Awake and Act!

Hitler's Friends

Founded in the mid-1930s, the German American Bund was a National Socialism organization in the United States that derived from the German Nazi Party. The group name changed several times, evolving from the “Friends of Hitler” to the “Friends of New Germany”, with the final name being the “German American Bund”. The Bund's goal was to push political National Socialism in the United States, to resemble the political landscape in Germany. They wanted to fight against Communism, Marxism, and “Jewish arrogance”. They wanted a white, nationalistic, Christian-ruled United States, and believed Nazism was the way to achieve that.

Booklet from the German American Bund stating purposes and goals of group, 1936. (Courtesy of the Internet Archive)

Booklet from the German American Bund stating purposes and goals of group, 1936. (Courtesy of the Internet Archive)

Leader of The German American Bund, Fritz Julius Kuhn. This photo was taken shortly after his rearrest in 1948. (Courtesy of the Digital Public Library of America)

Leader of The German American Bund, Fritz Julius Kuhn. This photo was taken shortly after his rearrest in 1948. (Courtesy of the Digital Public Library of America)

Kuhn and His Bund

Fritz Julius Kuhn was born in Munich, Germany in 1896, and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1934. He had early ties to Hitler's Nazi party and when he first immigrated to the U.S., he became a local unit leader for the Friends of New Germany Nazi organization in Detroit, MI. In 1936, Kuhn held a rally in Buffalo, NY establishing the German American Bund and was made the leader of the Midwest faction of the group. He aspired to be the supreme leader, or Führer, of the German American Bund.

"The Bund is American in its inception and in its field of endeavor, German in its idealism and character.

Fritz Julius Kuhn, 1936, Stated in “The Task Before the Bund” section of the Aims and Purposes booklet

Nazi Town, USA

The Bund used many different ways to reach German Americans, most notably the indoctrination of children using “summer camps”. These camps were inspired by Hitler Youth programs in Germany. The largest camp, Camp Siegfried, was located in Long Island, New York. While kids participated in normal camp activities, such as camping, hunting, and shooting, they were also taught Nazi songs, eugenics, and how to properly salute the swastika. The most notable Nazi song that German American Bund Youth members would learn was Horst Wessel Lied. This was the anthem of the Germany's Nazi Party.

Clubhouse at of the largest youth camps, Camp Siegfried. Located in Long Island, NY. (Courtesy of “Kämpfendes Deutschtum.")

Clubhouse at of the largest youth camps, Camp Siegfried. Located in Long Island, NY. (Courtesy of “Kämpfendes Deutschtum.")

Click play below to hear "Horst Wessel Lied"

Horst Wessel Lied - English Translation

Flag high, ranks closed,
The S.A. marches with silent solid steps.
Comrades shot by the red front and reaction
March in spirit with us in our ranks.

The street free for the brown battalions,
The street free for the Storm Troopers.
Millions, full of hope, look up at the swastika;
The day breaks for freedom and for bread.

For the last time the call will now be blown;
For the struggle now we all stand ready.
Soon will fly Hitler-flags over every street;
Slavery will last only a short time longer.

Flag high, ranks closed,
The S.A. marches with silent solid steps.
Comrades shot by the red front and reaction
March in spirit with us in our ranks.

"Pro-American" Rally

The Bund held several rallies throughout its existence. The reasonings for these events varied from rallies about the boycott of German goods in America to the celebration of Adolf Hitler's birthday. The most widely known and largest rally put on by the German American Bund was in celebration of George Washington's birthday. On February 20, 1939, 20,000 people gathered at Madison Square Garden. Covering the walls were banners with slogans such as "Wake up America smash Jewish Communists," and "1,ooo,ooo Bund members by 1940".

Several speeches were delivered at the Madison Square Garden "Pro-American" rally. These speeches were full of antisemitic and hateful rhetoric. One speech, by Midwestern Department Leader George Froboese, called for a "Jew-free America".

Footage from the Madison Square Garden Rally:

"The Jew is as Alien, in Body, Mind and Soul, as ANY other non-Aryan, and that he is a thousand times more dangerous to us than all others by reason of his parasitic nature!"