Echoes of An Infamous Anti-Semitic Jersey Past Are Heard in A New Report

This week the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) published its annual report on Anti-Semitic incidents in the Garden State. The results, as reported in many of our area’s papers, are mixed. While it is true that an overwhelming majority of Jewish people living in New Jersey go about their daily lives without having to face this historic scourge, still, 78 incidents occurred in 2013. According to the ADL, these incidents involved acts of vandalism, assault and threats. 

Racism and discrimination in all their perverse forms are bad, but ‘modern’ Anti-Semitism is its own kind of historical nemesis. I’ve been in education for over a decade, and I can honestly tell you, most New Jerseyans, despite our state’s Holocaust awareness requirement, fail understand the danger of organized Anti-Semitism to humanity in particular, and it’s long history in New Jersey (of all places!). It’s worth a retelling.

Medieval anti-Semitism is rooted in the Christian Bible, which has been interpreted as blaming Jews for the conspiracy to arrest and kill Jesus. Much of this hatred was fed to Europeans over the centuries by the Catholic and later Luther-inspired Protestant Churches. To be fair, this belief in collective Jewish guilt has been formally renounced by the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant Churches. Over the past three decades, in fact, the Papacy has gone to great lengths to embrace good Jewish-Catholic relations through Papal Synagogue visits and various edicts. I do not think that I would be inaccurate in stating that, at least in New Jersey, if any Christian priest or preacher got up on next Sunday morning and told his or her congregation that Jews were “Christ Killers” the parishioners would simply walk out, throw the preacher out, or both. But this kind of anti-Semitism isn’t what motivates modern day Jew haters anyway.

Modern, formerly "respectable” Anti-Semitism is not ancient. It’s not even German. It’s not from the Arab world and it had nothing to do with the Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades. It wasn’t born in the desert or amongst some maniacal civilization. It emerged, largely, from one of the most cosmopolitan centers of European civilization, from a city that still prides itself on its Baroque architecture, its cobblestone streets, and its sumptuous coffeehouses. Modern-day Anti-Semitism was born in Vienna, Austria, between 1880 and the outbreak of World War I.

These people, whoever they are – be they punks, White Supremacists, or Klansman, who are going around New Jersey committing acts of hatred are believers, for the most part, in this kind of anti-Semitism. Though Modern Anti-Semitism’s origins are a bit complex, the movement really crystalized and gained respect and electoral power in Turn-of-The-Century, cosmopolitan Vienna. It was there that, in the effort to gain votes and create some kind of national identity out of a diverse population, leaders pointed to the Jews as a common enemy. These anti-Semites stipulated that Jews, both religious and secular, were a cancer on humanity. These people preached, to great success, that Jews, through their achievements in the professions, were climbing to the top of their fields in a conspiratorial plan. This “plan,” was to be executed at the ‘right’ moment, on some kind of international basis, when Jews would strike to enslave and degrade all Christians. The conspiracy theory took several forms, but this was the most common one. In the meanwhile, most Anti-Semites said, Jews, by increasing their power and influence, were out to make the lives of Christians impoverished and marginal.

The moment of “respectable crystallization,” happened with the election of one of the great urban mayors of the early 20^th century: Dr. Karl Lueger. Today Austrians like to forget about his intense anti-Semitism, as he was responsible for much of the modernization of Vienna. But at the time, Lueger’s intense hatred for the Jewish people – who comprised of a sizable minority of Vienna itself – was well known. Lueger used his tremendous oratory and persuasive powers to convince city voters that Jews were the main problem. In 1907, a few years before his death, Lueger told one reporter:

“A Jew must remember that neither Germany, nor Austria, nor Poland is his land. He must remember that wherever he may be, he is a stranger to the native population…I do not care about the welfare of the Jews. If their life here is miserable, let them go away.”

Today any big city mayor who made such a statement would be branded as crazy…insane. But these were the words of one of the most popular, elected politicians in the civilized world, and his words would not go unheeded. Under Lueger’s rule, Jews would be discriminated against, publicly assaulted, ridiculed and pushed out of organizations of all kinds. But his admirers were many, including one down-on-his-luck, failed artist and frequent inhabitant of the city’s homeless shelters and rooming houses named Adolf Hitler.

Now wait just a second. I thought this was a blog about New Jersey? What does an infamous Austrian mayor who died in 1910 have anything to do with anti-Semitism in, say, Newark or the Jersey Shore?

The respectability that Lueger gave to such hatred had transatlantic consequences, and this influence spread quickly. How quickly? He died in 1910; within a decade his organized, articulate anti-Jewish rhetoric would assist the growth of two of New Jersey’s most infamous – and powerful – hate groups: the Klan and the Nazis.

