The Bund created an American version of the Hitler Youth that educated children in the German language, German history and Nazi philosophy.
Although this organization tried to differentiate itself from the previously unsuccessful Friends of New Germany, the German Foreign Ministry commented that
“In reality…they are the same people, with the same principles, and the same appearance”.
The Bund began attracting the attention of the federal government in the summer of 1937 as rumors spread that Kuhn had 200,000 men ready to take up arms.
During that summer an FBI probe of the organization was conducted but no evidence of wrongdoing was found.
Later in 1938 Martin Dies of the House Un-American Activities Committee wildly proclaimed that Kuhn had 480,000 followers.
More accurate records show that at the peak of his power in 1938 Kuhn had only 8,500 members and another 5,000 “sympathizers”.
In February 1939 Kuhn and the Bund held their largest rally in Madison Square Garden
—ironically, one which marked the beginning of the end for the organization.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/american-nazi-organization-rally-madison-square-garden-1939/
In front of a crowd of 22,000, flanked by a massive portrait of George Washington, swastikas, and Americans flags,
Kuhn attacked FDR for being part of a Bolshevik-Jewish conspiracy,
calling him “Frank D. Rosenfeld” and criticizing the New Deal,
which Kuhn had deemed “the Jew Deal”.
Three thousand members of the Ordnungsdienst, the militant arm of the Bund, were on hand
and fistfights broke out in the crowd among those who had come to heckle Kuhn.
After the rally, New York District Attorney Thomas Dewey arrested Kuhn on charges of larceny and forgery.
He not only was convicted of these charges but he also confessed to being arrested multiple times for drunkenness, carrying on extra-marital affairs, and pocketing $15,000 from the Madison Square Garden rally.
After the war, Kuhn was deported to Germany;
he died there unceremoniously in 1951.
Following Kuhn’s arrest, the Bund slowly withered away, until its dissolution on 8 December 1941,
after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
After the United States declared war on Germany, federal officials began to arrest Bund officials.
Kuhn’s successor Gerhard Kunze was captured in Mexico and sentenced to 15 years of prison for “subversive activities”.
In the end, the Bund of German immigrants held little power, if any, and often made average Americans less sympathetic to Germany,
as the Bund’s extreme anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi views did not play well with the American public.
Even Nazi Germany realized this and attempted to distance itself from the Bund.
#Spanknobel #Kuhn