Fritz Julius Kuhn
Fritz Julius Kuhn | |
---|---|
![]() Fritz Kuhn 1938 | |
Born | |
Died | December 14, 1951 | (aged 55)
Known for | German American Bund |
Parent(s) | Georg Kuhn Julia Justyna Beuth |
Fritz Julius Kuhn (May 15, 1896 – December 14, 1951) was a Nazi, antisemite, and controversial leader of the German American Bund, prior to World War II. He was a naturalized citizen of the United States. He was a loyal supporter of the German government led by Adolf Hitler who had also appointed him to the leadership post.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Battle_of_the_USA_5_Kuhn.jpg/220px-Battle_of_the_USA_5_Kuhn.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Nazi_Strike_2.jpg/220px-Nazi_Strike_2.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Fritz_kuhn.jpg/220px-Fritz_kuhn.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Fritz_Kuhn_19490214_NARA_2.jpg/220px-Fritz_Kuhn_19490214_NARA_2.jpg)
Biography
He was the son of Georg Kuhn and Julia Justyna Beuth in Germany. During World War I, Kuhn earned an Iron Cross as a German infantry lieutenant. After the war, he graduated from the University of Munich with a master's degree in chemical engineering. In the 1920s, Kuhn moved to Mexico. In 1928, he moved to the United States and, in 1934 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
After the Dickstein investigation concluded that the Friends of Germany organization supported a branch of German dictator Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in America, Hitler advised all German nationals to withdraw from the organization. On March 19, 1936, Hitler placed Fritz Kuhn as the head of an organization effectively renamed as the German American Bund.[1]
Kuhn enlisted thousands of Americans to join using what would be criticized as antisemitic, anticommunist, and pro-German propaganda. One of his first tasks was to plan a trip to Germany with 50 of his American followers. The purpose was to be in the presence of Hitler and to see in person true naziism at work.
At this time, Germany was preparing to host the 1936 Olympics. Kuhn anticipated a warm welcome from Hitler, but the encounter was a disappointment. This did not stop Kuhn from elaborating more propaganda to this followers once Kuhn returned to the states about how Hitler acknowledged him as the "American Führer".[2]
February 20th, 1939, Kuhn held the largest and most publicized rally in the Bund's history at the Madison Square Garden. [3] Twenty-thousand attended and witnessed a Nazi parade ceremony and a speech by Fritz Kuhn where he stated "The Bund is fighting shoulder to shoulder with patriotic Americans to protect America from a race that is not the American race, that is not even a white race ...The Jews are enemies of the United States." During his speech, a protester rushed the stage and had to be hauled off by security.
As his popularity grew, so did the tension against him. Not only Jewish-Americans, but also German-Americans who did not want to be associated with Nazis, protested against the Bund. These protests were occasionally violent, making the Bund front page news in America. In response to the outrage of Jewish war veterans, Congress passed a law requiring agents of foreign principals to register with the State Department in 1938.[4]
This negative attention to the American Nazis was not in favor of Hitler, who wanted the Nazi Party in America to be strong, but stealthy. In order for his plan to take place in Europe, Hitler knew he needed the U.S. to stay neutral throughout the war. Any American resentment towards the Nazi Party was too dangerous. On the other hand, Fritz Kuhn was only looking to stir more attention from the media.
In 1939, seeking to cripple the Bund, New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia had the city investigate the Bund's taxes. It found that Kuhn had embezzled over $14,000 from the Bund, spending part of that money on a mistress. District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey issued an indictment and won a conviction against Kuhn. Despite his criminal conviction for embezzlement, followers of the Bund continued to hold him in high regard, in line with the classical precepts of Fuhrerprinzip common to all Nazis. During World War II, Kuhn was arrested as an enemy agent, and held by the federal government at an internment camp in Crystal City, Texas. In 1945 he was released, sent to Ellis Island, and deported to Germany.
Death
He died on December 14, 1951, in Munich, Germany. The New York Times noted he died "a poor and obscure chemist, unheralded and unsung." [5] After being deported, Kuhn wanted to move back to the United States.[6]
2010 dispute
On March 11, 2010, Glenn Beck made comments on his TV show regarding social justice. Beck, in a warning to his audience against people like Kuhn, quoted Kuhn's 1939 speech where Kuhn called for a "socially just white gentile ruled United States"[7] [8]. Beck called for Christians to leave their churches if they heard preaching about social or economic justice, saying they were code words for Communism and Nazism. This prompted outrage from Christian bloggers such as the Rev. Jim Wallis, and new controversy over the legacy of Kuhn and his organization.[9]
References
- ^ "Fritz Kuhn Death in 1951 Revealed. Lawyer Says Former Leader of German-American Bund Succumbed in Munich". Associated Press in New York Times. February 2, 1953. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
Fritz Kuhn, once the arrogant, noisy leader of the pro-Hitler German-American Bund, died here more than a year ago -- a poor and obscure chemist, unheralded and unsung.
{{cite news}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) - ^ Nazi America: A Secret History (2000), History Channel (92 min)
- ^ RATZIS FRITZ KUHN AND THE BUND, 1939 BY JAY MAEDER Sunday, May 31th 1998
- ^ Nazi America: A Secret History (2000), History Channel (92 min)
- ^ "Fritz Kuhn Death in 1951 Revealed. Lawyer Says Former Leader of German-American Bund Succumbed in Munich". Associated Press in New York Times. February 2, 1953. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
Fritz Kuhn, once the arrogant, noisy leader of the pro-Hitler German-American Bund, died here more than a year ago -- a poor and obscure chemist, unheralded and unsung.
{{cite news}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) - ^ Shaffer, Ryan (Volume 21, Issue 2, Spring 2010). "Long Island Nazis: A Local Synthesis of Transnational Politics". Journal of Long Island History. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ Glenn Beck television show March 11, 2010
- ^ http://www.archive.org/details/FreeAmerica_0 Free America - A transcript of speeches made at the Bund's Madison Square Garden rally, 20 Feb. 1939
- ^ Goodstein, Laurie (March 11, 2010). "Outraged by Glenn Beck's Salvo, Christians Fire Back". The New York Times. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
External links
- Fritz Julius Kuhn at IMDb
- www.germanamericanbund.org Modern website dedicated to Kuhn's Bund organization which claims it was unfairly "least understood, most maligned and scape-goated by distorted media coverage"
- Talking History Archive - Recording of Fritz Kuhn's speech at the German-American Bund Rally, New York City, Feb. 20, 1939
- 1896 births
- 1951 deaths
- American fraudsters
- American Nazi collaborators
- German American Bund
- German expatriates in Mexico
- German immigrants to the United States
- German people imprisoned abroad
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- Nazi propagandists
- Nazis
- Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
- Recipients of the Iron Cross
- Nazi Germany stubs
- German military personnel stubs
- New York (state) politician stubs