Max Finkelstein

Who is Max Finkelstein?

Max Finkelstein was a captain in the New York City Police Department. As president of Shomrim, a fraternal order of Jewish New York City police officers, he became famous in 1938 when Fiorello H. La Guardia picked him to lead a special squad, whose job was to safeguard visiting officials from Nazi Germany and guard the German consulate. La Guardia's decision to appoint Finkelstein and the other Jewish officers was likely inspired by a decision made by Theodore Roosevelt, when he was New York City Police Commissioner. When an anti-semitic preacher, Hermann Ahlwardt, decided to speak in New York, Roosevelt assigned 40 Jewish police officers to protect him, in an effort to make the preacher look "ridiculous".

The Nazis reacted to Finkelstein's appointment with anger. A photo of Finkelstein appeared on the front page of the Nazi newspaper Der Angriff, which decried the choice of Finkelstein and the other Jewish officers as a "provocation" and wondered how Americans would react if their diplomats in Germany were placed under the protection of black policemen.

Finkelstein's experience guarding Nazi diplomats in New York served as the basis for a character in the 1939 Broadway play "Margin for Error" by Clare Boothe Luce. The play was made into a film of the same name in 1943. The film was directed by Otto Preminger and the Finkelstein character was played by Milton Berle.