The 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden revealed the deep roots of American fascism, exposing the nation’s long history of white supremacy, corporate complicity, and state-backed extremism.

On a February night in 1939, Madison Square Garden, a venue known for hosting prizefights and symphony orchestras, was used to accommodate a full-scale Nazi rally, right in the heart of New York City.

Upwards of 20,000 Americans, most of them members of the German-American Nazi group, the Bund, filled the arena, saluting swastika-draped banners, cheering anti-Semitic rhetoric. As these fascists piled into the building, they seemed to embody a vision of America that looked more like Nazi Germany than any supposed democracy.

American flags punctuated the Nazi decor, as the crowd roared in approval of anti-Semitic propaganda and nationalist fervor.

As fate would have it, that very moment, across the Atlantic, Adolf Hitler was finalizing the construction of his sixth concentration camp. Auschwitz-Birkenau would become the largest and most notorious of the Nazi extermination camps.

Seven months later, the Nazi army would invade Poland, igniting one of the bloodiest wars in human history.

The German-American Bund: Nazism in the United States

By the time the Bund filled Madison Square Garden with Nazi salutes, American fascism had already established itself in government policies, corporate practices, and social hierarchies.

The Bund, an openly pro-Nazi organization masquerading as a patriotic movement, had spent years spreading fascist propaganda, recruiting white Americans into its ranks. All of this was part of an effort to normalize Hitler’s ideology by highlighting its correlations to ideals of "Americanism."

The Bund came into being in 1936 as a rebranding of the earlier Friends of New Germany, an organization established by Heinz Spanknöbel who was appointed by none other than Deputy Führer Rudolph Hess, himself.

Like its predecessor, the Bund was more than just a fan club for Nazi sympathizers—it was a well-organized and well-funded network designed to inject fascism into mainstream America.

Under the leadership of Fritz Julius Kuhn, the Bund established chapters across the country, operated summer camps to indoctrinate children, and maintained paramilitary-style units modeled after the Hitler Youth and the SA (Stormtroopers).

Through these camps and local Bund halls, members were trained in Nazi ideology, taught to revere Adolf Hitler, and encouraged to view themselves as warriors in a battle to “purify” American society.

The Bund wrapped itself in the American flag, portraying its mission as a fight against "Jewish Bolshevism" and "un-American elements." It sought to create a Nazi movement within the U.S. that aligned seamlessly with the country’s existing white supremacist traditions.

*A previous Bund ‘Germany Day’ rally at Madison Square Garden, 1934*

The group was particularly active in industrial centers and areas with large German-American populations, a clear attempt to forge alliances between Nazi Germany and a racially "pure" America.

Their strategy sliced the country into three regional divisions, or Gaue— Gau Ost (East), Gau West and Gau Midwest. In total there were over 80 local chapters, spread across the United States.

Lest anyone argue this was an isolated extremist faction, the group’s proliferation made it clear they were a well-organized, nationwide operation with significant membership.

They held rallies, distributed Nazi propaganda, and sought political influence, capitalizing on isolationist sentiments to push their fascist agenda.

Despite the institutional sexism present in both American and Nazi ideologiocal frameworks, Bund membership was more inclusive than one might think. That is, membership was not limited to American males—it had significant female participation as well.

Of course, somewhat predictably, women’s ostensibly crucial role in the plan included procreation and indoctrinating children into Nazi ideology, followed by organizing local womens’ chapters, and coordinating propaganda efforts therein.

To be fair, far-right movements have consistently leveraged women as both foot soldiers and figureheads of extremist networks, allowing them to present a plausibly respectable public face while pushing nationalist and supremacist agendas. Those women who submitted to their roles in the patriarchal framework were arguably as effective in their endeavors as their male counterparts.

The magnitude of this operation challenges the notion that American fascism was merely some fringe movement—it had deep roots, broad geographic reach, and an infrastructure designed for long-term survival.

