Part 2 of 8
In a mimeographed paper issued by the American nazi youth movement,
Hitler is termed "the prophet of a new and nobler chapter in the course of human events." His creed is world-wide, youthful Americans are told.
He leads the struggle for race preservation against the melting pot idea of international-minded dabblers in theoretical concepts of the "brotherhood" of all races.
The setting up of a nation in order; clean and strong, free and unified, is a miracle which only proves the prophet is divinely inspired with God-given powers and insight.
The slumbering embers Adolf Hitler has fanned into fire in the hearts of Aryan men will break out into a mighty blaze that will consume the enemy when he raises his red rags.
The world quivers with the convulsions of an approaching earthquake that will shake each nation to its bedrock, bury everything corrupt, and outmoded, and clear away to leave a world of virile, progressive, race-conscious nations.
The article, signed by Paul M. Ochojski, in charge of the English columns of the youth paper, thus tells American children of the same "approaching revolution" which bund speakers warn their members to prepare for (vol. 2, p. 1129).
In another article, Ochojski declares Germans are "vanishing" in the United States because they "aren't organized and fighting" against their enemies.
Rallying American children of bund members to answer the battle call to fight, Ochojski warns that unless action is taken Germans in America are "doomed to become a gray, raceless mixture of unskilled laborers having no voice in politics and no economic power."
There is no more immigration of new blood from Germany to freshen up the dying cadaver of Germanic America —
the writer explains.
Organize, keep alive German language and traditions, learn useful and higher trades, go to schools and colleges, enter professions and politics, fight the enemies of Germany.
Discipline of bund youth was praised by Herr Weiss, physical education instructor at the organization's Philadelphia youth camp, Deutschhorst, near Croydon, Pa. He told the committee's investigator the boys and girls in camp obeyed orders "just like little soldiers."
The boys wore hunting knives encased in leather holsters attached to their belts. Handles of the knives showed a small swastika. Asked if the knives were made in New York:
No-
One boy is said to have replied.
The knives come straight from Germany and they can't send enough to supply everybody who wants one. When the next boat comes over, it will bring many knives, but there will not be enough to take care of all the orders.
Youth Leader Dinkelacker declared at the bund national convention:
It is highly important that we train them to think our way — the right way. Every bit of support you give this movement, whether it be financial or otherwise, is deeply appreciated and most significant. Urge your children and the children of your friends and relatives to join with us. We have great camps and training schools for them. The children will benefit by this training indoors and outdoors and will learn to understand the true meaning of our case and when they have reached mature life, they will rise to fight with us and will send their children to us.
The aims of the Amerika-Deutscher Volksbund as printed in its yearbook includes much the same message for youth.
To this youth we bind ourselves in duty to the end that some day it may feel bound in duty to our nationality and complete what we have begun. To have trained and strengthened and schooled them for national and racial responsibility, to be clean, healthy, and strong men and women, that some day shall be the fairest reward for our pains, activity, and sacrifices.
An example, pointed out to the committee, of the arrogance of the American-Nazi machine in its march to indoctrinate Nazi idealism in American youth was discovered recently
in St. Louis, where reside some 100,000 German Americans, forming nearly one-eighth of the city's population (vol, 2, p. 1130).
It was testified that Nazi propaganda was slyly worked into the public schools of that city in recent months under the guise of summer German-language classes; that ostensibly, the plan was to simply teach the German language and sing German folk songs, but before very long it became apparent this was not at all the real purposes of the classes. Instead, instructions drifted into Nazi doctrines. According to evidence before the committee, these classes were inaugurated through the efforts of a Mr. Walter Rist, a native-born citizen of St. Louis, last May. Fifteen fellow teachers and laymen were enlisted for this propaganda work. These instructors, according to this same testimony, offered their services without compensation, at least none from the schools. They also obtained classrooms in two public schools and succeeded in enrolling some 400 students.
Some highly interesting facts in conjunction with this Nazi propaganda schooling of American boys and girls has, however, come to the attention of the committee.
After every Saturday class, trucks picked up some 50 of the children and carried them 55 miles to a Nazi camp near Stanton, Mo. This camp site is operated by the Deutsch-Amerikanische Berufgemeinschaft and is under the direction of Eberhard von Blankenhagen, former Consul Secretary of the German Embassy in Washington, according to this same testimony.
In manner similar to other Nazi camps throughout the country, this site is run with Prussian military precision. German is spoken everywhere and children are forced to don uniforms and so make their appearances at meetings and meals.
American educational institutions throughout the United States offer in their curriculums any number of German classes. Yet despite this fact, according to a witness, the German-American Bund has set up a German school system of its own. If these bund schools are purely for teaching the German language, why has the bund created a secret school system of its own?
