Testimony said to link Tom Girdler, board chairman, and R.J. Wysor, president of Republic Steel Company, with the activities of the anti-Semitic Silver Shirts of America, was presented today by Arnold Gingrich, editor of Ken magazine, to the Dies House committee investigating un-American activities.
The names of Girdler and Wysor were mentioned in a letter from Spencer Warwick, a Silver Shirt leader, to Miss Susan Sterling, a German-American of Lakewood, Ohio. The letters asked Miss Sterling to aid arrangements for a conference between Silver Shirt leaders and the Republic Steel officials.
The letter read: “We hope when we come that you will be able to ascertain whether Mr. Girdler and Mr. Wysor will be in Cleveland, so that we can have a private conference with them.”
Gingrich said instructions had been issued to Nazi agents and sympathizers to discredit conditions in the United states and to make life in Germany seem enviable. the purported instructions read: “it will therefore be to the best interests of the Reich to cooperate secretly with all persons or groups who criticize the American system, regardless on what ground.”
Yesterday, John G. Metcalfe, committee investigator, testified that the German-American Bund was seeking to consolidate all fascist elements in America into one movement which the “Hitler-inspired Bund” would lead. He also said the Bund planned to set up pistol and rifle ranges for all bund storm troops.
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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.
