German-American Bund
| German American Bund | |
|---|---|
| Amerikadeutscher Volksbund | |
Flag of the German American Bund
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| Also known as | "German American Federation" |
| Country | United States |
| Leader(s) | Fritz Julius Kuhn |
| Foundation | 1936 |
| Dissolved | 1941 |
| Preceded by | Friends of New Germany |
| Active region(s) | All United States, mainly New York,Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Midwest |
| Ideology |
Nazism Germanisation Pan-Germanism Anti-Semitism Non-interventionism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Major actions | |
| Status | Defunct |
| Size | 25,000 |
The German American Bund, or German American Federation (German: Amerikadeutscher Bund; Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, AV), was a German-American pro-Nazi organization established in 1936 to succeed Friends of New Germany (FONG), the new name being chosen to emphasize the group's American credentials after press criticism that the organization was unpatriotic. The Bund was to consist only of American citizens of German descent. Its main goal was to promote a favorable view of Nazi Germany.
In May 1933, Nazi Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess gave German immigrant and German Nazi Party member Heinz Spanknöbel authority to form an American Nazi organization. Shortly thereafter, with help from the German consul in New York City, Spanknöbel created the Friends of New Germany by merging two older organizations in the United States, Gau-USA and the Free Society of Teutonia, which were both small groups with only a few hundred members each. The FONG was based in New York City but had a strong presence in Chicago. Members wore a uniform, a white shirt and black trousers for men with a black hat festooned with a red symbol. Women members wore a white blouse and a black skirt.
The organization led by Spanknöbel was openly pro-Nazi, and engaged in activities such as storming the German language New Yorker Staats-Zeitung with the demand that Nazi-sympathetic articles be published, and the infiltration of other non-political German-American organizations. One of the Friends early initiatives was to counter, with propaganda, the Jewish boycott of German goods, which started in March 1933 to protest Nazi anti-Semitism.
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