GERMAN-AMERICAN BUND

GERMAN-AMERICAN BUND, an organization that emerged in 1936 as the successor to the Friends of the New Germany, an organization formed in 1932 to generate support for Nazism among people of German descent living in the United States. Under the leadership of Fritz Kuhn, a naturalized American citizen, the Bund gained notoriety through its use of parades and mass rallies attended by uniformed storm troopers, special training camps, and blatant racist propaganda. Membership estimates for its heyday vary from three thousand to twenty-five thousand. While publicly disavowing connection with the Bund, the German government privately supported its efforts until 1938. The movement collapsed when Kuhn was convicted in 1939 of embezzling Bund funds, but its highly publicized activities contributed to the growing American repugnance for Nazism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Canedy, Susan. America's Nazis: A Democratic Dilemma. Menlo Park, Calif. : Markgraf, 1990.

Diamond, Sander A. The Nazi Movement in the United States, 1924–1941. Ithaca, N. Y. : Cornell University Press, 1974.

Ludwig F.Schaefer/c. p.