The following is the fifteenth of a series of articles detailing the rise and growth of the Nazi-inspired anti-Semitic movement in this country in all its ramifications.
Within the next few months New York’s German-American society stands to be received into the ranks of the League of Friends of New Germany, lock, stock and barrel. The process is to be accomplished through the anti-Jewish boycott organ of the league, the DAWA (German American Protective Alliance).
It is remarkable, the efficacy with which the Nazis have suceeded in coordinating German American society thus far. Members of Catholic societies, liberal societies, and even Socialist societies have subscribed to the DAWA, whereas formerly these organizations remained coldly aloof from Nazi activities. The DAWA holds as its purpose the defense of Germans, German Americans and German trade against the anti-Nazi boycott. But there is every reason to believe that this is a subordinate element to the outright boycotting of Jewish establishments in the United States.
As the DAWA gains headway in New York, congratulatory messages come from other parts of the country wherein Nazi cells have gained strength. The most recent report of the Nazi cell in Philadelphia indicates that a similar plan is being contemplated there.
SOME HOME TALK
In New York the Nazis are actively supported by the Deutsche Legion and the Stahlhelm organizations, both composed of former German war veterans. The Deutsche Legion is thoroughly gleichschaltet with the Friends of New Germany in New York, its commander, H. O. Spier, being an active organizer, but it is understood that in the more remote sections of the metropolitan area recalcitrant members of the legion make impossible complete coordination. In New York however, the Deutsche Legion contributes to the Nazi elements some of its staunchest support. Jewish members here have been ausgeschaltet. They were responsible in large measure for the prominence gained by the Deutsche Legion in American affairs.
The Stahlhelm, former members of the Kaiser’s army, has a number of branches throughout the United States. According to Captain Georg Schmitt, who came to this country last Fall for the purpose of incorporating the American branch of the Stahlhelm with that of Germany, approximately ten thousand members live in the United States. The German Stahlhelm was dragged somewhat unwillingly into Hitler’s conception of "totalitaet," the corporate state in which every individual and organization is a unit. The American Stahlhelm, according to Schmitt, has been brought into the fold of the mother group in Germany.
Another military group, the League of German and Austrian War Participants, is the least Nazi of all large German military organizations. A week ago the mother chapter in Newark voted to retain freedom of conscience and action, which precludes its absorption by the League of Friends of New Germany. It does not, however, interfere with cooperation of the Nazi organization and the war veterans in combining forces for local fests. The Hudson County chapter of the organization is understood to have given great support to the DAWA, after Vice Commander E. Burmeister appealed to the members to unite the German element of New Jersey into a cooperative unit with the anti-Jewish boycott element of New York. The War Participants have powerful chapters in Essex, Hudson and Union Counties and in Passaic.
THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER
The importance of these units in any Fascist organization the Nazis might plan is obvious. Each, trained in the use of arms, would constitute a first class stormtroop detachment. There is some objection, however, to the process of being gleichschaltet by the League of Friends of New Germany. I understand that the Stahlhelm considers itself above taking orders from the league leaders, who are considered as upstarts. A parallel situation prevailed in Germany when Hitler essayed to put on an equal footing the national army and the storm troopers.
A plan for the coordination of German American singing societies with the National Socialist party in Berlin is now well under way. Hitler has created a Reichsmusikkammer (Reichs Chamber of Music) to which all singing societies in Germany must subscribe. The societies in the United States have recently been invited to join, and at this writing it is considered almost a certainty that they will. Representatives of Hitler’s organization will shortly tour the United States seeking the adherence of all large singing groups to the Reich order. The United Singers of Baltimore, mother group to practically all German singing societies in that area, have been asked to join. It is believed, however, that pressure will be placed on the Nordoestlicher Saengerbund von Amerika, which controls all major societies through out this part of the country, with the exception of workers’ singing clubs which are Communist or Socialist. Other leagues which will be contacted include the Central New York Saengerbund, the Central Ohio Saengerbezirk, the Saengerbund des Nordwestens, the Pacific Saengerbund, and the Nord Amerikanischer Saengerbund, all of which control thousands of German singing societies throughout the country.
JEWS NOT TOLERATED
At present frequent exchange visits of German and German-American singing societies are being contemplated. In New York the United Singers of New York, the United Singers of Brooklyn, the United Singers of Queens and the United Singers of Suffolk County, which includes almost one hundred metropolitan societies have subscribed to some extent to the policies of the League of Friends of New Germany. A few of these smaller vereins still stubbornly refuse to come under the Friends of New Germany, but the verein leagues as a whole are sympathetic. The DAWA, as in the case of many other organizations, has succeeded in bringing into line many of the singing societies and their members. Jewish members of these singing societies are withdrawing as the influence of the DAWA gains, and thereby they pave the way for the Nazi agents. One who had been a prominent member of the singing societies for twenty years recently resigned. He complained that the majority of the members, now grown conscious and proud of their "Aryanism," made life intolerable for Jews.
In the turn-, sport-, and football societies, the same complaint is heard. These have been touched least by the Nazi influence, yet the members, many of whom belong to Nazi groups, have come to look with scorn and hatred upon their fellow Jewish members.
Even in the benefit groups, there are frequent reports of discrimination against Jews. One prominent benefit society will no longer employ the services of Jewish doctors.
The Franz Sigel Order with fifteen large lodges in the metropolitan district is rapidly going Nazi. The name of one of the lodges, the Heinrich Heine Loge, was recently changed to the General von Steuben Lodge. The name of the famous German Jewish poet, it was reasoned, was not in harmony with the Nazi policies of the lodge. The majority of the remaining lodges are decidedly in favor of the Nazi policies, and in the remaining groups it is believed that the old Jewish members will not be able to prevail against the influence of the DAWA and its anti-Jewish boycott implications.
The Plattdeutsche Vereine of the city are among the most active and important of German American society. They have in the past promoted some of the most delightful affairs in the history of the city. They too have begun to sidle toward the Nazi side. The conversion of these groups was begun almost a year ago. The New York and Brooklyn member groups of the Plattdeutscher Volksfest Verein aggregate about one hundred thirty organizations. The Brooklyn groups particularly are cooperating with the Nazis, and as far as can be learned support the DAWA to a greater extent than the Manhattan units. About a week ago a meeting of the Plattdeutscher Volksfest Vereine of Brooklyn, which was attended by a representative of Consul-General Dr. Borchers, proved to be quite as Hitlerite in character as the meetings of the League of Friends of New Germany.
One of the pure Nazi organizations, nation-wide in scope, is the German American Technicians Union. Its headquarters are in Berlin, and virtually all members in this country retain their German citizenship. This organization is closely allied to the National Socialist Labor Front of the fatherland.
The Nazi philosophy has crept even into the German music and theatre vereins. Mainly under the sponsorship of the Stahlhelm and Deutsche Legion music chapters and the Richard Wagner Music Verein the seed of Nazism has been sown in the entire realm of music. This last group is marshaling into the DAWA a strong front of German musicians. It is not unlikely that they will succeed in bringing into their ranks practically all music Vereine whose membership is composed to great extent of professional musicians. A Nazi theatre movement has been brought under way under the direction of Mitzi Wirth and will present its first offering tonight (Sunday) in the Turnhalle at Lexington avenue and Eighty-sixth street. It hopes to be forerunner to a Nazi Theatre here.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
