Ben Klassen
Ben Klassen | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Title | Pontifex Maximus |
Personal | |
Born | Bernhardt Klassen February 20, 1918 |
Died | August 6, 1993 Otto, North Carolina, United States | (aged 75)
Resting place | Otto, North Carolina, United States 35°03′36″N 83°23′16″W / 35.0600921°N 83.3876547°W |
Religion | Creativity |
Nationality | American |
Notable work(s) | See bibliography |
Senior posting | |
Period in office | 1973–93 |
Predecessor | None (founded religion) |
Successor | Richard McCarty |
Occupation | Religious leader, writer |
---|---|
Language | English, German, Plautdietsch |
Nationality | American |
Education | Saskatoon Normal School, Superior First Class Teacher's Certificate; University of Saskatchewan, B.A., 1943; University of Manitoba, B.Sc.E.E., 1943, Canada ROTC; Rosthern Junior College |
Subject | Racism, religion |
Spouse | Henrie Etta Klassen (née McWilliams) |
Children | Kim Anita Klassen |
Bernhardt (or Bernhard) "Ben" Klassen (February 20, 1918 – white supremacist, politician, real estate investor, scientist, inventor and an American atheist religious leader who founded the Church of the Creator with the publication of his book Nature's Eternal Religion in 1973.
August 6, 1993) was a self-describedKlassen was a Florida state legislator as a Republican, as well as a supporter of George Wallace's presidential campaign. In addition to his religious and political work, Klassen was an electrical engineer and invented a wall-mounted electric can-opener.[1][2][3]
Early life
Klassen was born on February 20, 1918, in Rudnerweide (now Rozivka in Chernihivka Raion in Zaporizhia Oblast), Ukraine, to Bernhard and Susanna Klassen,[4][page needed] a Mennonite Christian couple.[5] He had two sisters and two brothers. When Klassen was nine months old, he caught typhoid fever and nearly died. His earliest memories were of the famine of 1921–22. He remembered his father rationing to him one slice of dark bread for dinner. Klassen was first introduced to religion at the age of "three or four". When he was five, the family moved to Mexico, where they lived for one year. In 1925, at age six, he moved with his family to Herschel, Saskatchewan, Canada. He attended the German-English Academy (now Rosthern Junior College).[4][page needed]
Entrepreneurship
Klassen established a real estate firm in Los Angeles in partnership with Ben Burke. Believing that his partner was prone to drinking and gambling, Klassen eventually bought him out and became sole proprietor. He hired several salesmen, including Merle Peek, who convinced him to buy large land development projects in Nevada. Klassen and Peek started a partnership called the Silver Springs Land Company, through which they founded the town of Silver Springs, Nevada.[6] In 1952, Klassen sold his share of the company to Phillip Hess for $150,000 and retired.[7]
On March 26, 1956, Klassen filed an application with the U.S. Patent Office to patent a wall-mounted, electric can opener which he marketed as Canolectric. In partnership with the marketing firm Robbins & Myers, Klassen created Klassen Enterprises, Inc. In the face of competition from larger manufacturers that could provide similar products more cheaply, Klassen and his partners dissolved the company in 1962.[3][7]
Political career
Klassen served Broward County in the Florida House of Representatives from November 1966 – March 1967,[1] running on an anti-busing, anti-government platform.[8] He campaigned for election to the Florida Senate in 1967, but was defeated.[9] That same year, he was vice chairman of an organization in Florida which supported George Wallace for president.[2]
Klassen was a member of the John Birch Society, at one point operating an American Opinion bookstore. But he became disillusioned with the Society because of what he viewed as its tolerant position toward Jews. In November 1970, Klassen, along with Austin Davis, created the Nationalist White Party. The party platform was directed at White Christians and was explicitly religious and racial in nature; the first sentence of the party's fourteen-point program is "We believe that the White Race was created in the Image of the Lord..." The logo of the Nationalist White Party was a "W" with a crown and halo over it, and would be used three years later as the logo of the Church of the Creator.
Less than a year after he created the Nationalist White Party, Klassen began expressing apprehension about Christianity to his connections through letters. These letters were not well received and effectively ended the influence of the Nationalist White Party.[7]
Church of the Creator
In 1973 Klassen founded the Church of the Creator (COTC) with the publication of Nature's Eternal Religion. Individual church members are called Creators, and the religion they practice is called Creativity.