Schools just like these Bund classes have been opened by Nazi minorities not just in the United States but also in many other lands, such as South America, Poland, and in the Sudeten areas.
At the national convention of the German-American Bund held a year ago in the Biltmore Hotel, New York, Bund officials from all sections of the United States heard at length a talk by a representative of the Polish-German Bund on this very subject. He outlined in detail just how the Nazi minority in Poland had succeeded in setting up this hidden school system, along with its own Kultur church system. And to the cheers of bund leaders, he forecast that the day is not far off when Germany would succeed in building up through the German-American Bund an identical program in the United States (vol. 2, p. 1131).
The spread of the Hitler youth movement within the ranks of the German-American Bund is reflected in a list of boys' units which have been established, which are experiencing a continued growth in numbers. This list includes the following:
Eastern district: Manhattan, N. Y.; Brooklyn, N. Y.; Buffalo, N. Y.; Hudson County, N. J.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Newark, N. J.; Nassau County, Long Island; Astoria, Long Island; Bronx, N. Y.; White Plains, N. Y.; Jamaica, Long Island; South Brooklyn, N. Y.; Schenectady, N. Y.; Yonkers, N. Y.; Lindenhurst, Long Island; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Passaic, N. J.
Middle West district: Detroit. Mich.; Chicago, Ill.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Cleveland, Ohio; and Kenosha, Wis.
Western district: Los Angeles, Calif.
It is of interest to note the purchase of a site for youth camps in Camp Siegfried, at a cost of $8,000, that Theodore Dinkelacker, national youth leader of the German-American Bund, has advised that the money used in this purchase was raised by loans from the Long Island membership of the German-American Bund, and particularly from parents of the children. Dinkelacker also declared that the older boys in the children's camp are given instructions in ways in which they should avoid it. He stated that the older boys are also given instructions in national socialism.
However, when this same national youth leader was asked:
Do you give them instructions in our democratic form of government?
Dinkelacker is said to have replied as follows:
No, they are too young to understand about Republicans, Democrats, etc.
In other words, it is the belief of the bund that these boys and girls are too young to be taught Americanism but old enough to instill in them Nazi ideology.
Along this same line it is of interest to note that Spellsberg, who was a former leader of the San Francisco storm troops, does not think it is worthwhile for the bund to try to win over these German Americans who came to the United States before the World War. Spellsberg, who trained speakers of the Germany-American Bund for propaganda purposes, points out instead as follows: "Get the youth!"
So closely related is the youth movement of the German-American Bund to that of the Hitler youth in Germany that they even sing the songs of the Hitler youth and reprint them in their song books (vol. 2. p. 1132).
On page 3 of the issue No. 6 of Junges Volk for June 1937, there are German songs of this character. The first song contains the words:
We have sworn an oath to our flag.
The second verse states:
The flag is our faith in God, people, and country,
Whoever wants to rob it, may rather take our lives and hands,
We shall care for the flag like for our good mother
Because the flag means tomorrow and honor and courage.
It should be made very clear in this connection that the flag referred to by the bund and its youth movement is not the Stars and Stripes of America but the swastika of Germany,
Another song on the same page is quoted as follows:
Fly, you sparks, fly into our time,
Announce war to all far and near
Who dare argue with us and who
Carry discord in their hearts.
On page 4 of the same issue there appears a song which is quoted as follows:
Youth, Youth — We are-the future soldiers.
Youth, Youth — We are the ones to carry out future deeds.
Yes; through our fists will be smashed who stands in our way.
Youth, Youth — We are the future soldiers.
Youth, Youth — We are the ones to carry out future deeds.
Fuehrer — We belong to you; yes, we comrades belong to you.
Again, it is pointed out that in the last line of this verse, the word "Fuehrer" does not refer to the President of the United States or any other American, but to Adolf Hitler, of Germany.
In effect, therefore, the Bund babies sing:
Hitler, we belong to you; yes, we comrades belong to you.
The practice of spreading Nazi propaganda through educational institutions does not, however, stop here.
It has crept into many American institutions of higher learning.One of the most alarming ways of Nazi propaganda along this line has swept through the ranks of exchange students to universities. The purpose of the "exchange students" to universities has long been to foster good will and peace among the nations. The American student in a European university learns of the customs, habits, and cultural progress of the country in which he studies. The European student in an American school learns to appreciate American culture. The result is greater understanding.
But this worthwhile aim has been neglected in the exchange of German students for American, Now, American students are being indoctrinated with the aims of nazi-ism in Germany both abroad and at home to the detriment of democratic institutions in America (vol. 2, p. 1133).
Take, for instance, the case of the Committee on American Youth Camp in Germany. This committee arranges trips and stays for American youths in Germany. On the letterheads of this committee there is found the names of the following persons:
Dr. Colin Ross, Munich.
Professor Sprengling, University of Chicago.
