German American Bund

B.     Membership and Americanization of the Bund

In the summer of 1936, Kuhn and the Bund’s national leadership made an infamous journey to their beloved Fatherland.  Germany was hosting the 1936 Olympics and it was an auspicious opportunity for the Nazis to showcase to the world the accomplishments of National Socialism.  For Fritz Kuhn, it was a golden opportunity to obtain sanction and recognition from the Fuehrer himself.  Upon their arrival, leaders of the Auslanderorganization greeted Kuhn and his delegation in Hamburg.  From Hamburg they traveled to Stuttgart where they joined the mayor, Fritz Gissibl and other DAI officials for a dinner party held in honor of the American guests.  Kuhn enjoyed a first-class experience in Germany and he reveled in every moment.  He and his delegation visited the grave of Horst Wessel, attended the Olympic Games and were even given permission to join the SA in a parade through the streets of Berlin.  The triumph of the trip, however, was on August 3 when Kuhn was granted a brief meeting and a photo opportunity with Hitler.  During this brief encounter, Kuhn presented the Fuehrer with $3000 which the Bund had raised as a gift towards the Nazi charity, the German Winter Relief Fund.  He also presented to Hitler the Goldene Buch der Amerika-Deutschen, a leather bound pictorial history of the Bund wherein the dedication read, “Also in America the hearts of the German people beat out to the great Fuehrer of all Germans.”[1] Kuhn and Hitler shook hands for a photograph, and the meeting concluded.  While the photograph with the Fuehrer would later be published and used as evidence in a host of accusations against the Bund, up to this point, it was the most glorious moment for Fritz Kuhn and the Bund.  Supposedly it was overheard that Hitler told him “Go over there and continue the fight”[2] which reinforced Kuhn’s conviction that the German American Bund had secured the endorsement of Hitler and the Nazi Party.  In reality, Hitler’s meeting with Kuhn was only one of a long procession of meetings with foreign guests.  Germany was on display and Hitler was simply playing the gracious host. 

Kuhn’s trip garnered considerable press coverage and as a consequence, Bund membership increased.  The actual number of members in the Bund has always been a matter of contention and controversy.  Determining the size of the movement is extremely difficult.  Membership lists in the Bund records in the National Archives in Suitland, Maryland are scattered and incomplete.  Kuhn himself always kept a shroud of secrecy over the number of members in the Bund.  Both Kuhn and his detractors were notorious for making unsubstantiated and wildly inflated claims about Bund membership.  In 1939 before a Special Committee of the House of Un-American Activities, Kuhn testified that the organization had about 90 to 100 chapters with an estimated membership of between 75,000 and 100,000.[3]  Many times more sympathizers swelled the ranks of the Bund.  Journalists and government investigators tallied Bund membership anywhere between 6,500 to 500,000.  Bund historian Leland Bell estimated that at the peak of the Bund’s popularity in 1937 and 1938, there were approximately 8,500 members and 5,000-6,000 anonymous sympathizers.[4] Herzstein suggests a lower figure of 6,500 activists with perhaps 15,000 to 20,000 sympathizers.  Other historians suggest that at its height, the Bund had a plausible membership of around 20,000.   The New York Times in 1937 listed membership at about 10,000.

            Regardless of its actual numbers, according to the Bund’s constitution, only American citizens could attain membership provided he/she accepted the leadership principle and was of Aryan stock, free from any Jewish or Negro blood.[5]  Obviously the Bund primarily attracted German-Americans but they welcomed what the Bund called “like-minded” or sympathetic Americans.   Kuhn testified, “We have hundreds of thousands of people who cannot afford to be seen with us but still wholeheartedly or partly sympathizing with us.” There were no questions asked of sympathizers; anyone willing to pay dues could become a Bund sympathizer.  Kuhn added that the sympathizers group could not vote or hold office within the organization nor could they participate in internal Bund matters or politics.  Kuhn explained the role of sympathizers: “We give them membership cards, give them sympathizer cards.  The idea is to pay a due and just show that they are with us.”[6] 

As for the exact number of actual full-fledged members, Kuhn testified in 1939 that he could not tell the exact number of members because he did not keep records anymore.  He admitted that he had personally given the orders to destroy all membership records.[7] He explained, “I gave every order to destroy every membership list, to destroy records which could be misinterpreted…I have to protect my members…dozens who have lost their jobs because they were members of the Bund.”[8]

Throughout the Bund’s existence, the number of its members fluctuated.[9] Kuhn’s October 30, 1936 Bund Command focused attention on the status of German nationals within the organization.  Local units were given instructions to admit German citizens into the Prospective Citizens League which did not have a separate administration from the Bund.  Typically, the Bund preferred to only accept German nationals who had taken out their papers for American citizenship.  Kuhn restricted the activities of German nationals by ordering them to stay out of politics and excluded them from any and all leadership positions in the Bund. The prospect of Germans being swallowed up into the American melting pot was a worse-case scenario for the Bund.  All efforts had to be made to prevent this, even at the cost of admitting non-Americans into the Bund through Prospective Citizens League.  Keeping German nationals in the Prospective Citizens would also swell the ranks of the Bund.  At the same time it would prepare German nationals to become citizens of their new adopted nation while preserving vital connections with the homeland. 

