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mostly-history · 5 years ago

Photo

German American Bund rally at Madison Square Garden (New York City, February 1939).

In 1933, Rudolf Hess gave Heinz Spanknöbel, a German-American immigrant and German Nazi Party member, the authority to form an American Nazi organization. With help from the NYC German consul, Spanknöbel merged the Gauleitung-USA and Free Society of Teutonia to form the Friends of New Germany. This organization was based in New York, but also had a strong presence in Chicago.

The FONG made verbal attacks against Jewish people, Communists and the Treaty of Versailles. Although the Nazi Party supported them at first, they soon realized that it was doing more harm than good in America. In December 1935, Hess ordered all German citizens to leave the FONG, and all its leaders were recalled to Germany.

In 1936, the German American Bund was formed in its place. Its name was chosen to emphasize its American-ness, and only American citizens of German descent were allowed to join, as the press had criticized them for being unpatriotic.

The main purpose of the German American Bund was to promote a positive view of Nazi Germany. The organization expressed admiration for Hitler, demanded that America remain neutral in the approaching European conflict, and were strongly antisemitic and anti-Communist.

Fritz Julius Kuhn, a German-born American citizen, was elected as Bundesführer. Kuhn had fought in the Bavarian infantry during WW1, and was an Alter Kämpfer (“old fighter”) of the Nazi Party. He was an effective leader, able to unite the organization and increase membership.

Their biggest rally was held in February 1939 in Madison Square Gardens, with a crowd of over 20,000. Flanked by swastikas, American flags and a portrait of George Washington, Kuhn attacked President Franklin D. Roosevelt for being part of a “Bolshevik-Jewish conspiracy”. He called his New Deal the “Jew Deal”.

Fistfights broke out in the crowd among those who had come to heckle Kuhn. 3,000 members of the Ordnungsdiest (the GAB's military arm) were in attendance. After the rally, Kuhn was arrested for larceny and forgery – he had embezzled $14,000 from the Bund. While the organization didn't prosecute him, as they considered their leader to have absolute power, the NYC district attorney prosecuted him in an attempt to damage the Bund. Kuhn went to prison, and after his arrest, the Bund gradually fell apart.

The GAB was dissolved on December 8th, 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. After America declared war on Germany, federal officials began to arrest officials of the former Bund. Gerhard Kunze, Kuhn's successor, was captured in Mexico, and sentenced to 15 years of jail time for “subversive activities”. 24 other officials were sent to prison, convicted of conspiracy to violate the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 (America's first peacetime conscription act). Other leaders committed suicide before the FBI could catch up with them. Some of the ordinary members had their naturalization revoked and some spent time in prison camps; however, most members faced no consequences after the Bund was disbanded. Kuhn was deported to Germany after the war.

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hiddenww2 · 7 years ago

Photo

Nazi Supporters in the United States, 1930s.

Approximately 20,000 members of the Friends of the New Germany gather together at Madison Square Garden on May 17, 1934.

German-American Bund leaders (including Fritz Kuhn, front of stage) salute passing members during a march at Camp Siegfried on August 29, 1937.

German-American Bund members parade in New York City. Date unspecified

American Nazi sympathizers rally at the steps of the Chicago Field Museum in May 1931.

A bumper sticker saluting Adolf Hitler and indicating membership in the German-American Bund in Omaha Nebraska, November 1938.

Supporters give the Nazi salute at Camp Siegfried on August 29, 1937.

Members of the Friends of the New Germany, New York's Madison Square Garden on May 18, 1934.

Hundreds of German-American Bund supporters salute the marchers at the group's Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, New York on August 29, 1937.

Nazi groups existed in the United States in the 1930s.

These images are from just one such group, the German American Bund (1934-1941) which was preceeded by the Friends of New Germany (1933- 1934), and the Free Society of Teutonia (1924-1932).

The German American Bund main goal was to promote a favorable view of Nazi Germany. The Bund had 70 chapters and ran about 25 ‘summer camps’. Despite only accepting members of German origin the group had 25,000 members, 8,000 of them in its militarized "Storm Trooper" wing.