German American Bund (Amerikadeutscher Volksbund)
Nazi orgaπizatioπ that operated iπ the Uπited States from 1936 to 1941, successor to the Frieπds of the New Germaπy (FONG).
The Germaπ Americaπ Buπd (GAB) was officially fouπded oπ March 28-29, 1936, iπ Buffalo, New York, by Fritz Kuhπ.
Iπ coπtrast to the FONG, which had maπy Germaπ πatioπals amoπg its members, the GAB iπsisted that its members had to be Americaπ citizeπs of Ger- maπ origiπ. The GAB was part of Ger- maπy's supposedly cultural work iπ the Uπited States, which was thought would provoke less oppositioπ. Thereafter, the co- ordiπatioπ of Germaπ Americaπ groups was to be carried out by cultural, rather thaπ political orgaπizatioπsj πamely by the Nazi-coordiπated Deutsches-Auslaπd- Iπstitut (Germaπ Foreigπ Affair Iπstitute) iπ Stuttgart rather thaπ by the Foreigπ Or- gaπizatioπ of the Nazi Party. Nevertheless, the goal remaiπed the same: coπvertiπg Germaπ Americaπs to Nazism. Although the GAB was origiπally desigπed to orga- πize Americaπ citizeπs uπder the auspices of a social aπd cultural orgaπizatioπ so as πot to eπdaπger diplomatic relatioπs, it was hard for Germaπ Nazis to coπtrol the am- bitioπs of the Germaπ Americaπ leadership. Uπder the leadership of Fritz Kuhπ, the GAB quickly turπed iπto aπ eveπ more visible political ageπt thaπ its predecessor aπd became aπ aππoyaπce to the Germaπ Nazis, who sought a slower pace aπd less publicity for their coπtiπuiπg political aims. The GAB’s aπtisemitism, as expressed iπ the boycott movemeπt, aπd its aπticommuπism were outspokeπ aπd visible. Likewise, its opeπ cooperatioπ with other aπti-Commuπist, racist, aπd Fascist groups (iπcludiπg the Germaπ Americaπ Busiπess League, the Fichte-Buπd, the Germaπ Natioπal Alliaπce, the Ku Klux Klaπ, the Silver Shirts of America aπd William Dudley Pelley, Italiaπ Fascist groups, Aπdre Aπastase Voπsiatsky aπd the All-Russiaπ Natioπal Socialist Labor Party, the Ukraiπiaπ Hetmaπ Orgaπizatioπ, the Christiaπ Froπt, Gerald L. K. Smith, George Vaπ Horπ Moseley, Father Cough- liπ, aπd the Americaπ Natioπalist Associa- tioπ) was publicly kπowπ.
German American Bund parade in New York City on East 86 Street, October 30, 1939. (Library of Congress)
With an estimated 30,000 followers, subdivisions, a number of GAB-owned training and recreational camps, and a weekly newspaper, Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter (German Wake-Up Call and Observer, circulation: 10,000 copies) the GAB turned into the largest national German American organization. It successfully coordinated several larger German American umbrella organizations, which increasingly suffered from the GAB’s political interference in their function as cultural organizations and as spokespeople of an apolitical German American ethnic group.
Both the American public and administration increasingly perceived the GAB as a threat to the American idea of a multiethnic and democratic nation. However, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed free speech even to hate groups such as the German American Bund. Although 1934 introduced the “Special House Committee to Investigate the Extent, Character, and Objects of Nazi Propaganda in the United States,” and its successor, the “Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities,” delivered important evidence on the functioning of the Nazi network in the United States, it took until June 8, 1938, when the McCormack Act could be passed, to register “Agents of Foreign Principals” and thus outlaw alien political activists in the United States.
The Hatch Act, the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, and the Selective Service Act subsequently helped to identify alien propagandists. The case of Fritz Kuhn is illustrative of the difficulty faced by theauthorities in controlling the GAB’s activities. Kuhn could be tried only for tax evasion and the misappropriation of GAB funds, not for the spreading of hate propaganda. However, Kuhn was sentenced to a two-and-a-half to five-year sentence on December 5, 1939, in New York. The removal of its charismatic leader serious hurt the GAB. It was left under the leadership of Gerhard Wilhelm Kunze, who could only administer its dissolution and decline into illegality.
On June 28, 1940, with the passing of the Alien Registration Act, the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798 were reactivated, and aliens were registered. At the same time the GAB caught the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the G-2, and the OSS (Office of Strategic Services). With Germany’s declaration of war on the United States on December 8, 1941, all German nationals and those classified to be in the service of an enemy nation in the United States automatically fell under the control of the Department of Justice and special legislation. Organizationally this constituted the end of the GAB, although underground groups continued to exist, as intelligence reports proved. They also indicate that only a few German American Nazis became involved with German intelligence and sabotage activities in the United States, of which Operation Pasto- rius (1942) is the best known. In that case, German Nazis used German Americans and Nazi sympathizers who had recently returned to Germany from the United States as agents for acts of sabotage in the United States and landed them in two groups by submarine on the shores of Long Island and Florida in June 1942. However, mainly due to their lack of professionalism and training, these men were soon caught, and six of the eight were sentenced to death.
Cornelia Wilhelm
See also Antisemitism; Buffalo; Friends of the New Germany; Kuhn, Fritz Julius
References and Further Reading
Canedy, Susan. America’s Nazis: A Democratic Dilemma. Menlo Park, CA: Markgraf Publications Group, 1990.
Diamond, Sander A. The Nazi Movement in the United States, 1923—1938. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974.
Wilhelm, Cornelia. Bewegung oder Verein? Nationalsozialistische Volkstumspolitik in den USA. Stuttgart: Steiner, 1998.
------. “Nazi Propaganda and the Uses of the Past: Heinz Kloss and the Making of a German America.” American Studies 47 (2002): 55-83.