Mrs. Dupont Ruoff, Wilmington, Del.
Mr. Leslie Bissel, Munich.
Mrs. Elsie von Johnson, Munich (formerly of Galveston).
It should be noted that according to testimony we heard,
Dr. Colin Ross is a Nazi propagandist who spends his time between Germany and the United States. He has been one of the outstanding speakers for the German-American Bund and has been a writer for the Weckruf, official organ of the bund (vol. 2, pp. 1133 and 1134).
It is of interest to note that the following article in connection with the Student Exchange idea, which appeared November 14 in the New York Times, having been cabled from Berlin:
Berlin. — A marked increase in the number of American private preparatory schools exchanging students with the official National Socialist boarding schools, called National Political Education Institutes, is represented here as another victory for national socialism over foreign prejudice.
Several American boarding schools have been sending students for a year's training in National Socialist institutions. This year has been a notable increase in the American schools taking part. In the past there has been no difficulty in finding young National Socialists to go to the United States since their expenses are paid by the State. However, very few young Americans could be found for exchange purposes. Largely because of vigorous propaganda by the international schoolboy fellowship, this situation has been altered. The American boys here undergo a year's thorough training in national socialism and wear the customary brown-shirt uniform.
Photographs taken at many of the youth camps were introduced in evidence. In one instance pictures of
children six years old were shown with the swastika, regulation German Army steel helmets and spears instead of the American flag. CONSULAR AID Denials to the contrary notwithstanding, this committee was greatly impressed with the evidence presented showing that there is a relationship existing between the German Government and the German-American Bund through the activities of Nazi consuls in this country.
Fritz Kuhn, leader of the German-American Bund, informed this committee's investigator at a time when the latter was disguised as a storm trooper that not only did he have power over the Ambassador and consular set-up in the United States but that he also had a special secret arrangement directly with Adolf Hitler, of Germany.
Ramifications of this "arrangement," Kuhn declared, also included a secret relationship between the German-American Bund and Dr. Hans Heinrich Dieckhoff, present German Ambassador to the United States, and German consuls throughout the country. (See vol, 2, p. 1149.)
In his executive office on the second floor of the bund national headquarters at 178 East Eighty-fifth Street, New York City, on the night of August 16, 1937, this committee's investigator testified that he spoke with Kuhn concerning a trip he had made to the Pacific coast and told him of the difficulties the Los Angeles Post had had with the German consul there. According to this testimony, Kuhn exclaimed: My God, what's the matter with them. They know what to do. Why don't they let me know about it? I've heard before of this trouble in Los Angeles. Schwinn talked it over with me.
(This Schwinn is Hermann Schwinn, western leader of the German-American Bund. He is from Los Angeles.)
Oh, well, maybe Schwinn took my order of instructions with him to Germany and forgot to send it to his district.
It was at this point that Kuhn made the following statement to the investigator for the committee:
You see, I have a certain special arrangement with Hitler and Germany that whenever any of our groups have trouble with the consulates in their districts that they are to report it to me in full detail. I then take it up with the Ambassador. Germany is not to be troubled with it unless I get no satisfaction from the Ambassador.
That is exactly why there is a new Ambassador to the United States, and that is exactly why many consuls have been and still are being removed. All the new consuls are National Socialists and are under special instructions to give us the fullest cooperation in every way.
It should be pointed out that Dr. Hans Heinrich Dieckhoff, present Ambassador, was sent to the United States, May 14, 1938, to replace Dr. Hans Luther, whose policy, bund leaders said, did not coincide with those of the bund and the Nazi Party in Germany. There have been numerous consulate changes during the last 2 years, and bund leaders a year ago predicted that more would follow. One of the new consuls general appointed a little over a year ago was Manfred von Killinger, who was assigned to San Francisco on June 11, 1937. It was shortly after his appointment that the committee's investigator visited San Francisco and, on the night of August 16, 1937, reported to Kuhn that the San Francisco post of the German-American Bund was well pleased with its new consul. Kuhn stated, according to the investigator for the committee:
Of course, he is the kind of consul we want everywhere.
An article of considerable interest in this connection with the affairs of Baron von Killinger was published only recently in the Salt Lake City Tribune — to be exact, on August 16. The following excerpts from the article:
"The German Government looks upon bund activities in America exclusively as an internal problem of this country, since only American citizens may belong to bunds," Baron Manfred von Killinger, German consul general at San Francisco, asserted here Monday.
It is a fact that the ranks of the American-German Bund include not only American citizens but also aliens. This fact has been established in admission to the committee investigator by various members of the bund to the effect that "they are German citizens and intend to remain aliens." The article continues as follows:
The consul, rated as the No. 2 German in America and close friend of Hitler, was a storm-troop leader in middle Germany and, after Hitler's rise to power, became Prime Minister of Saxony, relinquishing this position in 1935, when state governments were abolished, to enter the diplomatic service.