In 1982, Klassen established the headquarters of his church in Otto, North Carolina. There he established a school for boys. The original curriculum was a two-week summer program that included activities such as "hiking, camping, training in handling of firearms, archery, tennis, white water rafting and other healthy outdoor activities", as well as instruction on "the goals and doctrines of Creativity and how they could best serve their own race in various capacities of leadership."[10][page needed][11][page needed]
Klassen was Pontifex Maximus of the church until January 25, 1993, when he transferred the title to Dr. Rick McCarty.[7]
Racial holy war
Ben Klassen first popularized the term "Racial Holy War" (RaHoWa) within the white racialist movement. He also consistently called black people "niggers" in public discourse as well as in the literature of the COTC, as opposed to many white nationalist leaders who use relatively more polite terms in public. Klassen wrote, "Furthermore, in looking up the word in Webster's dictionary I found the term 'nigger' very descriptive: 'a vulgar, offensive term of hostility and contempt for the black man'. I can't think of anything that defines better and more accurately what our position... should be... If we are going to be for racial integrity and racial purity... we must take a hostile position toward the nigger. We must give him nothing but contempt."[12]
In his 1987 book Rahowa – This Planet Is All Ours he claims that Jews created Christianity in order to make white people weaker, and he said that the first priority should be to "smash the Jewish Behemoth".[13]
Death
Mourning the death of his wife and the decline of his church, Klassen died by suicide late on August 6 or early on August 7, 1993, by consuming four bottles of sleeping pills. Klassen was buried on his North Carolina property in an area he had previously designated "Ben Klassen Memorial Park".[7]
Bibliography
Books
- Nature's Eternal Religion by Ben Klassen (1973, 1992) Lighthouse Point, FL, ISBN 978-1-68204-024-9. Audiobook version in computerized female voice of Klassen's 'Nature's Eternal Religion'
- ——— (1986) [1981, Lighthouse Point, FL: Church of the Creator], The White Man's Bible (reprint), The Milwaukee Church of the Creator, ISBN 978-1-68204-031-7. Audiobook version of White Man's Bible in computerized female voice
- ——— (1982), Salubrious Living: A Natural Life Style for Achieving and Maintaining the Ultimate in Superb Health and Well-Being as Taught and Practiced by the Church of the Creator, Lighthouse Point, FL: Church of the Creator.
- Klassen, Ben (Sep 1983), A School for Gifted Boys, Otto, NC: Racial Loyalty.
- ——— (1991), A Revolution of Values Through Religion, Otto, NC: Church of the Creator, ISBN 978-0-9636094-8-9.
- ——— (1991), Against the Evil Tide: An Autobiography, Otto, NC: Church of the Creator.
- ——— (1991), Victor Wolf (ed.), The Little White Book: Fundamentals of the White Racial Religion Creativity for Daily Reading and Affirmation of the White Faith. Audiobook in male voice of 'The Little White Book'
- ——— (1993), Trials, Tribulations, Triumphs: A History of the Church of the Creator During Its 10 Year Domicile in the State of North Carolina, Coordinated with Biographical Details During the Same Period, Niceville, FL: Church of the Creator. Audiobook version in male computerized voice of Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs 1993
Articles
- Klassen, Ben (1985), Expanding Creativity (collection of articles), Otto, NC: Church of the Creator, ISBN 0-96360943-2 from Racial Loyalty #1-12. Audiobook version made with male computerized voice of Expanding Creativity
- ——— (1986), Building a Whiter and Brighter World (collection of articles) from Racial Loyalty #13-28.
- ——— (1987), RAHOWA! This Planet is All Ours (collection of articles) from Racial Loyalty #28-39.
- ——— (1993), On the Brink of a Bloody Racial War (collection of articles) from Racial Loyalty #40-81.
Letters
- Klassen, Ben (1988), Letters (1969 - 1976), vol. I.
- ——— (1989), Letters (1976 - 1981), vol. II.
References
- ^ a b Ward, Robert L (27 Oct 2011), Membership by County 1845–2012 (PDF), FL, US: House of Representatives.
- ^ a b Hesser, Charles F (7 Dec 1967), "Wallace Men Feud in Florida", The Miami News, p. 6-A.
- ^ a b US patent 2789345, Ben Klassen, published 1956-03-26
- ^ a b Klassen 1991. sfn error: multiple targets (3×): CITEREFKlassen1991 (help)
- ^ Klassen, Awakening (article), Creativity alliance.
- ^ Silver Springs Chamber of Commerce (https://web.archive.org/web/20150224024854/http://silverspringsnevada.org/home-history.htm) Retrieved 19 August 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Michael, George (2009), Theology of Hate: A History of the World Church of the Creator, Gainesville: University of Florida.
- ^ "News", Sarasota Herald Tribune, Google.
- ^ "Ben Klassen", Sarasota Herald-Tribune (obituary), p. 6B, 10 Aug 1993.
- ^ Klassen 1983.
- ^ Klassen 1985.
- ^ Klassen 1992, p. 31.
- ^ Quarles, Chester L. (1999). The Ku Klux Klan and Related American Racialist and Antisemitic Organizations: A History and Analysis. McFarland. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-78640647-0.
- 1918 births
- 1993 deaths
- People from Chernihivka Raion
- Activists who committed suicide
- American electrical engineers
- American former Christians
- American politicians who committed suicide
- American real estate businesspeople
- Canadian emigrants to the United States
- Creativity (religion)
- Drug-related suicides in North Carolina
- Founders of new religious movements
- Inventors who committed suicide
- John Birch Society members
- Members of the Florida House of Representatives
- Soviet emigrants to Canada
- Ukrainian people of German descent
- White separatists
- White supremacists