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| The '''German American Bund''' ([[German language|German]]: ''Amerikadeutscher Bund''), also known as the '''German American Federation''' was a pro-[[National Socialist]] organization established in the [[United States]] March 29, 1936.<ref>''Organized Anti-Semitism in America'', Donald S. Strong, page 23</ref> Often derided in the press as '''Americaโs [[Brownshirts]]''', the organization was the successor of an earlier [[German American]] group, [[Friends of New Germany]], which had a large number of non-American German nationals as its members. The Bund had strong ideological ties to the New Germany however there has never been any evidence [[National Socialist Germany]] ever financed the group.<ref>''Nazis in Newark'', By Warren Grover, page 177</ref> According to the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] the Bund had its largest membership of 8500 in 1937-1938.<ref>''Encyclopedia of White Power'', by Jeffrey Kaplan, p. 96</ref> Around this same time undercover reporters from the ''Chicago Daily Times'' who infiltrated the Bund for six months estimated their membership to be 20,000.<ref>[http://dlib.nyu.edu/undercover/sites/dlib.nyu.edu.undercover/files/documents/uploads/editors/ChiDailyTimes_Sept9_FULL.pdf ''Chicago Daily Times'' September 9, 1937]</ref> The German American Bund slogan was "Free America!"<ref>''Under Cover'', by John Roy Carlson, page 46</ref>
| | [[File:F5697546-38AB-4A9B-934F-2C771D343858.png|thumb|right|200px|German American Bund symbol.]] |
| | [[File:611C5B96-D747-4DE6-A72D-0E1AA866229C.png||thumb|125px|right|German American Bund Members march by Bundsfuhrer Fritz Kuhn during a March in New Jersey circa 1938.]][[File:E0a8b2acbd168114.png|frameless|right|125px]] |
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| | '''The German American Bund''' also known as the ''Amerikadeutscher Volksbund'' โAVโ, was an American [[National Socialist]] organization created in 1936 following the dissolution of its predecessor [[Friends of New Germany]] or FONG. The name changes and creation of the German American bund was due to the fact that the press and many others had accused them of being unpatriotic, and as a way to show patriotism, they created the new organization, German-American Bund. |
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| The Bund held their meetings mostly in [[German language|German]], however, being of German descent was not a requirement for membership.<ref>[http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wsuvan1&CISOPTR=917&REC=5 Sworn testimony of Otto Decker]</ref> Forty percent of the membership was of non-German ancestry, most of these being [[Irish]].<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/investigationofu193906unit#page/3886/mode/2up Testimony of Fritz Kuhn, August 6, 1939, before the House of Un-American Activities Committee, page 3886]</ref> All members of the Bund had to be American citizens and of the [[White race]].<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/investigationofu193906unit#page/3724/mode/2up Testimony of Fritz Kuhn, August 6, 1939, before the House of Un-American Activities Committee, page 3724]</ref> | | ==Formation== |
| [[Image:Bund_parade_in_New_York_in_1937_was_held_under_police_guard.jpg|thumb|300px|Bund parade, East 86 Street, New York, October 30, 1939]]
| | The Bund was formed up of German Americans an Americans of German descent. The goal was to establish national socialism in the [[United States]], promote positive views of the Third Reich, and to promote a noninterventionist position in the ever-evolving situation in Europe. |
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| ==Organization==
| | May of 1933, Deputy Fรผhrer [[Rudolf Walter Richard Hess|Rudolf Hess]] gave German immigrant and NSDAP Party member Heinz Spanknรถbel the authority to form an American [[national socialist]] organization. Soon after Spanknรถbel created the Friends of New Germany (FONG) merging two older groups in the U.S. Gau-USA and the Free Society of Teutonia. Both smaller groups contained only a few hundred members. The FoNG was based in New York City but had a strong presence in Chicago. Male members wore a uniform consisting of a white shirt, black trousers and a black kepi adorned with the organizations symbol. Female members wore a white blouse with a black shirt. |
| [[File:Flag of the German American Bund.png|thumb|300px|Flag of the German American Bund]] | |
| The German American Bund was formally organized at a national convention held in Buffalo, New York, on March 29, 1936 orginally named the '''German American Volksbund''' (''Amerika Deutscher Volksbund''). On June 3, 1936 the group was renamed the German American Bund. In 1939 the group had sixty-two offices nation-wide.<ref>[http://www.magicgatebg.com/Books/INDEXII/Encyclopedia%20of%20the%20Great%20Depression%20Vol%201.pdf ''Encyclopedia of the Great Depression'', page 53]</ref>
