Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund

by Arnie Bernstein

In the late 1930s, the German–American Bund, led by its popinjay dictator Fritz Kuhn, was a small but powerful national movement, determined to conquer the United States government with a fascist dictatorship. They met in private social halls and beer garden backrooms, gathered at private resorts and public rallies, developed their own version of the SS and Hitler Youth, published a national newspaper and—for a brief moment of their own imagined glory—seemed poised to make an impact on American politics.

But while the American Nazi leadership dreamed of their Swastika Nation, an amalgamation of politicians, a rising legal star, an ego-charged newspaper columnist, and denizens of the criminal underworld utilized their respective means and muscle to bring down the movement and its dreams of a United Reich States.

Swastika Nation by Arnie Bernstein is a story of bad guys, good guys, and a few guys who fell somewhere in-between. The rise and fall of Fritz Kuhn and his German-American Bund at the hands of these disparate fighters is a sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing, and always compelling story from start to finish.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Politics, Germany, World War II, Nazi Party

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 3, 2013

About the author

I'm a nonfiction writer based in Chicago. My new book Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German American Bund tells the true story of a pro-Nazi movement that swept the United States in the 1930s. Swastika Nation is now available from St. Martin's Press. It's earned great reviews from The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Publishers Weekly, and many other publications.

I've also author of Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing, the true story of the first mass murder at an American public school on May 18,1927 in the small Michigan town of Bath. The book is published by University of Michigan Press. Bath Massacre was honored as a Notable Book by the State Library of Michigan.

Earlier work includes Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago and the Movies, The Hoofs and Guns of the Storm: Chicago's Civil War Connections, and "The Movies Are" Carl Sandburg's Film Reviews & Essays, 1920-1927.

When it comes to philosophy, I follow the words of notable sage Groucho Marx: “I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book.”

Reviews

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

I try to avoid fights on the internet but a memorable one to me was against someone who didn’t believe that in 1939, 20000 members of an organization called the German American Bund held a rally in Madison Square Garden dwarfed by a picture of George Washington and Nazi Swastikas.

This person was not an intellectual giant but denying info that was easily available was particularly annoying. True, the Bund was a forgotten piece of American History but in the last few years has been explored on PBS, NPR and the History Channel, most famously on 2017s A Night At the Garden.

It’s an interesting “lost” history which led me to pick up this book.

The Bund formed out of some earlier German American groups, but really became a force when Fritz Kuhn became its leader.

Kuhn saw himself as an American Hitler. Born in Germany, he would state that he took part in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch (he likely didn’t), relocated to the United States, employed by Henry Ford.

Even as Kuhn’s fame grew and he traveled to Berlin to meet Hitler, the Bund were never really supported by the Nazis except in the most superficial of ways.

The Bund’s rise and fall was rapid -1936 to 1939. In less than 10 months from the date of the rally, Kuhn was being sentenced to prison for tax evasion and embezzlement. The entry of America into World War 2 in December of 1941 also bringing proceedings to an end.

There are some interesting side stories. Walter Winchell waging a war of words. Gangsters like Meyer Lansky and Mickey Cohen fighting an unofficial war against the Bund. Nazi “summer camps” in New Jersey and near Milwaukee. Fiorello LaGuardia and Tom Dewey also feature.

When Bernstein published this in 2013, he surely had no idea what was to come, only touching on David Duke, William Pierce and a few others, but his book does apply to the present environment.

For starters, Kuhn’s success was surely due to his charisma. Also, the far right audience was susceptible to plenty of hucksters (of which Kuhn was one). Lastly, far right Nazism disguised itself as American patriotism and found an enemy in a Jewish boogeyman.

It is a fascinating story of a lost part of American history.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there is one thing that the recent political history of America has demonstrated, it is that there is a significant element of the US that is susceptible to or thrives on Fascist or Nazi ideas. Racism, conspiracy theories, xenophobia and the fear of others from outside of America, hatred of elites and Hollywood, and the desire to connect with some kind of American uniqueness have all been features of the right wing as exemplified in Trump’s supporter base. However whilst the virulence and popularity of this extreme right wing political support has been more powerful than ever before there is a substantial history behind these views in America. In this book by Bernstein the reader encounters those antecedents to MAGA radicals & QANON cultists who thrived in the late 1930s. What is in some respects a fascinating footnote to American history is more interesting because much of what the German American Bund did, as led by Fritz Kuhn, reminds one of Trump’s proto-fascist grafting.

