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Hard-core American Nazis Seen Entrenched in California Penitentiary

January 23, 1967
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The existence of at least 40 hard-core Nazis among convicts at San Quentin Penitentiary was disclosed today by prison authorities in commenting on last week’s race riot at the institution. Leaders in the anti-Negro agitation were inmates identified with a movement inspired by the American Nazi Party.

It was reported that the Nazis had manufactured iron crosses and swastika emblems in the prison machine shop. An associate warden said the Nazis were not dedicated to any political principles but only motivated by sadism and hate.

Also a factor in racial tensions within San Quentin are a militant number of Negroes adhering to the Black Muslim movement. But authorities indicated that the Nazis were a more troublesome factor than the Black Muslims. The Nazis at San Quentin seek reading material about the SS Corps, Nazi atrocities, and concentration camps — glorifying in the notorious cruelties perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II, the prison authorities said.

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