The Untold Story: Jewish Resistance Against American Nazis

We naturally associate the Nazis with Germany, but before the Holocaust, Nazism was also legal in other countries. Even in the United States there was a Nazi party of 25,000 members. They maintained units of 8,000 men called “storm troops,” who marched and demonstrated publicly in American streets. They also belonged to American gun organizations and carried rifles as if they were a military battalion heading into battle — and in truth, not merely “as if.”

Nazi Activity and Propaganda in American Society

Until the Holocaust, all of this was indeed anti-Semitic, but not illegal. The American Nazi organization published books and journals; they campaigned before elections urging voters not to support Jewish candidates; they held rallies and ran summer camps for American children in order to indoctrinate them with Nazi ideology.

We know today of at least twenty-five such camps. In these camps the children wore Nazi uniforms and listened to Nazi propaganda. The Nazis taught admiration for Hitler, preached against “Jewish communism,” and demanded that the United States remain neutral and avoid intervention if war were to break out in Europe.

The Madison Square Garden Nazi Rally

On February 20, 1939 — George Washington’s birthday — the American Nazis held a massive rally in New York’s famous Madison Square Garden. Twenty thousand people attended. Swastikas stood at the entrance; the speakers loudly praised Nazism and claimed that it represented true American spirit and the legacy of George Washington — while President Roosevelt, they said, was “a puppet of the Jews.”

But the moment the main speech began, delivered by Nazi leader Fritz Kuhn, a large young man suddenly leapt onto the stage, grabbed the microphone, and began cursing Hitler and the Nazis — in front of 20,000 fervent Nazi supporters. This was Isadore Greenbaum, a 26-year-old Jew from Brooklyn. Before being overpowered, he even managed to tear out the microphone cable to stop the speeches from continuing. The Nazi storm troopers attacked him — but at the last moment New York police rescued him. He was brought before a judge and fined 25 dollars.

The Beginning of Jewish Resistance in America

This incident marked the opening shot in the struggle of American Jews against the American Nazis. Meyer Lansky — a Jewish underworld figure who was also Shabbat-observant, organized small resistance groups that struck fear into Nazi institutions and rallies. They were called the “Minutemen.”

To form these groups, he recruited Jewish boxers, including Harry Levine, who would burst in suddenly, knock out the event organizers, and disappear as quickly as they came. Harry Levine’s niece, Leslie Barry, later wrote a book documenting this chapter of history.

Covert Operations of the Newark Minutemen

In an interview with Aish HaTorah, Leslie explained that the Newark Minutemen also operated as undercover agents, working to discover the organization’s plans. One major project they tried to thwart involved Nazi efforts to map American infrastructure for possible use in the event of war.

Other groups fought Nazis across the United States, but the Newark Minutemen appear to have been the most active. “The organization was centered in New York and New Jersey,” Leslie explains, “and the Newark Minutemen were the most organized of all the resistance groups.”

She notes that many of the Newark Minutemen never spoke about their anti-Nazi activities. She believes the reason is that many of these men were soon drafted and fought in World War II — so the stories they later told their children and grandchildren were from the battlefield instead.

Harry Levine’s Later Life

Leslie recalls that Uncle Harry was a gentle man. “He was tall — 1.95 meters, and much bigger than my mother,” she says. “He was a beloved uncle, like a big teddy bear.” Harry lived in Newark until he was drafted, then served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a military policeman.

After the war he returned to Newark and became a police officer to support his wife and son. “He lived a fairly simple life,” Leslie explains. He rarely spoke about his years with the Newark Minutemen.