‘Swastika Nation’ is an exhaustive study of the Bund, its key personalities, its relationships with nazi Germany and the various forces in America that fought against it. The centre of this history is the story of Fritz Kuhn who served as the leader of the movement and arguably epitomised its strengths and weaknesses. A populist where the talent for misleading and manipulating those who followed him Kuhn’s rise and tumultuous fall is given plenty of coverage by Bernstein. A shadowy figure from the past his story is revived, for salutary effect, by Bernstein.

To his credit, the author doesn’t just rely on this central biographical story to tell his narrative of the German American Bund. Bernstein completes his account of the Bund’s rise and fall through his discussion of the social and historical background, the groups faltering relationship with the Third Reich, and the disparate figures and parties that worked to oppose Kuhn and his followers. For example there is considerable space given to those figures in the Jewish mob or mafia who attacked the Bund in straight battles and other fights, including the stories of Meyer Lansky and Mickey Cohen. Popular columnist Walter Winchall and politicians Fiorelli la Guardia and Thomas Dewey are also important to ‘Swastika Nation’. This book is populated with a fascinating cast of real historical characters.

That the author has written such a well researched and informative popular history is to be commended. Bernstein's prose is readable and enjoyable. With most chapters being at most 8 to 10 pages long the information within this book is broken down into digestible chunks. Also, the author understands that the pace of his account and its vivid history requires a more journalistic approach, which he delivers.

So why would one read ‘Swastika Nation’? Well as said at the beginning of this review the book certainly provides an historical link between the recent right-wing populism of Trump and his fellow travellers and an earlier more explicitly Nazi movement. Also this book provides an insight into what may considered as a patly forgotten phase in US pre-WW2 history. Additionally, for anyone who has read Phillip Roth’s ‘The Plot Against America’ or seen the TV series, or perhaps other dystopian works about a Nazified US, Bernstein provides much of the historical context for these texts. Ultimately it is a fascinating yarn told well.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book--as a historical work that shows the impact and danger presented by the German American Bund, a group of anti-Semites that venerated Hitler and wanted something similar to happen in America, this book is deeply flawed. The stakes are never really established--why did Fritz Kuhn appeal to people? Was the threat ever anything beyond some racist idiots who exercised their freedom of speech and believed some deeply awful things? How did this American group's attempt to embrace Nazi ideals sit with the average family? Did it appeal to them or no?

Ultimately, I think the reason there hasn't been much work on the subject of Kuhn and his ill-fated group of fools is because it's not very interesting and it was (seemingly) a fairly small group. Compare the height of the German American Bund's popularity--a rally at Madison Square Garden--with the KKK's march on Washington about a decade prior. Kuhn's group drew about 22,000 whereas the KKK drew about four million. To me, the most interesting parts of the story--how does a good government preserve freedom of speech while also discouraging people from being awful to each other--were glossed over. What, ultimately, was more effective--the guys who went out and kicked Nazi butt or the politicians who limited their ability to spread hate speech through legislation? No doubt when Bernstein wrote the book he had no idea it would become so relevant to current events, but here we are and I want to know (historically) what was the best deterrent. At the end of the day we know this--these American Nazis didn't have any real success and didn't really amount to much more than a bunch of hate speech and racial camps--but are the laws that ended up closing those camps and limiting their ability to give anti-Semitic speeches still on the books? I need some big picture analysis here, not just long accounts of Fritz Kuhn's racist life and trial.

To bolster the narrative and punch it up a bit, Bernstein occasionally turns to celebrities to show the impact of the Bund on them. You end up with some implied support from Henry Ford (very plausible) and Walt Disney (less likely). What's more, we get to hear about Jewish New York mobsters sending out their guys to work some racists over and while, that's super fun to read about, we never get much of a big picture there either. Did these physical attacks on Nazis fear any fruit? Disrupt them beyond a temporary setback? How frequent exactly were these dust-ups?