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| [[Fritz Gissibl]] was the national leader, later succeeded by [[Fritz Kuhn]] in December 1937. Kuhn became the head of three subsidiary or affiliated organizations: the German-American Business League, the A. V. Publishing Corporation, and the A. V. Development Corporation. The Bundโs newspaper were called ''[[Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter]]''. The Bund also had a German Film Society.<ref>[http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wsuvan1&CISOPTR=917&REC=5 Sworn testimony of Otto Decker]</ref> | | ==Expansion== |
| | While under the leadership of Spanknรถbel, the organization was involved in having members join other German-American organizations that were not necessarily politically affiliated in efforts to draw more members to the FoNG and into the fold of pro National Socialist ideals. At this time the FoNG was also heavily involved in trying to counter the [[jews|jewish]] propaganda that was enticing Americans, especially jewish-American to boycott German goods that began in March of 1933 as a response to the NSDAPโs boycotting of [[jews]] stores in Germany. After an internal power struggle, Spanknรถbel was removed from power and eventually moved back to Germany. He later died of starvation on March 10, 1947, in Russian Prison Camp #1, near Brandenburg. On December of 1935. Deputy Fรผhrer [[Rudolf Walter Richard Hess|Rudolf Hess]] ordered all of the German citizens in the FoNG as well as its leadership to come back to the Vaterland. |
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| The Bund ran over twenty recreational camps many of these with rifle ranges and gun clubs affiliated with the [[National Rifle Association]] (NRA).<ref>[http://www.stonybrook.edu/lihj/IssueFiles/V21_2/Articles/Shaffer/shaffer.html#6 "Long Island Nazis: A Local Synthesis of Transnational Politics" ''Long Island History Journal'' Volume 21, Issue 2, Spring 2010]</ref> The Bund was organized into three โ''[[Gau]]''โ or regional divisions located in [[New York City]], [[Milwaukee]], and [[Los Angeles]].<ref>[http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Fascism/Support_Hitler_US.html Support for Hitler (or Fascism) in the United States</ref> The eastern division ''Gau Ost'' had forty locals, ''Gau Mittelwest'' nineteen locals and ''Gau West'' ten locals.<ref>''Shadow Enemies: Hitler's Secret Terrorist Plot Against the United States'', by Alex Abella, Scott Gordon, page 59</ref> The only significant representation of the Bund in [[the South]] was in the small German-American community of Taylor, Texas.<ref>''The Establishment in Texas Politics: the Primitive Years, 1938-1957'', By George N. Green, page 72</ref> German Americans who made up the Bund were mostly recent immigrants; those who have been in the country for generations seldom belonged to the Bund.<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011957712;view=1up;seq=49 ''Organized Anti-Semitism in America; The Rise of Group Prejudice'' by Donald S. Strong, page 33]</ref>
| | ==Follow up== |
| | On March 19th of 1936, as a follow up to the March 10 194 Friends of New Germany (FONG), the German American Bund was officially established in Buffalo, NY. The man elected to lead this new organization as the BundsFรผhrer, Fritz Julius Kuhn was a German WWI veteran and member of the Nazi party from the early days of its inception. The Bunds headquarters were located in Manhattan NYC at 178 East 85th Street. The Bund followed its organizational set up from the NSDAPโs in Germany. The U.S. was split into three GAUs: GAU OST or east, GAU MIDWEST, and GAU WEST. The three GAUs were comprised of 69 Ortsgruppes (local chapters) 40 of these Ortsgruppen were in GAU OST alone, then 19 in GAU MIDWEST, and 10 in GAU WEST. New York had the most with 17 being located in the state alone. Each GAU had its own Gauleiter and staff who ran each region and reported to the BundsFรผhrer. |
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| The ''[[Ordnung Dienst]]'' was the uniform division of the Bund.
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| ==Madison Square Garden rally==
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| [[File:German American Bund im Madison Square Garden am 20 February 1939 mit รผber 20 000 Teilnehmern.jpg|thumb|300px|German American Bund Rally at Madison Square Garden, February 20, 1939]]
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| On February 20, 1939 the German American Bund held a meeting in [[Madison Square Garden]] in [[New York City]] in celebration of the birthday of [[George Washington]] which drew an estimated audience of more than 22,000.<ref>[http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v07/v07p419_Peel.html The Great Brown Scare: The Amerika Deutscher Bund in the Thirties and the Hounding of Fritz Julius Kuhn]</ref> Bund banners proclaimed "Americans-Stop Jewish Domination of Christian America" and "Smash Jewish Communism."
