If Major Frank Pease, former United States Army officer, has anything to say about it, Dr. Ernst F. S. Hanfstaengl, Hitler’s press and piano man now in this country for a rest, will not be received officially at West Point. Nor will his bust of President von Hindenburg, which he brought with him to present to the academy, be accepted.
The Major, who has protested vigorously at Hanfstaengl’s presence in this country since his arrival, has wired West Point authorities demanding that the Hitler aide be snubbed.
Hanfstaengl is now at Beverly Farms, Mass., far from the popping guns of his Berlin playmates. Before his departure for Germany, scheduled for July 8, he is expected to make a visit to the United States Military Academy to present it with the von Hindenburg bust.
In his telegram Major Pease characterizes Hanfstaengl as the “boon companion, both official and personal intimate of those innumerable characters whose foul conduct as officials of murderous Nazi party is scandalizing the world.”
“As personally and officially representing,” Pease states, “despite all his denials, a regime reeking in blood and filth, as chief of Der Verbindungsstab NSDAP or Hitler’s spy of spies, attempting to disguise his hatred of and designs upon America under cheap blague and unlimited gall, I affirm and repeat that Hanfstaengl is not a fit person from whom academy, officials … can afford to recognize or accept gifts to the Academy.”
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.