Also noteworthy; despite its deep ties to Nazi ideology, the Bund did not receive official backing from Hitler’s regime. This distinction is crucial in dismantling the popular narrative that American fascism was a foreign infiltration rather than a homegrown movement.

Indeed, the Bund didn’t need Berlin’s support to thrive because its ideology was fully compatible with America’s existing white supremacist traditions.

The Roots of American Fascism

The rally that night at Madison Square Garden was not some freak event driven by “outsiders” or interlopers. It was a natural extension of American nationalism, an ideology that had long blurred the lines between patriotism and white supremacy.

Inside the Garden, Kuhn raged against Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he mockingly called “Frank D. Rosenfeld,” playing into the deeply embedded anti-Semitism that was—and still is—alive in American fascism.

He and his followers believed they were righteous in aligning with Nazi Germany—they believed they were defending America’s true identity. Thus, the massive banner of George Washington flanked by swastikas was not a sacreliege of American ideals, it was a declaration that the Bund saw racially “pure” fascism as the purest expression of American patriotism.

Fritz Julius Kuhn addressed Camp Nordland in Andover, New Jersey

Ideologies foundational to the birth of the nation had long blurred the lines between patriotism and white supremacy.

The Bund’s chosen slogan, “America First,” wasn’t even unique to their movement. It was borrowed from existing isolationist and nationalist factions in the U.S., and it would later be revived in political discourse, carrying the same undertones of racial exclusion and authoritarianism.

Likewise, Hitler’s Lebensraum doctrine—the belief that Germany had the god-given right to expand its territory by ethnically cleansing so-called “inferior” peoples—wasn’t invented by the Nazi regime. It was merely a direct echo of America's Manifest Destiny, the ideology that had already justified the violent seizure of land, the forced removal of Indigenous nations, and their wholesale slaughter under the guise of a “divine” right.

The pattern didn’t end with Hitler’s defeat. In a cruel twist of history, a similar justification would later be weaponized by the Zionist movement, which, after fleeing Nazi persecution, enacted its own campaign of displacement and terror against the Palestinian people, again under a supposed god-given mandate, which continues today.

American Origins of Nazi Eugenics

Before the Nazis institutionalized eugenics, American scientists and policymakers were developing theories of racial purity. Backed by institutions like the Carnegie Institution and the Rockefeller Foundation, they had been developing racial purity theories of their own.

These theories manifested in forced sterilization programs targeting Black, Indigenous, disabled, and impoverished communities, under the guise of social progress. These programs would later influence the racial hygiene laws that fueled the Nazi regime’s genocidal policies.

To put it mildly, this pattern of systemic oppression has deep roots in American history. During his presidency—the very first ever—George Washington, himself, took deliberate measures to prevent the emancipation of his enslaved workers in Pennsylvania.

Washington’s strategy ensured these people, whose slavers viewed them as human livestock, remained in bondage.

Despite these efforts, some, like Ona Judge, seized their freedom; she escaped from the President's House upon learning she was to be transferred as a gift to Martha Washington's granddaughter.

Others were not so fortunate, such as those whose teeth were reportedly used in the founding father’s dentures.

This practice underscores the lengths to which the Washington went to maintain his enslaved workforce, even in the face of evolving abolitionist sentiments in the Northern states.

Such historical instances demonstrate how legal frameworks have been strategically manipulated to uphold systemic racism and oppression, establishing precedents that have influenced and been replicated by oppressive regimes worldwide.

Corporate Complicity in White Supremacy

Then there were the capitalists of corporate America, who saw no wrong in doing business with the Reich. The entanglement of the American corporation with white supremacy is deeply rooted in the nation's history.

During Hitler’s rule, companies like Ford supplied vehicles, IBM provided data-processing technology that assisted in cataloging Jewish populations for extermination, and Standard Oil kept the Nazi war machine fueled.

Even Coca-Cola fount a way past the trade restrictions imposed against Germany, going as far as inventing Fanta to circumvent the wartime sanctions.