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| ==Decline of the Bund==
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| In 1939, seeking to cripple the Bund, [[New York City]] mayor [[Fiorello La Guardia]] had the city investigate the Bund's taxes. It found that Kuhn had embezzled over $14,000 from the Bund, spending part of that money on a mistress. District Attorney and later presidential candidate
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| [[Thomas E. Dewey]] pressed charges and won a conviction against Kuhn. On December 6, 1939 Kuhn was sentenced to two and half to five years in prison.<ref>[http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v07/v07p419_Peel.html The Great Brown Scare: The Amerika Deutscher Bund in the Thirties and the Hounding of Fritz Julius Kuhn]</ref>
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| Kuhnโs successor as leader of the Bund was [[Gerhard Wilhelm Kunze]]. With Kuhnโs absence the Bund began its demise and by the time America entered the war it was of little consequence.<ref>[http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v07/v07p419_Peel.html The Great Brown Scare: The Amerika Deutscher Bund in the Thirties and the Hounding of Fritz Julius Kuhn]</ref>
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| The German American Bund claimed to have disbanded itself on December 8, 1941, the day after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]. <ref>''Insidious foes: the Axis Fifth Column and the American home front'', by Francis MacDonnell, p. 45</ref> However, key leaders and local units went โundergroundโ and operated during the duration of the war as sports teams, singing societies and social clubs.<ref>[http://archive.is/20130506084217/www.uniset.ca/naty/maternity/55FSupp403.htm UNITED STATES v. BAECKER et al. March 25, 1944]</ref> On December 13, 1941 a concert was held in Brooklyn by the [[Volkeschor]] a German American singing choir that was earlier formed by the Bund. After the concert was over it was stated the German American Bund would continue under the guise and name of the Volkeschor.<ref> ''Loyalty On Trial: One American's Battle With The FBI'', by Erik Wolter, page 120</ref>
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| In October 1942 the Justice Department started a nation-wide effort to revoke the American citizenship of naturalized members of the Bund and place them in [[American internment camps]].<ref>[http://encyclopedia.densho.org/media/ddr-densho-156/ddr-densho-156-260-mezzanine-090cd1f736.pdf War Relocation newsletter October 5, 1942]</ref>
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| ==Headquarters==
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| The German American Bund headquarters was located at 178 East 85th Street in New York City.
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| ==National leaders and notable members==
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| *[[Fritz Gissibl]], National Leader (March 29, 1936 - December 1, 1937)
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| *[[Fritz Kuhn]], National Leader (December 1, 1937 - November, 1939)
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| *[[Gerhard Wilhelm Kunze]], National Leader (December 6, 1939 - December 7, 1941)
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| *[[James Wheeler-Hill]], National Secretary
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| *[[William Luedtke]], National Secretary
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| *[[August Klapprott]], Deputy Leader and editor of ''[[Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter]]''
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| *[[Rudolph Markmann]], Deputy Leader (East coast)
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| *[[George Froboese]], Deputy Leader (Midwest)
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| *[[Herman Schwinn]], Deputy Leader (West coast), replaced in 1940 by [[Carl Woeppelmann]]
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| *[[Richard Mettin]], National Treasurer
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| *[[Gustav J. Elmer]], National Treasurer
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| *[[Severin Winterscheidt]], editor of the ''Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter'' and press chief
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| *[[Peter Gissibl]], president of the [[German American Business League]] ''Deutscher Konsum Verband''
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| *[[Karl Weiler]], [[German American Settlement League]]
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| *[[Otto W. A. Willumeit]], Chicago Bund leader
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| *[[Martin E. Kessler]], Cleveland Bund leader
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| *[[Edmund Wax]], Toledo, Ohio Bund leader
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| *[[Otto Wegener]]
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| *[[Hermann Schwarmann]]
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| *[[Hans Zimmerman]], head of propaganda section in New York
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| *[[Theodore Dinkelacker]], National Youth Leader
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| *[[Karl Arndt]]
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| ==Fronts and subsidiaries==
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| * [[German American Business League]] - ''Deutscher Konsum Verband''
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| * [[German American Settlement League]]
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| * [[German American Vocational League]] - National leaders were [[Fritz Schroeder]] and [[Fred Buttig]]
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| * [[Volkeschor]] - (peoples choir) German American singing choir primarily organized as a front to rent halls for Bund activities. After the declaration of war by Germany upon the United States the Bund was formerly dissolved and the Volkeschor was used to continue Bund activities.
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| * [[Ordnungs Dienst]] - The uniform corps of the Bund often referred to disparagingly as the Bundsโs [[Storm Troopers]].
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| * [[Frauenschaft]] - The Bund's women's auxiliary.
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| * [[Jugendschaft]] - The Bund's youth group.
