The Committee on Immigration and Naturalization filed with the House of Representatives a report on the unofficial investigation of Nazi propaganda activities in the United States and recommended that Congress take immediate action to protect this country from attempts to permit foreign propaganda to gain a foothold here, it was learned by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Representative Samuel Dickstein of New York, committee chairman, stated that the report was prepared especially for members of Congress to facilitate intelligent consideration of a resolution which he has introduced and which calls for an official investigation of alien propaganda. The facts contained in the report were obtained by a sub-committee headed by Representative Dickstein. Other members of this sub-committee were Representatives John H. Kerr of North Carolina; Mell G. Underwood of Ohio, Eugene B. Crowe of Indiana, Martin Dies of Texas, Charles Kramer of California, J. Will Taylor of Tennessee, Benjamin K. Focht of Pennsylvania, and Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois.
COVERED MANY PHASES
Citing in great detail the results obtained in the unofficial investigation, the report covers the following phases:
(1) The manner in which alien propaganda seeks to overthrow established constitutional principles of the United States.
(2) How this propaganda seeks to integrate itself in American public and social life.
(3) How this propaganda avails itself of other Fascist, radical, or revolutionary movements in the United States.
(4) The manner in which this propaganda is financed.
Reviewing testimony given the sub-committee by the mysterious Mr. X. the report relates that the beginning of the Nazi movement in this country began in January, 1932, a year before Hitler’s assumption of power in Germany. A society of “Friends of the Hitler Movement” was founded in New York by a man named Stolzenburg with an initial membership of 65, which later grew to 110.
None of the members were citizens of the United States. As the Hitler forces in Germany gained strength, his followers in this country gained confidence. Paul Manger, according to the report, became the brain of the Hitler movement and was the undisputed leader of the Nazi group in New York.
STRONG-ARM TACTICS
The report points out that it was Manger who first inaugurated the “strong-arm” methods of trying to intimidate the New York press and “particularly individuals who threatened to expose the aims and purposes of the embryo Nazi movement. One of these threats was received by Walter Winchell, according to the report. This was in the fall of 1932, several months before Hitler’s appointment to the Germian chancellorship on January 30, 1933.
In February 1933, Heinz Spanknoebel became the mouthpiece of the Hitler government in this country, the report charges. Spanknoebel took Manger’s place and continued in active charge of Nazi work in this country until he was indicted by a grand jury in New York, and now is a fugitive from justice.
The principal form in which the Nazi ideas are being disseminated in this country, the report charges, it through the promotion of racial antagonism. The eventual aim and purpose is to establish a dictatorship. Because Nazi leaders realize that dictatorship cannot be established immediately, “they therefore concentrate their efforts in promoting racial antagonism among the different national groups in the United States and particularly directing them all into one channel of hatred, that is hatred against the Jewish people”, the committee report states.
“Everything else is subordinated to this aim, and just as in Germany, where Hitler was able to seize power on the anti-Jewish racial issue, so in the United States does his group of adherents expect to become successful by stressing the anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish racial issue.”
SPANKNOEBEL’S METHODS
Spanknoebel’s method of operations included the alienation of German societies against what was
“By doing so he was able to convert almost all of the German societies in the United States to Hitlerism, succeeded in having their Jewish officers and employees expelled or suppressed, and generally made it impossible for any but Hitler’s adherents to maintain their membership in the organization”, the report reveals.
“This agitation went so far as to include among anti-Jewish organizations even the Steuben Society, which heretofore had been rather friendly with the Jews and on whose national books or records there were a few Jewish members. All of that came to an end with the Spanknoebel agitation.”
While the wherabouts of Spanknoebel is uncertain, his influence in this country continues, the report says. “Even though no one particular person has succeeded to his mantle of leadership, still anti-Semitism has now eliminated from the German-American organizations but, on the contrary, still seems to flourish unabated.”
NAZIS NUMBER 85,000
Local Nazi groups number between 80,000 and 85,000, the report states. One or two newspapers keep these members informed of official messages.
American vessels, the report charged, are “consciously or unconsciously” helping Hitler propaganda to gain a foothold in the United States. American vessels calling at German ports employ “an unusually large number of German seamen” while “American citizens are either unable to obtain employment on American boats or, even if employed on American boats, must in many instances be submissive to discipline imposed upon them by their German superior officers or naturalized German-Americans who do not intend to continue as American citizens but use their citizenship merely as a cloak to cover their loyalty to their German rulers.”