These acts of complicity aligned the ideology of corporate greed with the machinery of fascism, and they represent only a few of the many instances of American companies fraternizing with Nazi interests.

Examples like these exemplify how corporate America's pursuit of profit has historically been intertwined with the perpetuation of white supremacist ideologies, both domestically and internationally.

The very same values were on full display at Madison Square Garden that February night, adorned in jingoistic patriotism and cloaked in perceived American exceptionalism.

The Rally: A Night for Nazis in America

The Bund went to great lengths to ensure the event was a high-profile, highly organized spectacle, widely promoted and openly attended.

Speakers, led by Bund leader Fritz Julius Kuhn, took the stage in front of banners depicting George Washington sandwiched betwen swastikas, reinforcing the belief that white supremacy was fundamental to American identity.

Kuhn’s speech was littered with anti-Semitic dog whistles, denouncing Franklin D. Roosevelt as “Frank D. Rosenfeld” and railing against supposed Jewish influence in politics and finance.

These weren’t foreign ideas transplanted from Nazi Germany; they were homegrown sentiments that had already been mainstreamed in American nativist movements.

Just a generation earlier, the Immigration Act of 1924 had codified racial quotas designed to limit “undesirable” populations, an idea that inspired Hitler’s own race laws.

Anti-Semitic figures like Henry Ford and Father Coughlin commanded massive audiences, normalizing conspiracy theories that painted Jews as threats to Christian civilization.

As evening wore on at the Garden, it became evident the rally was less an infiltration of American values than it was an unveiling of them.

At one point, a Jewish American man attempted to rush the stage in protest, but was man-handled by Brown Shirts, his clothes stripped from his body as blows reigned down upon him.

These events destroyed any notion that the Bund introduced white America to anti-Semitism, xenophobia, or racial purity doctrines—those ideas had long been embedded in the nation’s institutions.

The State’s Role: Protection for Fascists, Violence for Protesters

Despite its aspirations, the Bund faced fierce resistance from American anti-fascists, Jewish organizations, labor unions, and politicians who recognized the group as a domestic threat.

Outside Madison Square Garden, the over 100,000 anti-fascist demonstrators had gathered in opposition.

Yet instead of protecting the public from Nazi sympathizers, the NYPD protected the rally itself. Officers cracked down on protesters with brutal force, ensuring the Bund’s event could continue undisturbed.

Even Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, self-proclaimed enemy of the Nazis, defended the Bund's right to assemble, stating, "If we are for free speech, we have to be for free speech for everybody, and that includes Nazis."

This wasn’t an oversight—it was standard practice. Time and again, law enforcement in the U.S. has defended white supremacist groups, while violently suppressing those who resist them.

A common reasoning for this phenomenon, and one that has proven to be increasingly true, is demonstrated in the phrase “The same reason you don’t see cops at Nazi rallies is the same reason you don’t see Clark Kent and Superman togther,” they are one and the same.

Quite audaciously, these same institutions that shielded the German American Bund in 1939 would later be weaponized against the Civil Rights Movement, anti-war activists, and modern-day anti-fascists.

American Fascism Beyond 1945

The fall of Nazi Germany didn’t mark the end of American fascism. It simply forced it to evolve.

The German American Bund may have collapsed, but its ideology found kindred souls in the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the John Birch Society (JBS), and the America First Committee.

These groups didn’t disappear after World War II; they adapted, entering politics, law enforcement, and corporate leadership for decades to come.

Those responsible for defacing Indigenous land, carving graven images of four white supremacists into sacred mountains, for instance, had loyalties to the KKK.

Similarly, JBS, founded in 1958, carried forward the Bund’s staunch anti-communism and nationalist torch, while trying to distance itself from explicit fascist affiliations.

However, even within government circles, the similarities were evident. A CIA document from the 1960s described the Birch Society in “indignant oratory as a dictator-led, Nazi-like organization,” highlighting the parallels in its structure and ideological rigidity.

