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It was eighty years ago today -- February 20, 1939 -- that over 20,000 members of the German American Bund, a pro-Nazi organization, gathered at Madison Square Garden under the pretense of celebrating the birthday of George Washington. bit.ly/2WWUAbQ (1/12) 
A bomb scare prompted the city to send 1,327 police officers to MSG, called by the @NYDailyNews “one of the largest police assignments in the city’s history. Additionally, the Bund planned for “3,000 storm troopers, garbed in swastika-decorated uniforms” to work as ushers. (2/12)
A sample of an anti-fascist circular, distributed to protest the event at Madison Square Garden. On the night of the Bund rally, tens of thousands would fill the streets in protest: (3/12) bit.ly/2WWUAbQ
Depending on your news source, the protests were either subdued or chaotic. The @nytimes reported “scattered fighting and disorder … but no serious trouble.” Meanwhile, the New York Daily News went with: (4/12) nyti.ms/2Xd9ydP
Inside the Garden, pro-Nazi, anti-Jewish banners festooned the rafters with Bund flags. The main speaker Franz Kuhn, “national Fuehrer and one of Hitler’s original followers,” read a list of Jewish American to blame for America’s “troubles, past and future.” (5/12)
At one point, a protester stormed the stage to stop Kuhn’s speech. He was beaten by storm troopers and dragged from the arena. The man was later identified as a Jewish man, Isadore Greenbaum, from Brooklyn. (6/12) bit.ly/2WWUAbQ
Some context for the MSG rally: The Kristallnacht attacks in Nazi Germany had occurred a little over three months before – on Nov 9-10, 1938. Jewish homes and businesses were destroyed and thousands of Jewish people thrown in camps. (7/12)
On February 21, the day after the New York rally, Nazi leader Hermann Göring issues a decree forcing all Jews to surrender their gold and silver. By this time, ten of thousands of people had already been sent to concentration camps like Buchenwald. (8/12)
A couple weeks before the MSG rally, NY Senator Robert Wagner (w. MA senator Edith Rogers) introduces a bill to allow 20,000 refugee children from Nazi Germany into the US. Despite strong support, the bill is killed in Congress by anti-foreigner, anti-immigrant forces. (9/12)
As for Isadore Greenbaum, the man who stormed the stage, his bail was quickly paid by “the contributions of admirers” and he was united w. his wife and child the following morning. The paper dubbed him “the hero of every anti-Fascist in the city.” (10/12) bit.ly/2Emnpax
This quote from the New York Daily News, from Greenbaum's interrogation, says it all. (11/12) bit.ly/2Emnpax
The rally is the subject of the short film A Night At The Garden, directed by @marshallcurry, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. We'll tune in this Sunday to @TheAcademy to see if it wins! You can watch the film here: bit.ly/2WWUAbQ (12/12)
And to add -- the rally was held NOT at the current @TheGarden but at its old location in Hell's Kitchen (1925-1968). It moved to its current location after old Penn Station was demolished. (13/12) boweryboyshistory.com/2018/02/destru…