            Under Kuhn’s leadership, the Bund achieved national notoriety.  According to Kuhn, the Bund was operational in forty-seven states; all but Louisiana. Despite such boasts, the Bund operated chiefly in northern and eastern urban centers, particularly the metropolitan areas in the state of New York.[10]  The Bund commanded its largest following in centers of significant German immigrant populations.  The organization was divided into three regions or Gau: East, Midwest, and West.  Kuhn claimed one hundred local units with fifteen in New York, eight or nine in California and six in New England.  The Eastern Gau operated out of the National Headquarters in the Yorkville section of New York City. 

The power structure of the Bund was organized in the following manner: from the top downward were the Bundsfuehrer; the other national officers including a Deputy Fuehrer; secretary, treasurer; press agent, and public relations officer.  Officials of the ancillary organizations included camp directors, the women’s and youth auxiliaries; and the DVK (Deutscher Konsum Verband, a Bund-affiliated corporation) representative; area regional, city and local Fuehrers; and lastly the rank and file membership.[11] Each section operated on its own leadership principle reporting upwards.  Communication flowed downwards from Kuhn through a series of Bund Commands.  The efficient organization and command structure of the Bund was an essential factor in marketing its ideology and obtaining recognition from the American public.  The Bund put its organizational talents to work in 1936 when they gained tremendous publicity by stealing the spotlight at the Madison Square Garden’s annual German Day celebration.

The 1936 German Day celebration at Madison Square Garden was a major turning point for the Bund.  Before the Bund existed, the relatively non-political United German Societies controlled the affairs at the German Day celebration. But in 1936, the Bund usurped the event.  The other German societies were eclipsed and they eventually abandoned the celebration.  The Bund gained enormous notoriety and it capitalized on the opportunity to publicize its new “pro-American” propaganda.  Kuhn even managed to secure some prestigious figures like Olympic magnate Avery Brundage, to speak on the Bund’s behalf.  Kuhn hoped that support from such an esteemed American would give the Bund some respectability.  The Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter proudly quoted Brundage’s statement, “Wir konnen viel von Deutschland lernen” (“We can learn a lot from Germany,”), validating the merits of National Socialist ideology. 

German Day was dedicated to commemorate the contributions, patriotism and creative genius Germans had given to the United States.  They emphasized that German Americans had rendered magnificent services to America throughout its history and the German element was vital to the character and making of the country.  The Bund paid tribute to the courage of the early German-American pioneers and the leadership of Baron von Steuben who played a glorious part in the American Revolution.  They reminded Americans that Germans fought under Abraham Lincoln’s banner to save the Union during the civil war, Carl Schurz crusaded for progressive reforms and that during WWI, thousands of Germans enlisted and sacrificed their lives for American democracy.   German-Americans should look with pride at the courageous acts of their forefathers who fought for American freedoms and contributed greatly to the United States.  The Bund contended that it, too, continued the German-American tradition of service by battling Communism and the elements that threatened American liberty.  The Bund also took pains to reach into American history and carefully select evidence to support its cause.  For example, it emphasized that isolationism was a major tenet of the Founding Fathers, and the Bund loved to evoke Washington’s farewell address, warning the new nation about the dangers of foreign entanglements.  The Bund effectively used such time-honored U.S. sentiments to encourage Americans to remain neutral with Germany, and after 1939, to stay out of the war. 

While the Bund was inspired by National Socialism, its leaders sought to make it perfectly clear that the group was in no way a revolutionary movement with any aim of taking over the United States or altering the American government in any way.[12] Bundists reminded Americans that National Socialism was an inner political affair of Germany and it had no connection to the group’s American goals. As early as 1936 Kuhn stressed, “There can suggestion of our desire to transplant political National Socialism to this country.”[13]  The task of the Bund was to fight Jewish Marxism and Communism in America, not to transplant National Socialism to the U.S.[14]

Throughout 1937, the Bund held a series of spectacular displays and rallies in order to propagate their message to the American people.  They viewed the mass rally as an effective propaganda technique with which to broadcast their message while instilling the fighting spirit within its membership.  The Bund organized and staged an average of three or four rallies per week with attendance varying between 50 and 5,000 people.   Bund rallies were noisy, belligerent and joyous affairs.  They typically featured swastika and American flags, fascist salutes, columns of marching OD men, stamping feet, rousing applause and thunderous “Sieg Heils!”  Marching bands accompanied Bund rallies and participants sung Nazi songs as well as the Star Spangled Banner.  Speakers harangued their audiences about Jews and Communists, anti-Nazi critics, anti-German boycotts, and the need for a united front to save Germandom and America. 