Although denying emphatically any connection between the German Government and bund camps and organizations for training pro-Nazis in this country, Baron von Killinger expressed sympathy with bund aims.
"The bund leader in Los Angeles has conferred with me and asked me to address members there," the consul related, "but that does not mean I have gone to them."
It is known that Von Killinger has addressed meetings on the coast, and newspapers on the Pacific coast have carried many articles and pictures of these gatherings, many of them showing Consul von Killinger.
Consul von Killinger was also reported as stating that the activities against certain religious groups in this country, as practiced by the German American Bund, are "for the good of America."
The committee had before it evidence (vol. 2, p. 1151) that certain American citizens residing in California had made trips to Germany for the purpose of being schooled in the art of Nazi propaganda and enlightenment. In one instance the father of one of these men (vol. 2, p. 1151) told this committee's investigator that his son's expenses to Germany had been paid through a secret arrangement between the German-American Bund and the Nazi Government. The consuls and diplomatic representatives of Nazi Germany in this country show a much closer cooperation with the nationalists of their country than any other similar group accredited here.
In fact, the evidence introduced plainly shows that
American Citizens have received Nazi propaganda by mail in packages carrying the imprint of the Nazi consulate at St. Louis (vol. 2, p. 1156).
In addition to the close relationship between the German consular service and the German-American Bund throughout the United States, cooperative actions have been noted also between bund officials and officials of German steamship lines.
According to the daily press, Fritz Kuhn, leader of the German-American Bund, has denied the accuracy and authenticity of statements attributed to him by the investigator for this committee. This committee has informed the aforementioned Kuhn that it would be very glad to have him appear as a witness and make his denials under oath provided he came in with clean hands and brought with him the full and complete records of his organization showing not only the membership but the amounts and sources of moneys received and the manner in which they have been expended.
FUNDS AND PROPAGANDA Propaganda direct from the German Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment is distributed by bund officials and evidence was introduced showing definitely that printed propaganda material was shipped from Germany to United States citizens directly. These packages contained, according to the testimony, considerable Nazi propaganda which was printed in Germany for distribution in the United States, considerable Fascist propaganda which was printed in Great Britain for distribution here, and much material of antiracial and antireligious character which was printed here, shipped to German Government agencies, and then reshipped to the United States for distribution in this country. Much of this propaganda is designed for the specific purpose of preaching the gospel of national socialism and the aim of Nazi Germany in foreign lands from every conceivable angle. The names of the American citizens to whom this material was sent from Germany were not permitted in the record because many of them feared reprisals from agents of Nazi Germany.
Some of the packages containing German material carried with them letters from one
Johannes Klapproth, who is in charge of the American section of the World Service, one of the chief Nazi propaganda agencies. This agency, located in Erfurt, Germany, ships materials to the United States and elsewhere. It was referred to briefly on the opening day of testimony and the evidence presented here is in full substantiation of statements made at that time.
Before continuing however, it is well first to consider the background of Mr. Klapproth. Without making any personal reference to this man, but relying on another Federal Government department, Klapproth's record is herewith presented, this record being no different from that already in possession of this committee:
Klapproth was an original member of the German Nazi Party before Hitler rose to power. He is fanatically antiracial and deeply interested in the Silver Shirts movement. He is continually exchanging reading matter with Silver Shirt leaders. He was the organizer of the Friends of New Germany in San Francisco and vicinity. In April 1934 he wrote a report to Germany on the slow progress of the San Francisco Bund at that time, blaming Consul Heuser for this condition.
He is acquainted intimately with George Deatherage and Kositsin and corresponds with them. Klapproth is now in Germany.
He came to the United States in 1928. He is an engineer. Going east, he became the gauleiter [district leader] of Brooklyn for the Nazi movement. This was early in 1935. He returned to the bay region, supposedly after a visit to Germany, where he boasted of having had a conference with Goering during the summer of 1936.
Klapproth toured the west coast with Deatherage for the purpose of interviewing pro-Nazi elements. He received mail at the German consulate in San Francisco. This fact alone once again establishes the tie-up between the German Government and the German-American Bund.
The packages coming here from abroad contained printed material from the pen of Ernst Goerner, of Milwaukee, Wis.; pamphlets from the Knights of the White Camellia, an organization founded by George E. Deatherage, of Charleston, W. Va.; leaflets from the Russian National Union; and issues from the Christian Free Press, printed in Glendale, Calif. Contained in the exhibits of propaganda presented to the committee was a very expensive magazine glorifying Germany's industrial achievements. It is significant that while Naziland defaults on its bonds and no American firm can take its money out of the country, it is able to finance and distribute such propaganda.
