Victory on Springfield Avenue: Newark's 1933 Battle Against the Nazis

Newark’s history is epic. I tell my students daily, here at Arts High, that the city’s past is its own unique reflection of major world and national events. To learn about the city is to learn about America. Out of all of the events in the history of the city –and there are so many fascinating ones – a few stand out. One in particular concerns the people of Newark and their immediate answer to one of the most infamous movements in modern history.

In 1933, long before Hitler’s legions marched across Europe massacring millions in the name of Aryan Supremacy, the people of Newark stood up to be counted. Newark’s residents, as American soldiers, would indeed face the Nazis on the battlefields in the 1940’s, on the beaches of Normandy, in the freezing woods of France and Belgium and on the streets of wartime Germany. Newark’s residents would fight the Nazis on the high seas, and hundreds would pay with their lives, drowning in the icy deep of the North Atlantic. But before all of this, before Kristallnacht, before Stalingrad, before the Holocaust…was the Battle of Springfield Avenue.

Yes, you read that right. One of the first significant, all-out battles against Nazism did not occur in some remote German village, deep in Bavaria. It wasn’t in the skies over London. It happened right here, in Newark, outside of a meeting hall at 593 Springfield Avenue. It must have been an amazing sight.

In October of 1933 fortune flowed in Hitler’s favor. The Depression had devastated Germany, of course, and the entire industrialized world. The Nazi chorus of racial supremacy, of anti-Semitism, and anti-communism resonated all over Germany. Hitler had come to power, though his first months as Chancellor were shaky ones. The Nazi movement had yet to win a majority in the democratically elected German parliament, and had entered into a ruling coalition with other conservative, nationalist parties. There was still time for decent people to stand up against the Nazis, but as we know, most Germans did nothing…or worse.

The Nazi cause spread like a virus overseas, extending its darkness into the German global diaspora. In 1933, New York, Philadelphia and Newark were home to Germans - hundreds of thousands of them, actually. These people were, for the most part, not the least bit sympathetic to Nazi ideals. They were Americans. America’s German community had roots that went back to the late 1840’s.

In 1933, the Depression had taken its toll in the northeastern United States. Psychologically, millions of men suffered from the personal humiliation, the shameful idleness and sudden poverty of the age. Newark was particularly hard hit because along with this crisis many of its banks had closed and taken the life savings of thousands. Into this abysmal situation, a few thousand Germans and their sympathizers here in Essex County accepted and eagerly promoted Nazism. Their organizations went by a few names, some as harmless as “Friends of the New Germany” or “The German Bund,” but at their meetings, their cause was obvious. They were Nazis. Street brawling, goose-stepping, Hitler-saluting, Swastika band-wearing, genuine Nazis.

New Jersey’s Nazis were an aggressive bunch, and they were growing rapidly. They had money and aid from the homeland. They established their own gathering places and campgrounds, particularly in Andover, New Jersey, way out in the western part of the state. By the summer of 1933, they were posed to enter the mainstream of New Jersey politics and culture, but to do that, they had to go to the state’s foremost political, economic and cultural hub: Newark.

Their organizers had apparently had significant success, because on the evening of October 17, 1933, they had gathered over 800 of their followers in a hall on one of the city’s principle arteries, Springfield Avenue. We don’t know exactly what went on in this meeting, but if it was like any of the other recorded ones, there were lots of anti-Semitic speeches, dispersing of free copies of Mein Kampf (Hitler’s bloated, rambling book of his bizarre interpretation of history) and beer. Plenty of beer. And perhaps even some conspiracy making. Conceivably there was some fundraising, or a plan to picket a local synagogue. These Nazis were serious, but they had a problem.

The good people of Newark were on to them.

The decent people of Newark, over 1000 of them, were waiting for the meeting to end, right outside the hall.

What we know is this: when the meeting ended, the Nazis poured onto the wide avenue. We don’t know who pushed whom, though there are reports of “Nazi bodyguards” charging into the crowd. What followed was a genuine battle. There were screams and men armed with metal pipes. Almost 200 Newark city police officers were called in. There were injuries. The city government labeled it a full-fledged riot. Arrests followed – most of them were Nazis – but a portion of the city’s people had spoken. Their words were clear. Nazis were not welcome in Newark. In fact, they should get the hell out of the city altogether.

After the brawl, the city’s civic groups immediately ramped up and coordinated their anti-Nazi efforts. Local Christian Ministers and Rabbis denounced Hitler from their pulpits, and tried to warn their parishioners of what could be coming. Even a local veterans group of former World War I German and Austrian soldiers denounced Fascism and praised their Jewish members. Local German organizations banned the Swastika from their parades and festivals…which were considerable community events in Newark at that time.

The Nazis never got a chance to take over the city of Newark. Once the war started the authorities closed in on them (whether it was constitutional or not), suspecting such groups of treasonous activities and attempted communications with the Fatherland. Many New Jersey German-born Nazi leaders lost their citizenship, were arrested and faced with financial ruin. Their camps were closed in Andover.

Okay, let’s shift back to today. My Arts High Students always enjoy these important lessons, because they bring up many interesting issues. First, how broad are the First Amendment’s protections of free expression? Should it be interpreted to allow hate groups to function and even prosper? Should the Constitution protect those who have openly declared to undermine it, to annihilate its principles and innocent people? Is it better to have hate groups functioning in the sunlight where decent people can see them, rather than drive them underground? And most importantly, how would you react if you woke up one day, and saw hundreds of Nazis, or members of Al Qaida, or Klansmen, or some other declared enemy of the United States marching proudly?

In 1933 a sizable portion of the Brick City’s population stood up, literally, against Nazism and hate. The Battle of Springfield Avenue was more than a decade before D-Day. Fortunately, the Nazis lost both.