The Nazi movement, the report charges, “seeks to penetrate into our life and make itself into a sort of American movement.” The leaders, it is pointed out, are quick to take advantage of social and economic unrest and uncertainty.
LINK WITH HITLER
Indications that a connection exists between American organizations and the Hitler propaganda, were pointed out by the committee in its report. Details of this connection were not explained. It was stated that these would be left for an official congressional investigation which would be able to “develop the many leads which were furnished to the committee and would definitely and beyond any question of doubt establish the existing connection.”
The report points out that there is no doubt that some of the money used in spreading Nazi propaganda in this country is furnished by “misguided Americans rather than from abroad, but that the bulk of their funds comes from sources which can be traced to the German government is clearly apparent.”
“It is quite obvious that the German government intends to pursue its propaganda activities indefinitely,” the report says. “We are fast approaching the condition of affairs which prevailed in the United States during the period preceding our entry into the World War when the German embassy in Washington was a hotbed of propaganda seeking to embroil this country upon the side of Germany and to make us enter the war against the Allies. It was also at that time that propaganda was conducted in a subtle manner seeking to reach American public opinion by appeals to Americans, when as a matter of fact the only object and purpose of propagandists at that time was to create public sympathy in the United States for the German cause.
“We find something similar at the present time by German propagandists seeking to create distrust in the United States of our foreign Allies, and particularly seeking to enflame American public opinion against France.”
The report states that “it appears” that the Hitler organization in this coutry “has been closely coordinated” with “the German steamship lines, and the North German Lloyd particularly became the source from which Hitler propaganda was permitted to seep into American public life.”
Because the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization had no funds with which to conduct its investigation of Nazi activities, it was unable to obtain any definite information on the extent to which propanda is financed from Germany, the report points out.
SUSPICIOUS CONDITIONS
“It seems rather suspicious to find that magazines and other publications in the United States which for many years were on the verge of bankruptcy and unable to maintain themselves should suddenly become very affluent and indulge in public panegyrics of Hitlerism and paeans of praise of the German Government,” the report states.
“The most efficient way in which the Hitler government intends to sway American public opinion in its favor is by way of sending into this country qualified men and women who enter the United States as students, lecturers, and teachers.”
Nazi party members who desire to come to the United States have no difficulty in getting the necessary passports and other papers from the German government to expedite their applications for American visas, it is stated. “In this way a large number of ministers, teachers, and students have found their way into the United States. On the other hand, persons who are not in sympathy with the Nazi regime encounter difficulties in every step.”
“The committee has been unable to secure the attendance of any of these students at its sessions so as to obtain a complete picture as to the manner in which they are made of use for propaganda purposes. There is no doubt, however, in the committee’s mind that if these students are made to appear and submit themselves to cross-examination important information will be obtained to justify drastic action in their regard.”
GOV’T BEHIND ACTIVITIES
Pointing out that undoubtedly the German government is behind the activities of Nazi agents in the United States, the report states that “the German government will very promptly disavow any individual caught doing illegal work in the United States or engaged in spying activities.”
DEMOCRACY ATTACKED
In its concluding statement, the report says: “Democracy in the form in which we had been accustomed to love and cherish has received a terrific jolt by recent happenings in Europe. Examples like the Mussolini revolution in Italy or the Hitler revolution in Germany are contagious and throughout the world there has been a cry for a strong man, a powerful man, a dictator, the man on horseback. We in this country were fortunate to escape any mass movement tending to the establishment of a dictatorship.
“We feel it is our duty as members of Congress to prevent the spread of doctrines inimical to the welfare of the individual and the safety of our commonwalth. In the words of Representative Fish, the menace is a real one and our committee, taking the attitude of seeking service to the country should be commended for its zeal. We feel that we would have been remiss in our duties had we permitted this menace to go unchecked.
“The chairman of this committee on January 3 introduced a resolution providing for a thorough congressional investigation of alien propaganda. The passage of this bill is absolutely essential in order that “government for the people, by the people, and of the people shall not perish from the earth”.
Representative Dickstein stated he intends to press for early action on these resolutions by the house. His committee already had given the resolutions unanimous approval.
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.