One paradox in this particular propaganda maneuvering is the fact that the aforementioned Klapproth, apparently backed by a huge fund for this Nazi work, still asks gullible Americans to send him money for his printed matter which creates racial and religious bigotry in this country.
A superior court judge in California, without requesting it in any way, received four pieces of propaganda put out by the Nazis and printed in Germany, and envelopes advertising George Deatherage and his American Nationalist Confederation of Charleston, W. Va., which utilizes the swastika as its symbol (vol. 2, p. 1178).
The following affidavit has a vital bearing on this whole matter:
* * * being duly sworn, upon his oath says * * *; That he received, on or about July 25, 1938, the accompanying pamphlet, entitled "World Service," which he has attached to this affidavit as exhibit A. That the same was mailed to him from Erfurt, Germany, in the enclosed envelope, which has been marked "Exhibit B."
That he did not subscribe for this pamphlet, or publication, and did not request that it be sent to him. That it is one of a series along similar lines that he has been receiving at intervals over a considerable period of time.
That he makes this affidavit in order that any parties interested, including the congressional investigation committee of which Congressman Martin Dies is chairman, may be informed that printed matter of this character is being forwarded direct from Germany to citizens of this country, unsolicited and without their request, as propaganda of a nature to breed racial and religious intolerance (vol. 2, p. 1178).
Another step in the activities of the Nazi propaganda machine is shown in the interview had with one Karl Neumeister, 1898 Daly Avenue, New York City. The investigator for this committee testified that he interviewed Neumeister with the following result:
Neumeister admitted under questioning that he is engaged in spreading Nazi propaganda. He explained he was doing this kind of work because he believed in the principles of Hitlerism. He admitted that he goes around checking up on people to whom material of this type is mailed from Germany and that he does everything in his power to get these people to take more Nazi propaganda and assist in its distribution throughout the United States.
That
many Germans living in the United States go abroad and take an oath of fealty to the Fuehrer of Germany was shown by evidence taken from a German newspaper, Der Montag, published in Berlin, under date of August 27, 1938.
Printing a dispatch from Stuttgart, this newspaper stated:
Der Treueschwurder vielen tausende Auslandsdeutschen auf den Fuehrer and die nationalen Lieder beschlossen die eindrucksvolle Feierstunde.
The English translation is:
The oath to the Fuehrer of the many thousands of Germans living abroad and national songs closed the impressive festivities.
Fifty Americans had taken part in this annual meeting of the Auslandsdeutschen Institute according to our testimony.
Repeatedly we have been told that there is no connection between the German-American Bund and the Nazi Government or its political subdivisions, repeatedly we have been told that no allegiance to Adolf Hitler is required, and yet here we have an officially inspired newspaper published in Germany telling us that an oath of fealty was taken. The newspaper refers to this year's meeting as the Sixth Reich Congress of the Germans in Foreign Countries with delegates attending from many countries throughout the world.
GUNS, RIFLE RANGES, ETC. Pistol and rifle ranges for all storm troops of the German-American Bund were to be set up according to plans formulated at the convention of the bund, held in New York City in July 1937, according to testimony heard by this committee on October 5, 1938.
Local Nazi units in Philadelphia, Buffalo, Reading, Pa., and Detroit have target ranges and the Philadelphia Nazi post uses heavy .22-caliber rifles which are cocked like regulation Army guns.
A target range was set up at Camp Siegfried, Yaphank, Long Island, and on one occasion Herman Schwarzmann, head of the Astoria, Long Island, group, announced that the men were to be "trained to shoot and to take care of guns" (vol. 2, pp. 1206 and 1207).
A shooting range near Cleveland, Ohio, was also described in our records.
Bund fuehrers informed storm troops that the various German World War veterans in their ranks would train the younger men in the use of arms. It was also testified to that many of these former German soldiers now in the bund storm troops ranks are expert riflemen, gunsmiths, and machine gunners.
Testimony also revealed that bund storm troops join National Guard divisions in order to obtain training in the use of various types of American Army guns.
The committee, in addition, heard testimony which revealed that less than a year ago German espionage began to make a major effort in the United States (vol. 2, pp. 1234 and 1235).
Within the past year one section of the Gestapo, service section No. 2, under the direction of Colonel Nicolai, has added three new departments, Nos. 23, 24, and 25, all three specifically devoted to espionage in the United States.
Department 23 specializes in economic espionage — the obtaining of American manufacturing and industrial secrets.
Department 24 specializes in military intelligence.
Department 25 specializes in Nazi propaganda. Of what type this propaganda will be, and how it will affect the United States, can be learned from pamphlet No. 7 of the Instructions for Our Friends Overseas — a small brochure printed in a total edition of 500 copies and given only to reliable agents. A short excerpt will amply convey the spirit of this "armed propaganda":
German propaganda in the United States must be handled more tactfully than it has been done before. It will not be possible to subsidize American newspapers except in very rare cases — and only newspapers of minor importance.