The book drags when we hit the trial of Fritz Kuhn because it's painfully obvious by that point that he's guilty of loyalty to another government and committing financial indiscretions against his own party but this portion of the book is told in GREAT DETAIL. Spoilers: he was guilty & got sent back to the Fatherland only to run afoul of the denazification programs there. While I mention it, that denazification stuff sounded interesting but we received about an eighth of the detail about that compared to the trial.

A good book and an interesting book but forgettable and skippable.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Believe it or not, this is one story about fascism in the 1930s where the German Nazis come off as the moderates! Fritz Kuhn, would be American fuhrer, dreamed of founding a fascist state in the United States and claimed that Adolf Hitler, whom he met only once in Berlin, had told him to "press on!" It soon became clear to the Nazis, however, that German-Americans would be of greater service to the Reich by fighting for the U.S. population to remain uncritical of "the New Germany" and agitate for non-intervention in the European war after 1939. Rudolf Hess, of all people, told Kuhn that all Bund members must be American-born, plus no more mass parades with torches or beating Jews and other anti-fascists. A fascinating section of this brilliantly researched book by Arnie Bernstein, "Golems", details how Jewish gangsters from Meyer Lansky to Micky Cohen decided to fight fascism their own way: fists, baseball bats, stink bombs. The American government finally imprisoned Kuhn when war broke out using the same tactic that had worked so well on Al Capone: tax evasion!

[Jeff Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arnie Bernstein’s 2013 “Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German Bund” achieves an especially impressive feat: prescience. I.e., although the book is now five years old, and portrays events from some 80 years ago, it has become more relevant since its publication.

Within the past year, groups of white supremacists and self-identified Nazis attempted to take over an American town, in the process murdering a woman and injuring many others. In the wake of those shocking events, many people were surprised to learn that the events somewhat had a precedent… Enter “Swastika Nation.”

It’s almost impossible to read SN now and not think of the last couple years, but even separately from that it’s still a good book. Bernstein turns in a gossipy historical narrative and all-around wild ride, with a cast of characters including Walter Winchell, Henry Ford, Jack Ruby and Bugsy Siegel.

Bernstein also presents a linear account of a German immigrant rogue who came to America and tried desperately to establish an offshoot of the Third Reich. Although mostly ignored and disowned by the real Reich, Kuhn pulled an impressive number of members into his Bund, establishing encampments and holding rallies, which culminated in the infamous 1939 Madison Square Garden rally.

Violence was common. Kuhn and the Bund established a thuggish parallel to the SA/SS. However, protestors fought back, including a contingent of Jewish gangsters (the mafia vs. the Nazis!). But, as is often the case, the real downfall came from the courtroom.

Let it be known that “Swastika Nation” is far from an objective account (as if such a thing were even possible, given the material), and there were many times I wished the book had pictures. However, it’s still a book that’s both relevant and historically educational… and surprisingly entertaining.

As someone who’s a fan of the book and show “The Man in the High Castle,” I’ve been pondering the accidents of fate that resulted in the history we live vs. the ones that could’ve been. This concept was driven home in “Swastika Nation” when Fritz Kuhn, imprisoned after World War II, is asked by a jailer how he felt about making such a terrible mistake as trying to serve Hitler.

Replied Kuhn, “Who would have known that it would end like this?” (p. 283)

[William Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bernstein's Swastika Nation proved to be a less enticing read than I had anticipated, but more on that shortly. The topic is certainly deserving of a book, and Bernstein's coverage of it is enlightening for it covers a facet of U.S. culture that was never addressed in my history courses, neither those in public school nor those at university level. Examined objectively, the German-American Bund did not engage an inordinate number of people and did not exert any long-lasting impact on U.S. society. Nonetheless, the mere fact that several thousand people in the United States could be swayed into supporting the increasingly dictatorial and genocidal government of 1930s Germany is an observation on society that today's citizenry should note. The willingness of people to support such a leader as Fritz Kuhn and his Leadership Principle, which held that he was to be viewed as essentially infallible and free to oversee the Bund and to use its finances as he saw fit with no oversight from any other person, remains a cautionary tale for 21st century readers.

