Did you hear the refrain last week? “The Nazis are coming! The Nazis are coming!”

Yawn.

The recent Trump rally in Madison Square Garden sparked yet another comparison in the communist American’t Media between Herr Trump and the Nazi’s of old. In this case, the German American Bund.

Even though I am a member of the American Nazi Party, it is interesting to note that I—and many of my comrades—have only a passing familiarity with the Bund. Why would that be? The short answer is simple: the American Nazi Party draws its inspiration from our founder, George Lincoln Rockwell, who in turn took his inspiration directly from the teachings of Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP. This has not stopped the legacy media, of course, from painting all pro-White groups as Nazis.

Still, I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the principals on which the German American Bund was founded, and see what overlap or points of commonality, and differences, it might have had with our current Party. This is in no way a definitive history or examination of the Bund, simply a cursory glance by an interested party.

First, a brief background for those completely unaware of what the German American Bund was. This information is taken directly from the Metapedia article:

In 1939, in an early example of “lawfare”, Jewish-Italian New York Mayor La Guardia sought to cripple the Bund by investigating their taxes. The Bund Leader, Fritz Kuhn, was found guilty of embezzlement and even though the Bund chose not to press charges, the New York DA Thomas Dewey brought charges anyway, and Kuhn was sentenced to prison. The Bund gradually melted away, officially disbanding the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. 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. This may have been part of the larger effort to detain and incarcerate foreign nationals: Over 11,000 Germans and 3,000 Italians were detained, this included some having American citizenship.

Like I said, a brief history. Let’s look at some of their principals and compare and contrast those with the American Nazi Party. The challenge, as always, is in finding unbiased sources of information. Using the internet archive and searching for “German American Bund”, I was able to find a few pieces of contemporary documents published by the Bund itself, including the text of the famous February 20, 1939 rally, as well as a couple of documents published a few years earlier.

What stood out to me, in particular, was the early emphasis on “German-Americans” and how that gradually shifted to a more inclusive “Aryan” or “European Whites” by the large 1939 rally.

For example, in the Awake and Act!: Aims and Purposes of the German American Bund by Fritz Kuhn, 1936, he states the Bund’s goal is: “To represent the interests of the German American citizenry on the political, cultural and economic stage, and to assist in the external upbuilding and spiritual development of this nation, in harmony with the rich traditions of our race in America—these are the objects we have set ourselves and are determined to carry into execution…Hence we extend the hand of fellowship to all German and German American kinsmen…”

By 1939, no doubt in an effort to broaden the group’s appeal, the rhetoric became more inclusive of all Whites more pointed in its condemnation of Jews: “[We] MUST develop the Race-Legislation of the United States to the point where those who may rule us, judge us, educate us or in any way direct our minds and souls MAY ONLY BE WHITE MEN!” He goes on to say, “We would not deny the manifold differences between the Americans of English, Irish, German, Italian, Polish, French, Russian and other Aryan Stock. They represent larger blocks of fairly unmixed groups within our Country than you may realize. These Groups can mutually respect their differences without harm to the Nation and the only one to gain anything at all by sowing dissension and hatred between them is again the Alien, the Jew!“

The early emphasis on a specifically pro-German nationalist message (even at the expense other White cultures) is somewhat understandable in context: He was writing at a time when German Americans were struggling to maintain, or were actively suppressing, their ethnic heritage in an attempt to not be seen as “the enemy”, but instead, as Americans after years of ridiculous WWI propaganda. By way of a personal example, my father never learned to speak German. My great-grandparents (immigrants who spoke German and very little English) insisted their children speak English at home whenever possible (although they learned German of course, as that was what their parents primarily spoke), and forbade my grandmother to teach my father German. It was verboten. Later, when I was a small child visiting her, Grandma and I would spend time around her kitchen table each morning, and as she drank coffee and smoked Pall Malls, with a wink in her eye, she would give me German lessons. I miss my Großmutter.

Likewise, anti-German rhetoric in the American press increased exponentially as Adolf Hitler consolidated power in Germany, reaching fever-pitch with the 1933 Jewish led boycott of German goods in the US.

So the emphasis on German Nationalism, as opposed to overt National Socialism, is understandable: To some extent, in reading the literature, one could well imagine the Bund endorsing whatever non-Jewish political structure was in power in Germany at the time, their purpose being to recognize and preserve the German cultural heritage and recognition of its contributions in America, as well as ending discrimination against German Americans.

Kuhn essentially says as much when he states, “…we must make it clearly understood that the application of the National Socialist idea is primarily an affair of the German people and of no more concern to the rest of the world than it is the concern of the German people what form of government other nations adopt.”

However, the increasing emphasis on a “non-Jewish” political structure and culture in America is important for our purposes, as that is where we start to see some commonality between the Bund and the ANP.

