German American Bund

A German-American, pro-Nazi organization founded in 1936 and active through the early 1940s, the German American Bund sought to influence German Americans in support of German interests and Nazi ideology, and maintained a demand for US neutrality in the European conflict. The German American Bund had an estimated membership of 25,000, and actively distributed pro-Nazi propaganda, organized rallies and ran youth camps modeled after the Hitler Youth. After the US entered the war against Germany in 1941, the organization was seen as a threat to national security and its influence and activity declined until it was eventually disbanded.

Fritz Julius Kuhn was elected to the leadership of the German American Bund in 1936; Kuhn was born in Munich and immigrated to the US in 1928 at the age of 28. He became a US citizen in 1934. Under his leadership, the organization employed antisemitic, anticommunist, pro-German and pro-American propaganda. In 1939 he was convicted of larceny and forgery and served time in prison. His American citizenship was revoked in 1943 due to his activities as a foreign agent and his loyalty to Germany and the Nazi Party. Kuhn was repatriated to Germany in 1944, where he was sentenced as a Nazi offender.