But isn't this all in the past? After all, nearly ninety years have passed since the American-German Bund and Nazi flags flew over the crowded meeting halls resounding with Kuhn's animated speeches and over the youth camps to which parents willingly sent their children for indoctrination, though of course the Bund would never have used that word. The answer, all too obviously, is “No,” it is all not in the past. As early as page 18 in the book, the reader is struck with the fact that today's society is as easily led as that of ninety years ago: “The ethnic sounding 'sauerkraut' was rechristened to the more patriotic name 'liberty cabbage.'” In the same vein, as recently as 2003, a North Carolina restaurant began calling french fried potatoes “freedom fries,” an insignificant snub to the French nation for its opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. After the Republican chair of the Committee on House Administration decreed that the phrase be used on the menus of House cafeterias, the usage spread through the country. Eventually, it, like “liberty cabbage,” dropped from the lexicon, but the linguistic nonsense was identical to that back in the 1930s.

Perhaps fried potatoes do not, by themselves, constitute a convincing example of the fact that culture has not substantially changed from that of the World War I era, so here's another: Page 33 mentions the Alien Property Custodian Act of 1917, which permitted the complete seizure of the property and possessions of any foreigner merely suspected of being an enemy agent. That not only gives the lie to the myth of one's being innocent until proven guilty but also reminds the reader of President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 which sent guiltless Japanese Americans to internment camps in 1942, forcing them to abandon their own property and possessions. Was the country just as paranoid then as it had been when the 1917 Act was passed, 25 years earlier? Appearances would suggest so.

Bernstein becomes a bit more direct in his cautionary message to the reader when, on page 88, he directly references Lewis Sinclair's novel It Can't Happen Here, a story “of creeping fascism taking hold in late 1930s America when a totalitarian fanatic is elected president, . . .” Any reader cognizant of contemporary U.S. history is bound to connect this with a certain U.S. presidential election and conclude that Lewis' fictional vision was disturbingly close to reality 81 years after he wrote the book.

Without ever belaboring the fact directly, Swastika Nation contains plenty of examples for the alert reader to note just how little has changed in the temperament of society in the past 80 to 90 years and how cautionary the events in the book remain. So why did I begin by saying that the book is not as enticing as I had hoped (that being a gentle way of saying that a few things in the book are grossly annoying)?

From early on to the bitter end, the book is rife with word omissions, malapropisms, and misspellings. While Bernstein has written on an important topic whose lessons are still relevant today, the quality of the writing is simply not worth the price of the book. Perhaps these numerous errors should not be laid totally at the author's feet for the reader wonders how the publisher, St. Martin's Press, ducked its responsibility to have the text professionally proofread. It is not possible to cite every example and expect anyone to read to the end of these observations, but here are a few (with the misspellings and malapropisms bolded):

Page 61: “. . . contribution was deemed to small. . . .”
Page 71: “. . . a headlong fixation on gossip that could neatly be surmised in just a sentence or two.”
Page 89: “. . . decide . . . whether your want your land values depressed.”
Page 136: “Over the course of his boxing career, Arno pounded away in 121 matches, with only eleven loses.”
Page 147: “. . . Cohen went into action, wailing on Noble and Jones . . . bouncing their heads together.”
Page 162: “Nor were they popular with German counsel generals in New York and Chicago.”
Page 167: “Not until 1953 was a Miss Georgia, Neva Jane Langley, official crowned. . . .”
Page 230: “Festooning the expansive variety [missing preposition of] mementos, books, and other propaganda. . . .”
Page 251: “[Judge] Wallace disavowed the question.”
Page 277: “On the July 4, Denton Quick, Andover's sheriff, raided Camp Nordland.”
Page 289: “Winchell's final resting place lays end to end above the graves of June, Walter Junior, and Walda . . . .”
Page 292: “In 1992, old and retired from mobster life, a dinner was held in Hinkes's honor. . . .” [So nice to know that the dinner had retired from its life as a mobster!]
Page 299: “. . . Ford scribbled into private notebooks, noting various trivia, miscellanea, and his strong dislike dislike of the New Deal, labor unions, competitors, and—despite his public statements to the contrary—unrepentant anti-Semitism.” [Removing the parenthetical phrase between the dashes makes it clear that Bernstein has written that Ford disliked unrepentant anti-Semitism, which is not at all correct since Ford was himself an unrepentant anti-Semite.]

