Thursday, July 17, 2025

The Anti-Semitic Nordic fascism of Minneapolis in the 1940s

I used to go to the Calhoun Beach Club when I was around 14 years old! I had no idea of its antisemitic past: 

 revealed that anti-Semitism was so widespread in Minneapolis that during the 1940s,
the Calhoun Beach Club displayed a plaque by their entry that clearly stated, 

“No Jews, Peddlers or Dogs Allowed.” ...

In a 1946 survey of real estate agents in Minneapolis, it was noted that 40% of housing
subdivisions in Minneapolis had housing covenants that restricted Jews and African-Americans
from owning property, though more recent research by the Mapping Prejudice project has not revealed such dramatic numbers.29 This peak of anti-Semitism also coincided with the global rise of Fascism.
The Silver Shirts, a fascist hate group, boasted 6,000 members in Minnesota in 1936. This hate group was provocative enough to garner the attention of a young journalist, Arnold Eric Sevareid, who would become famous as a network television newscaster. In this year Sevareid produced an investigation into the group, which was one of the first public exposures of Minneapolis as a hotbed of anti-Semitism. As a result of these aforementioned events, concerned citizens formed the Jewish Anti-Defamation Council of Minneapolis

https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/RCAV2/1932/DesignationStudy_HOMEWOOD_DRAFT-CURRENTwith%20attachments%20(1).pdf 

 

 https://www.jstor.org/stable/4615246?read-now=1&seq=8#page_scan_tab_contents

The Jews of Minneapolis and Their Christian Neighbors
Charles I. Cooper

I had no idea the KKK was active in Minneapolis in the 1920s....My great-grandfather and grandfather lived in Minneapolis during that time but were active in the Covenant church:

 The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), to which some Minneapolis Covenant Churches belong, has historically taken a stand against racial discrimination. In 1944, the ECC's Annual Meeting adopted a resolution stating that "all discrimination, based upon race, creed or nationality, is not in keeping with the Christian profession and life." 

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