The Anti-Semitic Klan, partly due to the ‘respectability’ that Lueger and others had given the hatred of Jews and Judaism, spread rapidly here. Klan groups and “klaverns” organized by the thousands and the repressive organization established its headquarters in Newark. Amazing as the sight would be today, during holiday parades in several New Jersey towns and cities, Klan members marched by the hundreds – even the thousands – to promote their nefarious cause. Their organization published newsletters and newspapers and endorsed candidates running for local and state offices. 

The Klan held huge ceremonies in the summertime, particularly at the Shore. One New York Times article claims that a July 1924 rally near Long Branch drew 20,000 supporters. The Klan participated in open, publiziced acts of terrorism. In April of 1922 they burned a huge cross on top of Paterson’s Garrett Mountain that was visible throughout much of Passaic County. While publicly promoting itself as another civic organization, Klansmen terrorized Jews, Catholics and immigrants through assaults and even bombings. Amazing right? Yes, it happened right here, in New Jersey. And it wasn’t over.

The Klan’s national power faded in the late 1920’s due to a variety of factors, one being a major murder scandal involving its Grand Wizard. The movement’s deterioration was reflected in New Jersey as well. But by the early 1930’s, Anti-Semitism was back in the Garden State and in a big, terrifying way.

In the years before the Second World War, New Jersey was home to a major

New Jersey Nazi Camp, Andover, 1938

Nazi movement that called itself “The Bund.” Like its evil twin in Germany, New Jersey’s Nazis dressed up in brown uniforms, held gatherings in beer halls, and established their own “base camps” in places like Andover. Yes, I am not kidding here. In the mid-1930’s, there was a Nazi camp, with real, goose-stepping, Hitler saluting, anti-Jewish stormtroopers, in Sussex County.

Area residents, like my grandmother who lived in Irvington at the time, grew concerned and frightened. When a collection of Nazi organizations from New Jersey and New York sold out Madison Square Garden for a rally in the mid-1930’s, the movement was on the borderline of – and its frightening to say – respectability. I would like to report that it was the outrages of the Nazis in Germany that led to the Jersey Bund’s decline, and that is frequently taught, but it was more likely the efforts of the state and Federal governments to squash the movement that probably brought on its end. And, of course, The War.

So here we are again, sort of, but on a much smaller basis. The Neo-Nazis or the Anti-Semites or whomever you want to call them are in our presence, but they’re not respectable. The average New Jersey resident, of course, knows from our present perspective what these kinds of ideas lead to: violence, mass death, collective sadism…etc. We’re all decent people, right? We’ll continue to work together as a diverse community towards the future. Yes, we’ll have our disagreements, but this is all our land. We still believe in those ideals…don’t we?

Man, I hope so. But the ADL’s report of 78 Jersey-based incidents in 2013 does shake my faith. A little bit.   

Arts High Students Confront the Realities of Newark’s Klan Years

Klan Garb from the 1920's

Here at Arts High, educators are working hard to provide our academically and artistically talented students with the best education possible. As a history teacher, I strive to impart to them that the adult world is not one typically of absolutes, of “good” and “evil,” but instead of many grays, many opinions, many forces. I want them to look at American history with a critical eye. In class we carefully examine primary sources, debating their authenticity and detecting bias. History is complex, and emotional judgments will usually skew a scholar’s quest to find out “what really happened.” Therefore, I try to keep my immediate opinions away from my instruction.

But there are exceptions.

And one of the greatest of exceptions, at least in American history, and especially in Newark’s history, is the Klan. The Ku Klux Klan. Yes, The Klan, my students now know, was an historical force to be reckoned with in the Brick City, especially in the 1920’s. Today the image of tens of thousands of hooded, hateful white supremacists marching down Broad Street in front of our majestic City Hall is absurd. But in the Roaring 20’s, you literally couldn’t throw a stone during a downtown parade without hitting one of those imbeciles. Newark was Klan Central.

Teaching Newark’s students about this time in American history is essential, because my students need to realize that white supremacy, racism and anti-Semitism are significant factors in modern history. Just because people in the present-day regard such forces as tired, discredited and nearly dead, it wasn’t always that way, and things could change in the near future. These destructive ideas crested many times in modern American history, and they have returned to contemporary Europe in a big way (but more on that later). Newark students need to know that life doesn’t stand still, and you need to know your enemy. And if you’re an open-minded, aspiring artist and/or scholar in this day and age, you enemy is the Klan.

Historically, Americans usually associate the Klan with the South and racial segregation. In the late 1860’s and early 1870’s, this was certainly the case. But as I stated earlier, the Ku Klux Klan was a national and local movement that attracted over 3 million members in the otherwise “Roaring 20’s.” The Klan of that era was the result of several factors, many of them directly affecting Newark and greater Essex County.

