American Nazi Rally, NY City: A Night At The Garden, Feb. 20, 1939

[appalachiablue]

- PBS Short Film Festival | A Night at the Garden | PBS.
In 1939, on Feb. 20 for George Washington's birthday, 20,000 Americans rallied in New York’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism – an event largely forgotten from American history. Fritz Kuhn, leader of the German American Bund was the main speaker. A Night At the Garden uses striking archival fragments recorded that night to transport modern audiences into this gathering and shine a light on the disturbing fallibility of seemingly decent people. https://www.pbs.org/filmfestival/2020, #PBSFilmFest
https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/2/20/18230052/night-at-garden-oscars-2019-madison-square-bund-anniversary-interview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American_Bund

- 'American Nazis In The 1930s, The German American Bund,' The Atlantic,
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/06/american-nazis-in-the-1930sthe-german-american-bund/529185/

[raging moderate]

1. Yes! And most Republicans USED to hate fascism!

My mother was a life-long Republican, BUT a poor woman descended from Abolitionists. That was why her family were Republicans. I learned about the American Bund in my home, by reading about it. My mother had a book about the American Bund (not only German-American, I am afraid. I was ashamed to learn that many Irish, Scottish, English Americans were also in this Bund). This was a very shameful fact about the United States, that so many people admired Adolf Hitler and his so-called "National Socialist" party in Germany.
Also shameful: the number of US citizens, some of them very wealthy, who secretly supported Hitler and his goons. That book told many shocking stories. Some of them actually went to visit Hitler as he took power, but he asked them not to publicize the trip, as he had not yet consolidated power. And now we know that some of them were sending money to help Hitler. Mom was NOT confused about fascism, as so many modern Republicans are. I will never forget the bewildered look on her face, during the last election of her life, when she told me, "I guess I am voting for Democrats this time."

[appalachiablue]

2. People of many backgrounds were drawn

to that evil ideology and the bund camps and chapters were throughout the US as noted in The Atlantic article above- Yaphank, LI, New York, New Jersey, Pa, Wisc., California and more. The book sounds interesting, so glad your mom found out the awful truth and turned Dem. Keep the Faith.

[Hekate]

3. They were here, long ago. What drove them underground was WWII & its aftermath...

But they never, ever wholly died out, and part of Donald Trump’s legacy to us was that he gave them and their ilk permission to crawl back out of the sewers and strut around in the light of day.