German American Bund rally at Madison Square Garden (New York City,February 1939).In 1933, Rudolf He

German American Bund rally at Madison Square Garden (New York City,February 1939).In 1933, Rudolf Hess gave Heinz Spanknöbel, a German-Americanimmigrant and German Nazi Party member, the authority to form anAmerican Nazi organization.  With help from the NYC German consul,Spanknöbel merged the Gauleitung-USA and Free Society of Teutonia to formthe Friends of New Germany.  This organization was based in New York,but also had a strong presence in Chicago.The FONG made verbal attacks against Jewish people, Communists andthe Treaty of Versailles.  Although the Nazi Party supported them atfirst, they soon realized that it was doing more harm than good inAmerica.  In December 1935, Hess ordered all German citizens to leavethe FONG, and all its leaders were recalled to Germany.In 1936, the German American Bund was formed in its place.  Its namewas chosen to emphasize its American-ness, and only American citizensof German descent were allowed to join, as the press had criticizedthem for being unpatriotic.The main purpose of the German American Bund was to promote apositive view of Nazi Germany.  The organization expressed admirationfor Hitler, demanded that America remain neutral in the approachingEuropean conflict, and were strongly antisemitic and anti-Communist.Fritz Julius Kuhn, a German-born American citizen, was elected asBundesführer.  Kuhn had fought in the Bavarian infantryduring WW1, and was an Alter Kämpfer (“old fighter”) ofthe Nazi Party.  He was an effective leader, able to unite theorganization and increase membership.Their biggest rally was held in February 1939 in Madison SquareGardens, with a crowd of over 20,000.  Flanked by swastikas, Americanflags and a portrait of George Washington, Kuhn attackedPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt for being part of a “Bolshevik-Jewishconspiracy”.  He called his New Deal the “Jew Deal”.Fistfights broke out in the crowd among those who had come to heckleKuhn.  3,000 members of the Ordnungsdiest (the GAB’s militaryarm) were in attendance.  After the rally, Kuhn was arrested forlarceny and forgery – he had embezzled $14,000 from the Bund. While the organization didn’t prosecute him, as they considered theirleader to have absolute power, the NYC district attorney prosecutedhim in an attempt to damage the Bund.  Kuhn went to prison, and afterhis arrest, the Bund gradually fell apart.The GAB was dissolved on December 8th, 1941, after theJapanese attack on Pearl Harbour.  After America declared war onGermany, federal officials began to arrest officials of the formerBund.  Gerhard Kunze, Kuhn’s successor, was captured in Mexico, andsentenced to 15 years of jail time for “subversive activities”. 24 other officials were sent to prison, convicted of conspiracy toviolate the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 (America’sfirst peacetime conscription act).  Other leaders committed suicidebefore the FBI could catch up with them.  Some of the ordinarymembers had their naturalization revoked and some spent time inprison camps; however, most members faced no consequences after theBund was disbanded.  Kuhn was deported to Germany after the war. -- source link

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