In the wake of the First World War, millions of African-Americans, tired of Jim Crowism and a lack of economic opportunity in the segregated South were heading north. Industrialized cities like New York, Jersey City, and of course, Newark, were prime destinations. Racism lived in those places too, but there were jobs, good jobs. While Newark always had an African-American presence, black neighborhoods really weren’t predominant until the early 20thcentury. By that time African-Americans had established their own schools, self-help societies, and, of course, churches. Even today the Black Church is an important, progressive presence in Newark’s cultural and political life.

At the same time, Italians were fleeing their impoverished homeland by the hundreds of thousands, and many found a home in Newark. Here they established their churches, social clubs and neighborhoods. By the end of World War I, Newark, a city founded by Puritans, was developing a real Catholic presence.

And let us not forget the Jews…by 1920 there were over 50,000 of them in the Brick City. These Jews were unlike the German Jews of the mid-1800’s who had long assimilated into American culture. This new wave of Jewish people originated in Imperial Russia. Crushed by anti-Semitic laws that limited their lives and possibilities, they fled Russia and never looked back. This community would build great synagogues and gathering places of brick and mortar throughout Newark, especially along what is now Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (High Street back then). This community would bring its entrepreneurial spirit, its Yiddish language and culture (especially theater), and its respect for learning.

So out of this immense demographic change, and due to the Klan’s misleadingly positive portrayal in the first blockbuster movie “Birth of a Nation,” by the early 20’s the Klan was back…and on a much larger scale. Its message was this: America was rightfully white and Protestant.Conformity should be the nation’s highest ideal. White America’s enemies were clearly defined: Jews, Catholics, African-Americans, and Immigrants.

New Jersey’s Klan movement, which numbered in the hundreds of thousands, made Newark its headquarters. From there, it did what it would do best: terrorize its opponents by working within andoutside of the law. Openly, it “branded” itself as a patriotic, fraternal organization. Legally, it held marches, rallies, published a newspaper and endorsed politicians running for office. It lobbied the legislature and demanded closure of all religious day schools, especially ones teaching Catholicism and Judaism. By 1923 it had prominent supporters in Trenton, and especially in D.C. One of the major reasons why the “Golden Door” of America closed in this era was due to the hateful political efforts of the Klan and its allies.  

But it was more than a legal organization. The Klan acted with brutal intent all over the Garden State, its menacing tentacles stretching out from its Newark base. In October of 1924 Klansman unleashed a wave of terror, bombing Catholic Churches and targeting Catholic teens in Essex and Bergen counties during social events. In 1923-24 they held ninemassive cross-burning “ceremonies” in Newark alone in their efforts to terrify local Jews, Catholics and African-Americans.

As the Klan grew in popularity and wealth, the organization’s destructive nature began to catch up with it. The Klan’s demise would be swift and self-inflicted. Its finances were corrupt, its membership drives exposed as greedy pyramid schemes, and worst of all, its Indiana Grand Wizard was convicted of a brutal murder in 1924. By the late 20’s, the Klan was nearly finished in the Garden State. Its membership dissolved, its monies dried up. But its legacy of hatred and white supremacy would live on in the 1930’s with a new, large political movement in New Jersey: The Nazi Party (or the “Jersey Bund”). That, however, is a shocking story for another day.   

While the National Klan was in its death throes in the late 20’s, the city of Newark had an answer to its hatred, its isolationism, and its suffocating conformity. Newark would build a new school devoted to the Arts, to individual self-expression and acceptance. The Brick City would make a statement in stone. The message would be clear: New Jersey’s foremost metropolis would be a place ofdiversity, creativity and culture. By decade’s end construction had begun on the city’s art deco masterpiece: Arts High School.

My students really didn’t believe all of this when I first taught it to them; it all seemed so dramatic. Then they read and analyzed the many articles I found for them from the New York Times Historical Database. The facts were indisputable. It had all happened, all here on the same streets that they walk every day. On thatcorner, in 1923, teens were arrested for egging a Klan rally…onthat street, Klansman marched calling for an end to all immigration.

What really surprised my students about the Klan lesson was that it didn’t end where they thought it would (with the bad guys forever defeated). Many were surprised when I explained that today, in Europe, there is a rising tide of White Supremacy and Neo-Nazi hatred. Right now, in Hungary and Greece, a sizable minority of elected lawmakers are openly Neo-Nazi and Fascist. They go by different names in different countries. In Hungary they call themselves Jobbiks, in Greece,Golden Dawn. It’s all the same though. It’s all organized thuggery and coerced conformity.   

I think my students got a lot out of the Klan lessons. Again, my efforts to demonstrate that Newark’s history is America’s history were there, but I was really pleased at how the students connected the primary sources to places they see and pass through daily. The students understood the message that time stands still for no one person or place or even a city. When the day comes that such hateful organizations return, as they already have in Europe, decent people must be ready to recognize and confront them.