All American and Canadian cells of the Nazi organization were ordered to disband by Dr. Heinz Spanknoebel, head of the German Nationalist-Socialist activities in the United States, who acted on cabled advice from Berlin, it was learned yesterday. Dr. Spanknoebel, who directed American and Canadian activities from Detroit headquarters, sailed on Tuesday for Germany.
A total of over 1,500 members belonged to the units of the organization, which existed in New York, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and Montreal. Membership was limited to German citizens of pure Aryan stock.
Notwithstanding statements by German consulate authorities, which described local headquarters of the National Socialist Party as folding up immediately and having been inactive for the last fortnight, Nazi headquarters at 309 E. 92nd St., last night hummed with activity.
According to information issued by the New York German consulate yesterday all Nazi party organizations in this country, from New York to Portland, Oregon, are being dissolved. The New York office, it was stated, has been inactive for the last two weeks; and evacuation of present headquarters will take place before May First, when the lease expires.
The German consulate attributed the dissolution of the Nazi Party in the United States to Hitler’s desire to avoid inciting greater foreign feeling aaginst Nazis in Germany which might result from the dissemination of propaganda. It was stated that with the ascension of Hitler to power in Germany, foreign offices of the National Socialist Party had fulfilled their duties, and would henceforth be of no value to the party in power.
Despite this statement, local brown-shirts yesterday were carrying on as usual. Strenuous efforts are being made to Hitlerize the entire German population of the United States and coordinate the activities of various German societies throughout the country. The present organization is self-styled, “Friends of New Germany”, and they declare their ambition is to create “a place in the sun” for the fatherland.
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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.