An important component of the Bund’s flair was the OD (Ordinungs-Dienst), the militant wing of the Bund.  The OD was the protective arm of the organization which represented the group’s militancy, order and discipline.  Kuhn explained the function of the OD as a sort of bodyguard for the Bund; “we have to protect our members and these men are the most active members.”[15] Unfortunately, membership information for OD is practically non-existent.  At the 1938 Bund Convention, Kuhn said, “I calculate that approximately ten percent of membership should belong to the OD.  That is approximately the proportion of the SA to the membership of the NSDAP.” [16] The OD was a carry-over from the Friends of the New Germany and was little more than an imitation of the Nazi storm troopers.  With their blatant impersonation of the Nazi SA, it is not difficult to see why many in America perceived the Bund to be a paramilitary, even revolutionary movement.  A report issued by the Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities and Propaganda in 1939 suggested that the Bund could muster a uniformed force of 5,000 from its ranks at any given time.[17] When questioned about the rumors of German World War One veterans training and drilling in what were called “storm-troop ranks,” Kuhn replied, “We don’t drill our men...we have regulations and orders which we have to follow, but we don’t have drilling and by drilling I understand with arms or for war purposes in military form which we do not.”[18] Kuhn testified truthfully that “our OD men are not trained with arms at all…our OD men don’t even belong to rifle clubs.” [19]

Despite all the flamboyance of a militarized, fighting fascist organization, the Bund was to be a peaceful, law abiding, political movement.  In fact, despite all their rhetoric about fighting, the Bund was essentially a non-violent organization.  Although they were enormously provocative and evoked violent response from their detractors, they themselves were extremely vigilant about operating within the law.   In fact, upholding and protecting the law was a cardinal virtue of the movement.  In 1939, before the HUAC special committee Kuhn could proudly boast, “We do nothing outside the law.  There is never in our mind any idea of overthrowing the government.  All we do is strictly inside the law. [20] While the Bund was often the target of violence, they themselves never advocated or practiced violence.  Kuhn observed, “We never disturbed the Communistic meetings whatever…but we are disturbed”[21] In fact, nowhere in any of its literature or propaganda did it advocate violence or revolution of any kind.  Bund pamphlets urged German-Americans to “Arise and fight-not with guns and pistols, but with the weapons of the intellect, against corruption, against Communism…under the Constitution, and for the United States…”  They further explained that “Breaking skulls can never persuade a friend of the merits of our cause.”[22]  

Despite their new “American” rhetoric and proclamations about defending the United States, the Bund’s message was soundly rejected by most Americans.  It was clear that “by 1937, the Bund’s bold and blatant campaigns of hate, the portrayal of itself as a fighting organization eager for battle, its obvious Nazi character and sympathies provoked alarm, suspicion and often sharp criticism among numerous Americans.”[23] Most in America simply viewed the German American Bund as a foreign, un-American and subversive organization.  Their swastika flags and dual allegiance were not winning over the sentiments of Americans.  They were widely reviled and seen as little more than Nazi spies or agitators.  Moreover, the year 1937 marked a turning point in American perceptions of and tolerance for Nazi Germany.  Anti-Nazi sentiment hardened in America and numerous anti-Nazi organizations were formed in 1937. These groups naturally became vocal and active enemies of the Bund.

To improve their image and win over more Americans, the Bund attempted to intensify its “Americanization” program.  In an effort to prove their American loyalty, the Bund published Purposes and Aims, which spoke to “men and women of the Germanic Race…bound together by blood, ideals, and sympathies.”[24]  While the pamphlet discussed the Bund’s goals of furthering both the interests of Germany (their ancestral land) and the United States (the nation of their “free choice and adoption,”), its main function was to outline the group’s patriotic American goals.  The chief ideals outlined in Purposes and Aims were as follows:

1.      Above all to uphold and defend the constitution and the laws of the United States of America;

2.      To respect and honor the Flag and Institutions of the United States of America, and to cultivate their lofty ideals;

3.      To promote Good-will, lasting friendship and continued

      beneficial relations between the United States of America 

      and Germany;

4.      …expose and depose Communism, Marxism, 

      Internationalism, and Un-American Boycott Rackets

       within the United States of America; 

5.      To defend with all lawful means…the good name and    

      honor of our mother-country Germany….[25]

 

Thus, while Bund literature professed strong rhetoric about defending American institutions and ideals, at this point in time, a major emphasis continued to be placed on furthering the interests of the homeland.   For Bundists, the two ideals were naturally interconnected.