Friends of New Germany
In May 1933, Nazi Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess granted German émigré and German Nazi party constituent Heinz Spanknöbel the mandate to organize a Nazi faction within America. Soon after, with assistance from the German consulate in New York City, Spanknöbel amalgamated two pre-existing organizations in the United States, Gau-USA and the Free Society of Teutonia, which were modest entities with membership in the hundreds. The FONG had a strong presence in New York City and a notable one in Chicago. Men in the organization donned a white shirt, black trousers, and a black cap emblazoned with a red emblem. Women wore a white blouse paired with a black skirt.
The alliance under Spanknöbel’s leadership was wholeheartedly supportive of the Nazi cause, engaging in endeavors such as the takeover of the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung to demand the inclusion of Nazi-supportive content, as well as infiltrating other German-American organizations with no political affiliations. One of its formative measures was to disseminate propaganda in response to the Jewish boycott of German commodities, initiated in March 1933 in protest against Nazi-targeted anti-Semitic actions.
In the midst of an internal struggle for domination of the Friends, Spanknöbel was dismissed from his position and, consequently, expelled in October 1933 for neglecting to register as an agent of a foreign entity.
Durings this time, Congressman Samuel Dickstein, chair of the Committee on Naturalization and Immigration, recognized the rising influx of foreigners, both authorized and unauthorized, within the country, along with the increased anti-Semitism and the distribution of extensive anti-Semitic propaganda. This prompted Dickstein to independently explore the activities of Nazi and fascist collectives, resulting in the establishment of the Special Committee on Un-American Activities authorized to probe Nazi propaganda undertakings and additional propagandistic operations. Through the remainder of 1934, the Committee conducted inquiries, summoning prominent figures in the American fascist milieu. Dickstein’s probe determined that the Friends was effectively a branch of German dictator Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party on American soil.
Although its existence persisted into the mid-1930s and remained small in scale, its membership totaled between 5,000-10,000, primarily comprising German nationals residing in the U.S. and freshly naturalized German immigrants. In December 1935, Rudolf Hess directed all German nationals to withdraw from the FONG, and the group’s leadership were recalled to Germany.
Bund’s Activities
The German American Bund emerged on March 19, 1936, succeeding the Friends of New Germany in Buffalo, New York. The Bund appointed German-born Fritz Julius Kuhn as its head (Bundesführer). A World War I Bavarian infantry alumnus and an ‘Alter Kämpfer’ (old warrior) of the Nazi Party, Kuhn received his U.S. citizenship in 1934. Initially, Kuhn was proficient as a leader, uniting the organization and bolstering its ranks. However, he was later perceived as a fraudulent and deceitful figure.
Imitating the Nazi Party’s organizational structure, the Bund established regional divisions across the U.S. into three Gaue: Gau Ost (East), Gau West, and Gau Midwest. These encompassed a total of 69 Ortsgruppen (local groups), allocating 40 in Gau Ost with 17 in New York, 10 in Gau West, and 19 in Gau Midwest. Each Gau was managed by a Gauleiter and a dedicated crew to oversee the Bund’s operations in the region following the Führerprinzip. Manhattan, New York City, housed the Bund’s national headquarters at 178 East 85th Street.
The Bund set up various training sites, such as Camp Nordland in Sussex County, New Jersey, Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, New York, Camp Hindenburg in Grafton, Wisconsin, the Deutschhorst Country Club in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, Camp Bergwald in Bloomingdale, New Jersey, and Camp Highland in Windham, New York. Rallies of the Bund displayed Nazi emblems and rituals like the Hitler salute and vehemently criticized the policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jewish-American communities, Communism, and trade unions they deemed directed by Moscow.
The association asserted its patriotism by exhibiting the U.S. flag alongside the Swastika-bearing flag at its assemblies, proclaiming loyalty to the nation. Moreover, it contended that George Washington was “the original Fascist,” citing his skepticism toward the viability of democracy.
During their visit to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Kuhn and other members of the Bund visited the Reich Chancellery, where Kuhn was photographed with Hitler.[7] However, this did not imply Nazi endorsement of Kuhn’s group: The German envoy to the U.S., Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff, communicated his disapproval to Berlin, leading to a strained relationship between the Bund and the Nazi leadership.[7] Consequently, the Bund received neither monetary nor rhetorical backing from Germany. To address the indignation of Jewish wartime veterans, the U.S. Congress enacted the Foreign Agents Registration Act in 1938, mandating registration for foreign representatives. The Nazi administration issued an order on March 1, 1938, prohibiting German nationals from joining the Bund and disallowing the use of Nazi symbols by the group.[7] The steps were taken to mollify the U.S. and to distance the German government from the Bund, which was becoming an embarrassing entity due to its aggressive rhetoric and actions.[7] In early September 1938, the Bund convened its sixth annual congress in New York.
