Frank Collin

Frank Collin
3rd Commander of the American Nazi Party
In office 1970–1977
Preceded by	Matt Koehl
Succeeded by	Matt Koehl
Personal details
Born	Francis Joseph Cohen (1944-11-03) November 3, 1944 Chicago, Illinois
Political party	National Socialist Party of America
Profession	New Age author
Religion	Neo-pagan

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Francis Joseph "Frank" Collin (born Francis Joseph Cohen, November 3, 1944) formerly served as the leader of the National Socialist Party of America. In the late 1970s, its plan to march in the predominantly Jewish suburb of Skokie, Illinois resulted in a case that went to the United States Supreme Court. Its ruling on the march was a major First Amendment decision, National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie (1979), which ruled that the party had a right to march and to display a swastika. Collin lost his position in the party when his Jewish ancestry was revealed.

Later he became a neo-pagan author and "hyperdiffusionist", supporting the hypothesis that Old World peoples migrated to North America and were most responsible for the development of its complex indigenous societies.

Early life

Born Francis Joseph Cohen to a Jewish family, he grew up in Chicago. His father changed the family name to Collin when the boy was young. He went to local schools.

As a young man in his 20s, Frank Collin joined George Lincoln Rockwell's National Socialist White People's Party in the 1960s. He broke with the NSWPP due to a disagreement with Rockwell's successor, Matt Koehl. He was elected as the party leader by popular vote after Rockwell's August 25, 1967 assassination by a disgruntled member, John Patsalos, who had used the name "John Patler" during his tenure in the NSWPP.

Collin set up another organization, the National Socialist Party of America. It was relatively obscure until 1977, when it announced plans to march through the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, which was predominately Jewish. The City of Chicago had denied the NSPA permission to parade in the city and have NSPA speakers in Marquette Park.

Its proposed march prompted a landmark legal battle and court challenge that went to the United States Supreme Court. The ACLU defended the Party's right to march as an expression of its First Amendment rights to free speech. At the time, Skokie had the largest Jewish population per-capita in the United States, and many residents were Holocaust survivors. Ultimately, the NSPA won the right to march. But, when the city of Chicago decided to allow Collin to speak in the city, the NSPA called off its plan to march in Skokie.

Downfall

Collin's downfall began with the revelation that his father, Max Simon Collin, was a Jew whose original surname had been "Cohen". Max Cohen/Collin claimed to have been a prisoner at Dachau concentration camp.

While president of the NSPA, Frank Collin was arrested by Michigan police while having sex with a pair of 10-year-old boys. These revelations led to his dismissal from the neo-Nazi movement. A psychiatrist who interviewed Collin declared that he was "consumed by hatred for his father"; it was argued that Collin rejected his father by becoming a neo-Nazi and adopting and publicly espousing antisemitic beliefs. Collin was convicted of child molestation and sent to Pontiac Correctional Center in 1979. He served three years of a seven-year sentence.

Author

After being released, Collin later gained notoriety as the author, "Frank Joseph". In 1987 he had a book published, The Destruction of Atlantis: Compelling Evidence of the Sudden Fall of the Legendary Civilization. Collin/Joseph is now a self-described neo-pagan.

He edits The Ancient American magazine, which accepts articles from amateurs and professionals alike. It generally promotes an argument often called hyperdiffusionism, that Old World peoples migrated to North America in pre-Columbian times and were primarily responsible for the development of complex cultures and the achievements of indigenous peoples. This hypothesis is not supported by the scientific consensus of migration and development of Native American cultures.

Media portrayal

Collin has appeared as himself in several documentaries. The video Chicago Nazis documented the Skokie march. The History Channel special, Nazi America: A Secret History, included extensive footage of Collin.

Representation in other media

• Skokie, a 1981 made-for-television film, dramatized the events. George Dzundza portrayed Frank Collin.
• In the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers, Henry Gibson portrayed a caricature of Frank Collin as an "Illinois Nazi".

Books (as Frank Joseph)

• Atlantis in Wisconsin: New Revelations About the Lost Sunken City, 1995, ISBN 1-880090-12-0
• Edgar Cayce's Atlantis and Lemuria: The Lost Civilizations in the Light of Modern Discoveries, 2001, ISBN 0-87604-434-8
• Lost Pyramids of Rock Lake: Wisconsin's Sunken Civilization, 2002, ISBN 1-931942-01-3
• The Lost Treasure of King Juba: The Evidence of Africans in America before Columbus, 2003, ISBN 1-59143-006-2
• Synchronicity & You: Understanding the Role of Meaningful Coincidence in Your Life, 2003, ISBN 1-84333-102-0
• Last of the Red Devils: America's First Bomber Pilot, 2003, ISBN 1-880090-09-0
• The Destruction of Atlantis: Compelling Evidence of the Sudden Fall of the Legendary Civilization, 2004, ISBN 1-59143-019-4
• Survivors of Atlantis: Their Impact on World Culture, 2004, ISBN 1-59143-040-2
• The Atlantis Encyclopedia, 2005, ISBN 1-56414-795-9
• The Lost Civilization of Lemuria: The Rise and Fall of the Worlds Oldest Culture, 2006, ISBN 1-59143-060-7
• Opening the Ark of the Covenant: The Secret Power of the Ancients, The Knights Templar Connection, and the Search for the Holy Grail, 2007, ISBN 1-56414-903-X
• Atlantis and Other Lost Worlds, 2008, ISBN 1-84837-085-7
• Advanced Civilizations of Prehistoric America: The Lost Kingdoms of the Adena, Hopewell, Mississippians, and Anasazi, 2009, ISBN 1-59143-107-7
• Power of Coincidence: The Mysterious Role of Synchronicity in Shaping Our Lives, 2009, ISBN 1-84837-224-8
• MUSSOLINI'S WAR: Fascist Italy's Military Struggles from Africa and Western Europe to the Mediterranean and Soviet Union 1935–45, 2009, ISBN 978-1906033569
• Gods of the Runes: The Divine Shapers of Fate, 2010, ISBN 1-59143-116-6
• Atlantis and 2012: The Science of the Lost Civilization and the Prophecies of the Maya, 2010, ISBN 978-1-59143-112-1