The rise of Nazism before World War II wasn’t limited to Germany. The German-Americna Bund (Amerikadeutscher Volksbund) formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1936, to promote a favorable view of Nazi Germany. It quickly grew to 70 local groups around the country, with 20 training camps where kids aged 8-18 practiced military drills and wore Nazi-style uniforms. By 1939, 20,000 people attended the Bund’s Pro American Rally in Madison Square Garden.
When Prohibition ended in 1933, Jewish American gangsters who had been running liquor businesses suddenly had more time on their hands, and they decided to fight back against the Bund. In Newark, New Jersey, Abner “Longie” Zwillman formed a secret organization called the Minutemen to fight the Nazis. The Minutemen, who operated from 1933 to 1941, would break up Bund meetings using their fists, baseball bats, and stink bombs. The Minutemen were based in New Jersey, but Jewish gangsters around the country fought the Bund, including in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles.
To help us learn more, I’m joined on this episode by Leslie K. Barry, author of the historic novel, Newark Minutemen: A True 1930s Legend about One Man's Mission to Save a Nation's Soul Without Losing His Own, whose uncle was a Minuteman in Newark in the 1930s.
Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The image is: “German American Bund parade in New York City on East 86th St.,” World-Telegram photo, New York, 1937, Public Domain. The audio clip is from the German American Bund Rally on February 20, 1939, and is in the Public Domain.
Additional Sources:
“There Were American Nazi Summer Camps Across the US in the 1930s,” by George Dvorsky, Gizmodo, November 19, 2015.
“American Nazis in the 1930s—The German American Bund,” by Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, June 5, 2017.
“When Nazis Took Manhattan,” by Sarah Kate Kramer, NPR: All Things Considered, February 20, 2019.
“American Nazis and Nazi Sympathizers Have Been Around Since the 1930’s,” by Eric Ginsburg, Teen Vogue, November 26, 2018.
“American Nazism and Madison Square Garden,” The National World War II Museum, April 14, 2021.
“Field of Vision - A Night at the Garden [video],” directed by Marshall Curry.
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