The fundamental aim must always be to discredit conditions in the United States and thus make life in Germany seem enviable by contrast. It will therefore be to the best interests of the Reich to cooperate secretly with all persons or groups who criticize the American system, regardless on what ground. The line to be taken in all such cases is to exaggerate the strength of Germany and to contrast it with the weakness of democracies.
In its report to the House of Representatives at the beginning of 1940, the committee added the following to its findings on the German-American Bund:
Fritz Kuhn, the fuehrer of the German-American Bund, claims that his organization is nothing more than a political group whose primary purpose is to promote the welfare and best interests of the citizens of the United States and to assist in a solution of their problems. Testimony before the committee, however, both from hostile and friendly witnesses, establishes conclusively that
the German-American Bund receives its inspiration, program, and direction from the Nazi Government of Germany through the various propaganda organizations which have been set up by that Government and which function under the control and supervision of the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment. The bund presently has three major administrative divisions in the United States — the eastern, the mid western, and the far western — each under the direction of a division leader who takes his orders from Fritz Kuhn, the National Fuehrer. There are in the three divisions 47 districts and in the districts are a total of 69 local posts or units.
It has been impossible to accurately determine the extent of the bund's membership due to the secrecy with which it operates and the fact that all membership lists, correspondence, and other records have been destroyed by order of the national leader, an admission he made on the witness stand to this committee. In the absence of membership lists, the committee has had to accept as the best available figure the statement of Fritz Kuhn concerning the bund's membership. He testified that the bund has a membership of approximately 20,000 to 25,000. (A Department of Justice investigation made of the bund in 1937 placed the membership at 6,500.) In addition to the regular membership, it has what is known as the sympathizer or "fellow traveler" group, consisting of those who are sympathetic to the bund but do not actively participate in its proceedings. He testified that the sympathizer group is composed of approximately 80,000 to 100,000 individuals.
It was established that the German-American Bund operating in the United States is similar to the Nazi groups which were built up in Austria and Czechoslovakia prior to their annexation by Germany. The August 31, 1939, issue of the Deutscher Weckruf and Beobachter, official newspaper of the bund, printed an article written in German under the following title:
Fritz Kuhn, America's Henlein. [1] German-American Bund, the organization of which he is the leader, eight to ten thousand uniformed storm troops. The duel, Kuhn versus Dewey.
It was established that the program and the activities of the German-American Bund are similar to Nazi organizations in Germany and in other countries. The bund newspaper makes frequent use of material emanating from Nazi propaganda sources, such as "World Service."
The emblem of the National Socialist Party, the swastika, also is the emblem of the German-American Bund. Fritz Kuhn, in defending the position that the bund is strictly an American political organization, claims that members of the bund must be American citizens. The following is a quotation from the "Weckruf," official organ of the bund, which is illustrative of the bund's attitude with reference to citizenship:
We may have lying in the closet different citizenship papers and yet we are all German men and links of a big German community of hundreds of millions.
In 1936 Fritz Kulin accompanied a large delegation of bund members to Germany ostensibly for the purpose of visiting the Olympic games. The group paraded in uniform of the Orderly Division (storm troops), and the parade was reviewed by Adolf Hitler. Following the parade, Fritz Kuhn and other officials of the German-American Bund were received by the German Fuehrer, at which time they presented him with a golden book containing autographs of bund members and delivered to him a contribution of $3,000 for the German winter relief fund. This money had been solicited from bund members, some of whom, according to Kuhn's testimony, were unemployed and on relief.
In his testimony with reference to the meeting with Hitler, Kuhn stated that no report was made by him concerning bund activities in the United States and that the subject was not mentioned during the interview. However, the December 10, 1936, issue of the official bund newspaper carried an article concerning a speech which Kuhn made in San Francisco following his return from Germany. According to the article, Kuhn stated in his speech that Chancellor Hitler advised him, "Go back and carry on your fight."
1. Karl Henlein, the leader of the Nazi minority group in Czechoslovakia before annexation by Germany.
It was established through the testimony of Fritz Kuhn that the bund had worked sympathetically with other organizations throughout the United States and cooperates with them. Kuhn testified that some of these groups are the Christian Front, the Christian Mobilizers, the Christian Crusaders, the Social Justice Society, the Silver Shirt Legion of America, the Knights of the White Camellia and various Italian Fascist, White Russian, and Ukranian organizations. Kuhn testified that some of the leaders of these groups had addressed meetings sponsored by the bund and that representatives of the bund in turn frequently appeared as speakers at meetings and gatherings sponsored by the above-named groups. It was also established that the bund cooperated with some of these organizations and their leaders by exchanging literature and publications with them and by publishing material emanating from them in the official organ of the bund. Numerous articles have appeared in the bund newspaper expressing the bund's approval of the activities of the organizations already mentioned. The literature put out by the various groups and individuals named is distributed or sold at the bund camps, meetings, and other gatherings.
