A Night at the Garden by Marshall Curry

Haunting footage from the 1939 Nazi Rally in Madison Square Garden

In light of the recent resurgence of popular antisemitism from Kanye and Kyrie and like, tons of other people including maybe Elon who recently tweeted “I wonder what the Earth will look like 88 million years from now,” a dog whistle to the number that signifies “Hell Hitler” to white nationalist, I wanted to just send out a link to A Night at the Garden by Marshall Curry. It’s only about seven minutes long and all archival footage, but worth the watch.

In 1939 there was a 20,000 person Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden. Throughout the Great Depression (1929-1939) radio spread into the living rooms of average Americans and with it Father Coughlin’s famous broadcasts blaming parasitic Jewish bankers for the economic downturn.

As the 1930s wore on Coughlin’s 30 million listeners followed his support of Italian Fascism and German Nazism. His listeners cried “free speech” at any suggestion of censorship of the new radios spreading into everyone’s ear. No one knew how to square the ethical tension between a new communication technology undermining the sacred fabric of democracy and maintaining a free and safe market of ideas.

Economic hardship within Christian capitalist systems generates antisemitism. It’s important to remember our history, so here’s part of it: