Fritz Kuhn, leader of the German-American Bund, declared before the Dies committee this afternoon that Germans should be given representation in Federal, State and city governments in this country in proportion to their number.
“Do you mean that the Government of the United States should be placed on a racial basis?” asked Chairman Martin Dies. “Well,” Kuhn replied, “you and I are of the same race.”
He said the Bund was striving to secure such representation as part of its policy. His statement reminded observers of the demands of the Sudeten Germans for similar privileges.
The development came after the morning session of the committee during which members had sought to picture Kuhn as an American counterpart of Konrad Henlein, Sudeten German leader, which role the Bund leader disclaimed.
Shown an article in the Bund’s organ, Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter, reprinted from a German paper in Switzerland which called Kuhn America’s Henlein, he asserted that the article was printed without his knowledge.
“I tell you again, I am a good American citizen!” Kuhn shouted, causing general laughter. After order was restored, Rep. J. Parnell Thomas (Rep., N.J.) commented: “Henlein said he was a good citizen of Czecho-Slovakia, too.”
Kuhn also testified that he had attended the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, occupying a seat in the diplomatic corps section; that he had destroyed all his correspondence so it would not fall into the Dies committee’s hands and that the Bund was connected with the Christian Mobilizers and “approve of their program 100 per cent.”
The spectators got completely out of hand when Kuhn was questioned about his previous attacks on Communism and the sudden reversal of his policy since the signing of the Russo-German pact.
“Of course I approve of the pact,” he said, “but I’ll have to make a 25-minute speech to explain why.” He was persuaded to cut the explanation to a shorter length, although Rep. Starnes (Dem., Ala.) drawled that Kuhn could speak forever and not explain it. “We still fight all sorts of Marxists,” Kuhn said.
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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.