Even as the U.S. presented itself as a beacon of freedom, it continued enforcing Jim Crow segregation, suppressing Indigenous land rights, and maintaining policies that disproportionately disenfranchised marginalized communities.

The same country that prosecuted Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg had no problem brutalizing Black activists fighting for basic civil rights, in some cases even silencing them through murder.

The horrific images of Birmingham officers using fire hoses and attack dogs on peaceful demonstrators in 1963 were indicative of law enforcement’s role in 1939. When the Ku Klux Klan bombed Black churches, murdered civil rights workers, or harassed freedom riders, law enforcement at best turned a blind eye and at worst actively facilitated the violence.

In typically American fashion, the United States condemned fascism abroad while protecting its domestic variations, ensuring that the machinery of white supremacy remained intact.

George Washington flanked by American and Nazi symbolism

It is, perhaps, worth noting that this is the same America whose President Roosevelt denied entry to the M.S. St. Louis, a ship carrying upwards of 900 Jewish refugees, fleeing the Holocaust. These events also transpired in 1939, yet U.S. would not enter the conflict until 1941.

A poll in July 1938 found that less than five percent of Americans favored expanding immigration limits or offering refuge to those fleeing fascist rule in Europe, most of whom were Jewish. What’s more, a striking two-thirds of respondents indicated that the United States should proactively work to “keep them out.”

This rhetoric became policy, with anti-immigration effots continuing even through the end of the war.

Echoes of 1939

Anyone who views the 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden as a historical footnote clearly isn’t paying attention.

That, or they are party to the contingent that half-enthusiastically insists that oligarchs and demagogues do not partake in Nazi symbolism, even in the face of actual videos.

The resurgence of “America First” rhetoric—particularly since the tea party and culminating most recently in a second Trump administration— and the mainstreaming of white nationalist ideology, combined with the state’s continued reluctance to confront far-right extremism all point to the same reality: American fascism never disappeared.

The same “devils advocate” debates and milqetoast calls for tolerance that shielded the Bund in 1939 remain relevant today. Then, as now, white supremacists hid behind the First Amendment to demand platform after platform, while their targets are surveilled, censored, and criminalized for resisting.

The selective enforcement of speech protections—through narrative control, the weaponization of language and even violence—has always served those in power, ensuring that calls for fascist violence are treated as protected opinions while anti-fascist resistance is labeled extremism.

It’s evident in the way law enforcement cracks down harder on anti-fascists than on white supremacists. It’s in the normalization of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, the open embrace of authoritarianism in political circles, and the willingness of corporations to capitalize on extremism—just as they did in the 1930s.

In those days, Ford’s vehicles and IBM’s technology assisted in exterminating Jewish populations, while Standard Oil kept that Nazi war machine good and fueled.

Today, instead of Ford, it’s his modern-day counterpart—at least in terms of open Nazi sympathies and fascist leanings—Elon Musk. The genious-collecting influencer’s reach extends beyond a fleet of vehicles to his Starlink technology, which has aided Israei occupation forces in their own genocidal campaigns.

Instead of IBM, it's Google, Palantir, and a host of other tech giants that now serve as the backbone of Israel’s AI-driven war machine, integrating surveillance and predictive targeting into their military operations through programs like Lavender and Where’s Daddy.

Just as in World War II, these represent but a few of the many entities complicit in human rights violations and outright crimes against humanity.

The same corporatization that once helped Nazis systematize genocide is now enabling modern-day apartheid and ethnic cleansing, the world over—ensuring that the tools of fascism evolve even when the ideology remains unchanged.

All of this, perpetrated in the service of white supremacy, in the name of God, or at the very leasst, with his ostensible blessing.

If the Madison Square Garden rally was a warning, it’s one that largely went unheeded. If history has made one thing clear, it’s that American fascism thrives when it goes unchallenged. All that’s left to do now is fight.

February 20, 1939: American Nazi Rally at Madison Square Garden