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| * [[Crusaders for Americanism]] - Political front to attract Americans who were not of German origin to support the Bund and [[National Socialism]].
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| * [[Anti-Communist Federation of America]] - Bund political front based in California. This umbrella group would meet at the Deutsches Haus in Los Angeles.
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| ==Bund recreational camps==
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| There were 24 Bund recreational camps in the United States. Nineteen of these had adjacent youth camps.<ref>''Shadow Enemies: Hitler's Secret Terrorist Plot Against the United States'', by Alex Abella, Scott Gordon, page 60</ref>
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| * [[Camp Nordland]] - Andover, New Jersey
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| * [[Camp Siegfried]] - Yaphank, Long Island, [[New York]] [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_ph.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005684&MediaId=2743]
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| * [[Camp Hindenburg]] (youth camp) near Grafton, Wisconsin
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| * [[Camp Hindenburg Park]] near [[Los Angeles]]
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| * [[Camp Deutschhorst]] (youth camp) also known as Deutschhorst Country Club, near Sellersville and Croydon, Pennsylvania
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| * [[Camp Bergwald]] in Riverdale, New Jersey
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| * [[Camp Highland]] (youth camp) near Windham, New York
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| * [[Camp General von Steuben]] near Danbury and Southbury, Conn.
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| * [[Camp Efdende]] near Detroit, Michigan
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| * [[Camp Sutter]] (youth camp) near Los Angeles
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| * [[German Central Farm]] (Deutsche Zentrale Farm) near Parma, Ohio
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| * [[Camp Will And Might]] (youth camp) near Griggstown, New Jersey<ref>[http://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/04/28/402679062/nazi-summer-camps-in-1930s-america Nazi Summer Camps In 1930s America?]</ref>
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| *A camp in Spring Garden Park, Buffalo, New York
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| *Other camps were located near Schenectady, Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, Calif., Spokane, Seattle, Portland, Oreg., Bloomingdale and Griggstown in New Jersey; and St. Louis. (Stanton, Missouri)
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| ==Bund Publications==
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| ===Newspapers===
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| Papers issued by Friends of Germany and the German American Bund
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| *''[[California Weckruf]]''
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| *''[[Cincinnati Freie Presse]]''
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| *''[[Das Neue Deutschland]]'' (August 1933-January 1934)
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| *''[[Deutsche Zeitung]]'' (January 1934-November 1934)
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| *''[[Deutscher Weckruf]]'' (November 1934-July 1935)
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| *''[[Deutscher Beobachter]]''
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| *''[[Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter]]'' (July 1935) later changed to ''[[The Free American (German American Bund)|The Free American]]''
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| *''[[Vorposten]]''
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| ===Newsletters===
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| *''[[Bund Command]]''
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| ==See also==
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| *[[Friends of New Germany]]
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| *[[Fiorello La Guardia]]
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| *[[Meyer Lansky]]
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| *[[NSDAP/AO]]
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| *[[Great Sedition Trial of 1944]]
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| *[[Teutonia Association]]
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| *[[Deutscher Bund Canada]]
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| *[[Colin Ross]]
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| ==Further reading==
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| * Prof. Sander A. Diamond: ''The Nazi Movement in the United States. 1924โ1941.'' Cornell University Press, Ithaca (NY) 1974
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| *''[https://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A2943/datastream/OBJ/view/Fritz_Kuhn__the_American_Fuehrer_and_the_rise_and_fall_of_the_German-American_Bund.pdf FRITZ KUHN, โTHE AMERICAN FUEHRERโ AND THE RISE AND FALL OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN BUND]'' (2010) by Eliot A. Kopp
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| ==External links==
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| *[https://codoh.com/library/document/2178/?lang=en The Great Brown Scare] - Revisionist views.
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| **[https://codoh.com/library/document/2165/?lang=en Not Just Japanese Americans, The Untold Story of U.S. Repression During "The Good War"] - Including on the German American Bund
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| *[http://research.archives.gov/description/2803258 Recorded audio address of Fritz Kuhn before the Madison Square Garden rally]
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| *[http://www.usmbooks.com/german_american_bund.html German American Bund Memorabilia]
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| *[https://undercover.hosting.nyu.edu/files/original/5899c36d1d332372354c33f54abca37471f01a7a.pdf "U.S. CHILDREN 'HEIL' HITLER", ''Daily Times'' (Chicago), 10 September 1937]
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| ==References==
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| {{reflist}}
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| [[Category:American National Socialist organizations]]
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| [[Category:National Socialism]] | |
| [[Category:German American Bund| ]]
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| [[Category:German American organizations]]
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| [[de:Bund der Freunde des neuen Deutschland#German American Bund]]
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