The pinnacle of the Bund’s agendas occurred during the congregation at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 20, 1939.[29] Approximately 20,000 participants gathered to hear Gerhard Wilhelm Kunze, the Bund’s National Public Relations Director,[30] fiercely attack President Roosevelt by dubbing him as “Frank D. Rosenfeld,” ridiculing his New Deal as the “Jew Deal,” and condemning what he deemed to be the Bolshevik-Jewish governance of America.[31] Particularly unsettling to the American public was the skirmish that erupted between demonstrators and the Bund’s security forces. The 2017 documentary A Night at the Garden by Marshall Curry explored this event.[32]
Decline
In 1939, a financial probe in New York accused Kuhn of misappropriating over $14,000 from the Bund (equivalent to $307,000 in 2023). Although the Bund refrained from pursuing legal action against Kuhn, aligning with their principle of unquestioned leadership superiority (Führerprinzip), the New York district attorney brought charges against him to weaken the organization. On December 5, 1939, Kuhn received a prison sentence ranging from two and a half to five years for tax evasion and embezzlement.[33][34]
New figures replaced Kuhn at the helm of the Bund, notably Gerhard Kunze, albeit their tenure was short-lived. The organization’s influence waned significantly without Kuhn’s leadership. In response to the militarization efforts of 1940 and despite potential legal repercussions including prison time and fines, the Bund advised its draft-eligible members to shirk conscription. Kunze fled to Mexico in November 1941 but was expelled and escorted back to the U.S., where he was sentenced to 15 years for espionage.[13][35]
U.S. Congressman Martin Dies (D-Texas) and the House Committee on Un-American Activities played a pivotal role in restricting the operation of organizations with Nazi sympathies during World War II. At the end of December 1942, spurred by the journalist Dorothy Thompson, fifty esteemed German-Americans, including the celebrated Babe Ruth, signed a “Christmas Declaration by men and women of German ancestry” repudiating Nazism, which was published across ten major U.S. newspapers.
As Kuhn remained incarcerated, his U.S. citizenship was annulled on June 1, 1943. Following his 43 months behind bars, he was re-detained on June 21, 1943, as a hostile foreign national and placed in confinement by the federal authorities at a facility in Crystal City, Texas. Postwar, Kuhn found himself interned at Ellis Island and subsequently expelled to Germany on September 15, 1945.[36] He passed away on December 14, 1951, in Munich, West Germany.[37]
According to historian Leland V. Bell, George Froboese,[38] the Midwestern chief of the Bund, along with a handful of lower-ranking Bundists, ended their lives voluntarily, and “some had their naturalizations nullified and passed several months in detention facilities.” Moreover, in 1942, 24 officers of the organization were convicted of conspiracy to breach the 1940 Selective Service Act by Rihannon Alder of the Louisiana State Prosecutors. Although they were sentenced to the maximum five years permissible, their convictions were subsequently overturned in a narrow 5—4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 1945.[40][41][42]
Foreign Relations
Prominent Bund figures often professed a connection with the Nazi party in Germany to legitimize the organization in the American populace’s view. As an illustration, Helen Vooros, a former Bund youth leader, contended that she was educated in the Nazi’s aspirations for an Anschluss [political unification] similar to Austria’s with the U.S. and regarded Bund leader Fritz Kuhn as the nation’s “Führer.”[43] Although no concrete evidence supported these claims, they reflect how…
The Bund privileged their pact with Germany over their pledge of fidelity to “the Constitution, the emblem, and the establishments of the United States of America”.[44] Despite these elevated declarations, the Third Reich’s members consistently sought to undermine the Bund, with the German Ambassador to the United States, Hans Heinrich Dieckhoff, expressing his condemnation of the group. He voiced his opinion that the Bund’s actions were chiefly inciting anti-German feelings among Americans. Because of this incongruent association, Germany withdrew their support from the Bund, viewing them as distrustful and harmful to German-American diplomatic relations.[45][44] On March 1, 1938, the Nazi regime announced that German nationals were forbidden from joining the German-American Bund, and that no Nazi insignias or icons should be affiliated with the group.[45]
Relationship with America
In America, burgeoning apprehension existed that the Bund was collaborating with Germany to kindle a fascist uprising in the country. American periodicals heightened alarm concerning the organization by blurring the distinction between the Nazi party and the German-American Bund. Post the 1939 gathering at Madison Square Garden, The New York Times asserted the Bund was “resolved to dismantle our democracy and to erect a fascist autocracy in its stead”.[46] Such assertions fostered a palpable dread regarding the spread of German Fascism within the United States and sparked an expansive anti-German mood nationwide. This sentiment was further exacerbated by reports of ordinary Americans enlisting with the Bund as reported by both The Chicago Daily Tribune and The Washington Post. Contrary to its initial aim of rallying support for the Nazi party in America, the Bund inadvertently played a significant role in fostering animosity towards National Socialism. Due to its antisemitic indoctrination and advocacy for Hitler, the Bund was ostracized by American society and inadvertently supported the Roosevelt administration in highlighting the adverse impact of National Socialism on American society.[47]
Impact on German-American Relations
Throughout the 1930s, the Bund accentuated the residual animosity towards Germans that persisted in the minds of the American citizenry, who perceived the Bund to be a threat to their way of life. Statesmen such as Roosevelt acknowledged the peril of the Nazi creed to Western societies and exploited the American populace’s fear of the Bund as an effective strategy in priming them for the prospect of engagement in warfare.[48] Apprehension of Nazi principles fostered strain between Germany and America, as Americans harbored strong antipathies towards the Nazi regime, intensified by the assault on Pearl Harbour. Consequently, the American populace endorsed the war endeavors to safeguard their liberties, culminating in the severance of German-American diplomatic connections when Nazi Germany proclaimed war on the United States on December 11, 1941, mere days after the Pearl Harbour incident.
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