The German American Bund: A Pro-Nazi Organization in the United States

The German American Bund was one of the most notorious fascist organizations in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. At an era of heightened American antisemitism, it claimed that Jews were the enemies of both Germans and Americans. Bund members promoted the lie that Jews were conspiring to control politics, economics, the media, and other areas of society. The Bund promoted the false accusation that Jews were to blame for Communism, a conspiracy theory called “Judeo-Bolshevism.”

Founding of the German American Bund

The German American Bund was founded in March 1936. However, the Bund was not the first pro-Nazi organization in the United States. Both the Free Society of Teutonia (1924–1932)1Footnote 11 and the Friends of New Germany (1933–1936) openly supported Nazism. 

After the Friends of New Germany collapsed in 1936, the German American Bund inherited some of its members and property. One of the most important differences between the two organizations was that Bund members had to be US citizens. 

Leadership and Membership

Fritz Kuhn, the Bundesführer 

Photo

Fritz Kuhn, head of the antisemitic and pro-Nazi German American Bund, speaks at a rally. (Photo)

Fritz Kuhn, head of the antisemitic and pro-Nazi German American Bund, speaks at a rally. United States, between 1936 and 1939.

Credits:

• National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD

Fritz Kuhn (1896–1951) emerged from within the ranks of the Friends of New Germany to lead the German American Bund. Kuhn was born in Germany and served in the German army during World War I. After living in Mexico for five years, he came to the United States in 1928. He became a US citizen in 1934. 

Kuhn envisioned the German American Bund as a strictly hierarchical organization. Kuhn was known as the Bundesführer (Bund leader). He hoped the Bund would operate according to the Führerprinzip (“leader principle”). According to this autocratic principle, authority in an organization was dictated by its leader and was expected to be unconditionally followed by the lower ranks.

Bund Members

Estimates for German American Bund membership vary, in part because the Bund tended to be secretive about who had joined. There may have been as many as 25,000 dues-paying members at the organization’s peak during the late 1930s. Membership was strongest in the northern and eastern United States. By 1937, there were members in every state except for Louisiana. Everyone who applied to be a member of the Bund had to declare that they had no Jewish or African American ancestors. 

Bund members swore a loyalty oath to Germany’s Chancellor Adolf Hitler. They were taught to respect him as a fighter for Germany against Jewish enemies. All members were required to purchase a copy of Hitler’s prison autobiography, Mein Kampf. Proceeds from the sales of the book were used to support Bund operations. 

The most dedicated members of the Bund belonged to an armed wing known as the Ordnungsdienst (OD). The OD was modeled on the Nazi Party’s paramilitary organization, the Sturmabteilung (SA). The Bund’s OD conducted militaristic activities and wore Nazi-style uniforms. 

The Bund became a well-known organization in the United States. However, it played a minor role within the German-American community. The vast majority of the more than 8 million people of German ancestry in the United States did not join or support the Bund.

The German American Bund’s Ideology

The German American Bund insisted that it was a patriotic American organization. It also insisted that there was no contradiction between American patriotism and support for Nazism.  

The Bund’s vision for the United States was based on an eight-point plan. Central tenets of the plan included:

• establishing white Christian supremacy in the United States;
• expelling Jews from labor unions and government positions;
• ending relations with Soviet Russia and outlawing Communism in the United States;
• stopping the flow of refugees into the United States; and
• isolating the United States from international conflicts and world affairs.

The Bund called for German Americans to preserve the German language and culture in the United States. It urged members to purchase German-made goods and to combat anti-German propaganda. 

Promoting Antisemitism 

Antisemitism was at the core of the Bund’s ideas and activities. Its propaganda campaigns and community outreach were modeled on Nazi Party ideology and behavior. The Bund also cooperated with other antisemitic organizations in the United States. One of these groups was the Christian Front led by the antisemitic Catholic priest Father Charles E. Coughlin. 

German American Bund Propaganda 

The Bund published a newspaper called the Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter (German Call and Observer). It also criticized American newspapers that printed stories critical of Hitler. In addition, the Bund circulated pamphlets, books, and German-made movies that supported Nazism. 

Bund propaganda spread the antisemitic conspiracy theory known as “Judeo-Bolshevism.” Judeo-Bolshevism is the accusation that all Jews are Communists. The Bund also promoted the hateful idea that Jews were conspiring to control the world for their own benefit. Some of this propaganda drew on the infamous antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Bund propaganda also demonized President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It suggested, incorrectly, that President Roosevelt was secretly Jewish and that his real name was “Rosenfelt.” 

