According to the testimony of witnesses brought before the executive session of the Dickstein committee investigating Nazi affairs in this country, Nazi German supporters and agents are in control of employment of the stewards’ departments of a number of American trans-Atlantic vessels.
The testimony, repeated to a reporter of the Jewish Daily Bulletin, reveals an intricate Nazi system for procuring American citizenship for German seamen without entailing the surrender of franchise in Germany, plots for smuggling subversive propaganda into this country, and the absolute powers granted Germans in hiring and dismissing members of the stewards’ departments of American ships.
According to the testimony of a witness who joined the Nazi seafaring organization, American passports and citizenship papers are being procured for Nazi agents in the Panama Canal Zone. These Nazis are seeking to enlist the support of American seamen as consideration for which American supporters of the Hitler movement are given jobs aboard American ships in the Nazi-controlled departments. He stated that practically every German member of the crew who were naturalized American citizens, cast their ballots for Hitler when their ship reached a German port on election day.
The witness testified that American seamen are bribed or coerced into removing smuggled material, the nature of which was said to be “propaganda, or rifles, or both” into New York City. Seamen are said to hold secret meetings to plan with advisers ashore the conduct of their Nazi propaganda.
He described organizations operating in New York and Hoboken, composed of seamen and members of Hitlerite groups, primarily of the League of Friends of New Germany, engaged in smuggling unknown materials into this country. They are said to bring material in from both German and American-owned ships. Smuggling, he said, has not decreased since the inception of investigations by both federal and congressional authorities.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