The following excerpt from the testimony of Fritz Kuhn is indicative of his attitude:
Mr. Whitley (examining the witness). Mr. Kuhn, what are the relations between Mr. Joe McWilliams and his Christian Mobilizers and the German-American Bund?
Mr. Kuhn. They are very friendly to each other, because the Christian Front, the Christian Mobilizers, really have ideas which we sponsor 100 percent.
With reference to the exchange of literature and propaganda material between the bund and various Fascist groups, the committee received testimony that the following are standard reading in bund camps:
Hitler's Mein Kampf, Pelley's booklets and publication, Liberation, the
books of Julius Streicher (German propagandist), and the Rev. Charles E. Coughlin's publication, Social Justice.
The German-American Bund, like the National Socialist Party in Germany, pays particular attention to the training of its youth. Testimony was heard that members of the youth movement were taught nothing concerning American institutions or ideals, and that they were encouraged to be extremely critical of the United States and its Government. It was also found that
the uniforms worn by the members of the youth groups, their camps and program of activities were similar in every respect to those of the Hitler youth movement, and that the Nazi salute was the accepted gesture of greeting. It was established that groups of leaders of the German-American Bund youth movement are frequently sent to Germany for special training. Testimony was received from a witness who was a member of
a group of 15 boys and 15 girls from various parts of the United States who were selected by the bund to be sent to Germany for special training. According to the witness, all instructions concerning arrangements and the trip came from V. D. A. (League of Germans Living Abroad), one of the Nazi propaganda agencies; and all plans and arrangements with reference to the trip were carried out with the utmost secrecy.
It was established through the two witnesses, both former bund members, that
there is a political agent on all German ships and that these political agents maintain contact with the Nazi representatives in foreign countries. They are intermediaries for transmission of instructions to the bund leaders in the United States and they receive reports from these leaders concerning the bund's activities, according to the witnesses. A former bund member on the west coast testified that
German agents engaged in espionage activities, contacted bund leaders in the United States and sought and received their cooperation. This witness also testified that he had heard discussions among bund leaders with reference to the manner in which the bund, through its members in various industrial plants, could effectively carry out a program of sabotage in case such action became necessary. Evidence was heard by the committee that
members of the bund had assisted German agents whose arrests were sought by officials in the United States in avoiding apprehension and had helped get them out of the United States with the cooperation of German ships. Evidence also was taken indicating that
Nazi propaganda agencies, through officials of the German Government in the United States, have attempted to propagandize educational institutions in this country. It was testified that a German consul general had offered, on behalf of the German Government to subsidize German departments in American universities provided the professors were "acceptable'' to the Nazis. Cooperating groups. — The committee has found abundant evidence of the cooperation of certain other organizations with the German-American Bund. This is a more serious matter than is the direct strength or influence of the bund itself. For example,
in August 1938 a so-called anti-Communist convention was held at the bund headquarters in Los Angeles at which Hermann Schwinn, leader of the bund on the west coast, was one of the principal speakers; and Arno Risse, bund leader, who has since fled the country, was one of the two or three persons most active in promoting and making arrangements for the convention. According to the testimony of Henry D. Allen, one-time Silver Shirt leader, organizer of the American White Guard, and prominent figure in Fascist circles generally,
the following persons participated in this convention:
Kenneth Alexander, Southern California leader of the Silver Shirts; J. H. Peyton, of the American Rangers; Chas. B. Hudson, of Omaha, Nebr., organizer and leader of America Awake, who accompanied General Moseley when he appeared before the committee; Mrs. Leslie Fry, alias Paquita Louise De Shishmareff, mysterious international figure who has since fled the country, then leader of the Militant Christian Patriots; representatives of Italian Fascist and White Russian organizations; and a number of others of similar point of view. Some White emigre Aufbau members possessed valuable American connections. Colonel Boris Brazol resided in New York, where he played a leading role in the Russkoe natsionalnoe obschestvo (Russian National Society). [117] This organization supported Grand Prince Kirill Romanov's candidacy for Tsar. [118] As we shall see, Aufbau increasingly backed Kirill for Tsar. Brazol also worked on the staff of the American industrialist and politician
Henry Ford's anti-Semitic newspaper, The Dearborn Independent. In particular, Brazol provided information on the "Jewish question." [119] Scheubner-Richter praised Brazol as "one of the leading personalities in the Russian emigre circles of America." [120] Brazol also spent much time in Munich, though he was not officially registered there. He collaborated with Scheubner-Richter and furthered Aufbau's cause by writing anti-Semitic literature. [121]
At least two other White emigre Aufbau members possessed important American ties. General Biskupskii's cousin Vladimir Keppen received a $500,000 fortune from a parent in America, and he put much of this money at Aufbau's disposal. [122] General Konstantin Sakharov also possessed connections with America. After making a name for himself as an extraordinarily capable Tsarist officer, he had served as the chief of the General Staff of General Aleksandr Kolchak's White army in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. [123] From Siberia, he had maintained relations with the German General Staff. [124] After the Bolsheviks had captured and executed General Kolchak, Sakharov had led the remains of the latter's White army over Lake Baikal into the Russian Far East. [125] Sakharov had tried to travel to Europe as a representative of the White cause, but the Entente had refused to allow him entry because of his pro-German views. He had left for America instead. [126] He arrived in Munich from America in 1921 and immediately joined Aufbau. "[127]
-- The Russian Roots of Nazism: White Emigres and the Making of National Socialism, 1917-1945, by Michael Kellogg
Bund literature mingled with that of William Dudley Pelley, Robert Edmondson, Mrs. Fry, and George Deatherage on the tables of this convention. It is clear to the committee that
this convention was in no real sense an anti-Communist convention but rather another of a series of attempts to unite some of the various forces of intolerance, racial hatred, Naziism and Fascism in order to achieve greater influence in the United States. This effort like others of its kind yielded no apparent results.