For example, at the MSG rally of 1939, Gerhard Wilhelm Kunze, National Public Relations Director and eventual successor to Fritz Kuhn, states, “The key to the rehabilitation of our United States as a physically, mentally and spiritually healthy member of the family of Nations lies above all in a proper application of the immutable racial laws of the Almighty, which cannot be repealed by ANY debating society of legislators!…”We are NOT preaching Race-Hatred, but Race-Recognition and the Will to the Preservation of our Own.“

This sounds similar to the ANP’s proclamation, “We believe that the Aryan population of this continent should be free, along with all the peoples of good will, to pursue its separate destiny according to the principles of self-determination and racial solidarity in a sovereign state representing its vital needs and interests. We must have an all-White National Socialist America…an America in which our cultural, social, business and political life is free of alien, Jewish influence; an America in which White people are the sole masters of our own destiny.”

Note the emphasis on building and strengthening the White racial community. Something the Bund and the ANP have in common.

Likewise, the Bund recognized the importance, and fundamental equality, of all Aryan workers, “Under no circumstances must we fall victim to the delusion that one group of German Americans can be more prosperous if the other group prospers less.”

Which, in turn, sounds rather like the ANP when it says, “We demand the organization of society into a racial community which will embrace all Aryans, regardless of wealth or social background…We believe that a true community can function successfully only as a unified, organic whole in which all members of society join together in a great common cause and in turn are accorded personal respect as well as equality of opportunity. We also believe that every honest, hardworking citizen deserves to live decently…“

We see commonality in recognition of the forces opposing us as well.

The ANP makes it very clear that there is no place for parasitic economic freeloading in the Aryan state:

“An Honest Economy:

We demand the creation of an honest, self-sufficient, debt-free economy based solely on the productive capacity of the Aryan worker…We believe that the proper function of an economy is to serve the economic needs of the people, not to make profits for big bankers and huge multinational corporations.”

Likewise, in an early recognition of dangers of globalists and multinational finance, Bund Midwestern Department Leader Georg Froboese said the following at the 1939 rally:

“Labor has been exploited not only by Jewish-International moneyed interests, but more so it has been debased and misused by Jewish agitators, who are supposed to represent labor, but in reality never in their lives have completed one honest day’s hard manual work themselves. These confounded Jewish agitators know perfectly well how to draw a nice fat salary, paid for by the hard earned money of our workers, but beyond that they know just as much about the trade of a machinist, pattern- maker, foundry worker or mason as a Hottentot from the Kraals of Africa…Under the radical leadership of Jewish agents, the labor movement of this our Country has been split into warring factions. The underlying cause is not so much a difference of opinion about Trade-Unionism and collective industrial organization, but a clash of ideas between true labor-minded workers and international racketeers…The Gentile American worker is being sold down the river by international Jewish interests.”

Lastly, he goes on to say (and I think it is well said):

“We have been taught, for thousands of years, to honor the Golden Rule: to treat all beings with a human face as Humans, whereas he, [the Jew], for thousands of years [under Talmudic Law] has been taught to follow the Rule of Gold and to consider only the fellow-Jew as being truly human and entitled to honorable treatment. Is it any wonder then that we are bound to lose every game we undertake to play with him?! We must either deny our own Nature to be able compete with him, which cannot be done successfully, or we must knuckle under to him, or we must end this degenerating competition. Let us realize that a very few editors of great newspapers, a few masters of the school systems of the Nation, a few censors of the screen, stage and radio, and particularly a few masters of finance, can exercise a far greater influence over the mind of this Nation and its People than millions of workers on farms, in factories, etc, can offset! This is the realization which has enabled infinitesimal Jewish minorities, throughout history, to attain to astounding power in the countries which have tolerated them.”

This compares nicely with the previously quoted, and more succinct, ANP statement: “We must have an America in which our cultural, social, business and political life is free of alien, Jewish influence…“

Conclusion and Summary:

Much is made of the fact that Hitler and the NSDAP did not officially endorse or support the German American Bund. Too much, in my opinion, as the reasons seem fairly obvious and understandable: First, as Kuhn himself points out, in the early 30’s Hitler and Germany had quite enough to be getting on with; Second, for political reasons (very well elaborated in David Irving’s War Path by the way), Hitler took great pains not antagonize America, or Britain: he wanted as free-a-hand as possible in Europe and supporting the Bund (or the British Union of Fascists for that matter) was ill-advised and would be counter-productive; lastly, as noted previously, the Bund appears to have been more of a pro-Germanic league with bits of National Socialism sprinkled in than an outright National Socialist party dedicated to the restructuring of American society and government, unlike Hitler’s NSDAP, which did exactly that in Germany.

Again, this is but a brief look at what the German American Bund was and what they stood for, as compared to the American Nazi Party and is in no way authoritative or comprehensive. You can certainly find more on the Bund if you look, but I would argue that other than as a matter of historical curiosity, your time would be better spent looking at the true spiritual successor to the NSDAP: the writings of George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party.

However, I think it is important to keep in mind that the German American Bund existed while National Socialism was still being defined. Writings by luminaries such as Feder, Rosenberg, and Dietrich had yet to be published or, if published, translated and made widely available. The Bund saw the writing on the wall and recognized the ongoing threat to our culture that—
if it was primarily facing German Americans then—is surely facing all White Aryans now, and called for action. I think for this they should be remembered with respect.

Amerika Erwache!

Housekeeping: With the onset of the holiday season, new Blog posts and Podcast episodes will revert back to a weekly format instead of the current twice-weekly. Thank you for your indulgence and patronage! –Johann Rhein