Summer Youth Camps

The Bund opened some two dozen summer youth camps throughout the United States. It aimed to recruit boys and girls of German ancestry from age 8 to 18 into its ranks. These camps were inspired by efforts to indoctrinate young people in Nazi Germany. Camp activities sought to promote loyalty to the Bund and willingness to fight against enemies. Campers learned German language and songs; saluted the swastika; listened to Hitler’s speeches; studied the lives of Nazi leaders; wore uniforms; and carried daggers. 

Bund camps spread from Connecticut to California. The most active camps were on the east coast. Among them were Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, New York, and Camp Norland in Andover, New Jersey. Bund families could also use the camps for weekend retreats. 

Madison Square Garden Rally

The Bund held multiple rallies and public demonstrations. The most infamous took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 20, 1939. 

The rally was timed to celebrate George Washington’s birthday, as the Bund always claimed it was a patriotic American organization. At the center of the stage was a huge banner depicting George Washington. The image of Washington was flanked on each side with US flags, as well as with the Bund flags that incorporated the Nazi swastika.

A crowd of more than 20,000 people gathered under signs that read “Wake Up America—Smash Jewish Communism” and “Stop Jewish Domination of Christian America.” The crowds booed at any mention of President Roosevelt. They also chanted “Heil Hitler” during the rally. The Bund’s slogan “Free America” was repeated frequently. Kuhn gave the closing speech at the rally. He called for a “white, Gentile-ruled United States” that was free from what he called “Jewish domination.” 

The American press reported that some 10,000 people gathered outside Madison Square Garden to protest the rally. New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia let the rally continue based on the principle of free speech. He stated: “If we are for free speech we have to be for free speech for everybody and that includes the Nazis.” 

Photo

A ceremony of the pro-Nazi German American Bund (Photo)

A ceremony of the pro-Nazi German American Bund. Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, October 16, 1937.

Credits:

• University of Southern California - Courtesy of University of Southern California

US Responses to the German American Bund

Multiple organizations in the United States opposed the Bund. Labor organizations denounced its anti-union stance. The Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League to Champion Human Rights and the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League both made efforts to counter the Bund’s antisemitic propaganda. 

The US government also investigated the Bund multiple times. A 1937 inquiry by the FBI concluded that the Bund’s activities—including praising Hitler, displaying a swastika flag, and rallying in support of Nazism—had not broken any federal laws. Bund leaders considered this an important victory. However, government investigations would continue.

In 1939, the House Un-American Activities Committee (often called the “Dies Committee” because it was chaired by Representative Martin Dies of Texas) held hearings to investigate the Bund. One of the Americans who testified before this committee was Chicago journalist John C. Metcalfe. Prior to the hearings, Metcalfe infiltrated the Bund. Based on his undercover observations, he testified that the Bund aimed to establish a network of Nazi spies in the United States. Metcalfe also stated that the Bund was working to convince all German Americans to support Nazi Germany. In addition, he showed photos that documented the Bund’s cooperation with more than 130 other far-right, antisemitic US organizations. 

Fritz Kuhn was called before the Dies Committee twice in 1939. At around the same time, Mayor LaGuardia ordered the New York District Attorney to investigate the Bund’s financial dealings. Kuhn was arrested, tried, and convicted of larceny and forgery of financial records. After serving more than three years in prison, Kuhn’s US citizenship was revoked. He was deported to Germany in 1944. In Germany, Kuhn went through a denazification process and served prison time. He died in 1951.

Downfall of the German American Bund 

By 1941, the Bund was in disarray with internal infighting about who would succeed Fritz Kuhn as leader. Its last national convention, held in Chicago in August 1941, attracted very few members.

The Bund took a strong isolationist stance against the United States entering World War II. By 1940, it had aligned itself with the America First Committee and other isolationist organizations. Unlike America First, however, the Bund celebrated Nazi Germany’s takeover of countries in Europe.

The United States entered World War II on December 8, 1941. At that time, the US government outlawed the German American Bund. The Bund officially disbanded on December 16, 1941. 

During its operation, the Bund drew significant attention and forged alliances with other racist and antisemitic organizations in the United States. However, it ultimately had few members. It disappeared quickly from the American scene once the United States went to war against Nazi Germany and the Axis powers.