"Well, I don’t believe [The Communist Party] is a political party. I believe it is an un-American thing. The thing that I resent the most is that they are able to get into these unions, take them over and represent to the world that a group of people that are in my plant, that I know are good, 100 percent Americans, are trapped by this group, and they are represented to the world as supporting all of those ideologies, and it is not so, and I felt that they really ought to be smoked out and shown up for what they are, so that all of the good, free causes in this country, all the liberalisms that really are American, can go out without the taint of Communism. That is my sincere feeling on it." (Eliot 193)
-- Walt Disney's testimony to HUAC, from "Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Dark Prince," by Marc Eliot
Allen further testified that he was sent out by Mrs. Fry on an extended trip throughout the country, and that all his expenses were paid by Mrs. Fry, but Allen did not know her source of the money. During the course of this trip Allen visited George Deatherage, leader of the Knights of the White Camellia, James True of Washington, D. C, publisher of the so-called Industrial Control Reports, Gerald B. Winrod, Kansas preacher, Nazi protagonist, and unsuccessful candidate for the Senate, Robert Edmondson, disseminator of Fascist literature, and Fritz Kuhn.
On this same trip Allen went to Atlanta, Ga., to attempt to "buy the Ku Klux Klan" for Mrs. Fry for the sum of $75,000. He testified that he talked to Hiram W. Evans, head of the Klan, but that Evans "was not interested in the idea." In releasing this report on the activities of Nazi agents in the United States the committee wishes to make the emphatic statement that neither the committee as a whole nor any of its individual members entertains the slightest doubt of the unswerving loyalty to the United States of our fellow citizens of German descent. In a number of cases it was their cooperation which made disclosures of bund activities possible. They felt that it was as much in their interest as in that of the Nation as a whole that the committee endeavored to bring to light some of the facts concerning the operations of Nazi agents and the leaders of the German-American Bund.
The question of the form of government of the German or any other nation is not one that concerns either this committee or the American people. But attempts by any foreign agency to influence American citizens in favor of a foreign form of government and against American democracy is quite a different matter and one concerning which the Committee on Un-American Activities has immediate and great concern.
In its report to the House of Representatives at the beginning of 1941, the committee called attention to the effectiveness of the method of exposure in dealing with an organization such as the German-American Bund. The committee said:
When we began our work, the German-American Bund had a hundred thousand followers who were pledged to its fuehrer, Fritz Kuhn. The very first exposure which our committee undertook in the summer of 1938 was that of the German-American Bund. The first volume of our hearings opens with a hundred pages of detailed testimony on the un-American and subversive character of the bund.
During the past week the committee published a translation of the official, confidential Manual of the Storm Troopers of the German-American Bund. That document proves conclusively that the German-American Bund is an organization which is highly militarized, and which requires absolute loyalty on the part of its members.
Today Fritz Kuhn is in Sing Sing prison and the German-American Bund has been thoroughly discredited. James Wheeler-Hill, former secretary-treasurer of the bund, is also in prison. Our exposures have provided thousands of innocent people with adequate protection against the false claims of the bund. Its drastically reduced membership and following may now be held to consist only of those whose loyalty is to Hitler.
When we began our work, the bund and a score of Nazi-minded American groups were laying plans for an impressive united front federation — a federation which would be able to launch a first-rate Nazi movement in the United States. By our exposure of these plans, we smashed that Nazi movement even before it was able to get under way.