Insights: Learning from the Garden
You can't change what happened at the 1939 Madison Square Garden rally, but you can understand the mechanics of how it happened to stay sharper today.
- Check the Primary Sources. Don't just take a YouTuber's word for it. Look up the archival footage from the 1930s. Seeing the actual scale of the event changes your perspective on how "fringe" it felt at the time.
- Study the "Language of Patriotism." Notice how the Bund used the imagery of the Founding Fathers to justify exclusion. It's a common tactic in political rhetoric. When someone claims to be the "only true patriot," look at who they are trying to exclude from that definition.
- Support Local Archives. Places like the New York Public Library or the Leo Baeck Institute hold the original flyers and newspapers from that night. These institutions are the only thing keeping the "real" history from being overwritten by internet myths.
- Acknowledge the Complexity. It's easy to say "everyone was a Nazi then." They weren't. The massive counter-protest outside the Garden was twice as big as the crowd inside. The resistance was just as much a part of the story as the rally itself.
The 1939 Madison Square Garden Nazi rally remains a scar on the city's history, but scars have a way of reminding us where we've been so we don't go back there. Understanding that night isn't just about trivia; it's about recognizing the patterns of the past before they become the headlines of the future.