Evidence which came to light yesterday disclosed that German members of the United States National Guard of New York have joined in an exclusive unit known as the “National Guardsmen of German Descent,” under whose sponsorship a military concert and ball was held Sunday evening in the New York Turnhall at Lexington avenue and Eighty-fifth street.
According to advice received from official sources, United States Army officers, learning of the organization more than a week ago, ordered its disbandonment. Despite this order, it is learned, the ball was held, with the Stahlhelm band, a group frequently operating with Nazi units in New York, providing the principal attraction of the evening.
Queries addressed to army officials yesterday disclosed the following facts: About a week or ten days ago pamphlets announcing a concert and ball to be held on March 25 in the New York Turnhall were delivered into the hands of the army officers. They disclosed the fact that the concert, with proceeds going to the unemployed, was sponsored by the “National Guardsmen of German Descent” in cooperation with the Stahlhelm Kapelle or Band, under the direction of E. Rapsch.
Army inquiries at the Turnhall management’s offices brought to light the fact that the ball was promoted for the group by a Mr. Nisselbeck, an enlisted man of the 244th Coast Artillery, which is located at the armory on Fourteenth street and Sixth avenue.
NISSELBECK REBUKED
Army officials promptly ordered the commander in charge of the 244th Coast Artillery to rebuke Nisselbeck for his activities, force the “National Guardsmen of German Descent” to disband, and “cut out their nonsense.”
The officer through whose hands the matter passed yesterday declared, “We will not tolerate factions within the National Guard, whether they be German, Irish, Italian, Jewish or of any other descent. They are a group created for the defense of this nation.”
From unofficial sources of information it is learned that the “National Guardsmen of German Descent” orginated in the armory at Fourteenth street and Sixth avenue and spread rapidly throughout other National Guard units. It is claimed that the movement was instigated by other organizations.
The Stahlhelm Kapelle in cooperation with the League of Friends of New Germany has appeared frequently during recent months in a series of military concerts in New York and nearby suburbs. Their meetings have been ushered by uniformed Nazis, wearing apparel almost identical with that of the Storm Troops in Germany, They salute Nazi flags which have adorned their meeting places. The swastika, in fact, has constituted the primary motif in the decorations of their places of celebration while the American flag was either absent or hung on the platform surrounded by dozens of Hitlerite banners. The Stahlhelm is an organization of veteran German soldiers, which was coordinated with the Hitler government many months ago.
A spokesman for the management of the New York Turnhall yesterday stated that the military concert and ball had been held as planned.
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