Had Swastika Nation been adequately proofread and properly edited before publication, I'd have felt it worthy of at least four stars in the popular five-star rating scheme. The lexical errors, however, drive the book down to no more than three. Nonetheless, if one can tolerate the prevalence of such errors, the topic is worthy of being read and of having its implications considered.

[Jemma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty poor. The first clue is that there are no pictures, save the cover. This would've been interesting and help to put the various people, events and locations in context. Secondly, there is not really much to tell because all the things you expect from Nazis are here - anti-Semitism; gangster behaviour; racism; ill-considered positions. The main difference from the German variety is that these Nazis are unsuccessful. Indeed, in this work at least, they seem to get beaten up more than they actually attack anyone else - you almost feel sorry for them.

Essentially, this is two good essays with a lot of waffle sandwiched inbetween to pad it out to book length. At one point it becomes a book about the Jewish Mafia, which is relevant but clearly of more interest to the author and presented uncritically. As histories of the Mafia often are but the gloss is applied rather too thickly here.

Lastly, there is a lack of deeper research. The Nazis appear to want to have little to do with their American cousins, which is odd but consistent with their cool approach to other potential allies. Sadly, there is no attempt to research the German archives to find out why. Later on, Henry Ford meets the disgraced Bundesfuhrer en route to prison but this appears only as an anecdote, with no further research into the peculiar circumstances of this meeting.

[Seth J. Vogelman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was fairly disappointed in this book. It began with a bang and the was anticipating some illuminating information on this topic. Mr. Bernstein quickly detoured and filled the book with obtuse references to popular culture, a too in-depth review of jewish gangsters and other filler, while not really ever focusing on the German-American Bund.

The position of the Nazis as a reflection of US culture would have been good, as well as a better overview of German-American sentiments in light of overall US isolationism and other related trends up until 7 December 1941. There is an excellent study of Germans, Jews, Italians and Irish in pre-WW II NYC (can't remember the name now) that would have complemented the subject.

It was a sad end to what should have been a great book. If my student had handed in this paper, the red pen would have had a field day!

[Emmanuel Gustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review on the back cover describes Berstein's narrative as "with relish and undisguised disdain." And for once, the back cover blurb has it exactly right. This is a fun book. It doesn't meet any high academic standards of objectivity and critical distance. This is a colourful and well-researched takedown.

Fritz Kuhn admittedly makes for an easy target. There is a ridiculous contrast between the high-profile bombast of the meetings of the German-American Bund, inspired by the Nuremberg rallies of the NSDAP, and the seedy insignificance of the "Bundesführer" and his henchmen, small crooks who raided the coffers of the Bund to fund their hedonistic lifestyle. To Marx is attributed the comment that history repeats itself twice, first tragedy, then as farce. The doings of the NSDAP in Germany were the tragedy, and the German-American Bund provided the farce.

That is not to say that no lives were destroyed, unfortunately. The Bund did sink to the sexual abuse of teenagers in its summer camps. Bernstein is circumspect about this aspect of the story, but leaves no doubt. And clearly, justice failed the victims.

The Nazi movement in the US was fought from the start, and fought effectively. Bernstein shows us a rich spectrum of opponents: Politicians, judges, rabbis, policemen, journalists, actors, gangsters, and numerous men and women of the communities that had to endure the Bund's unwelcome presence. Their rather diverse approaches, from stink bombs to subpoenas, were ultimately effective. That said, it wouldn't be correct to infer that the NSDAP was not fought in Germany: There was substantial resistance and this should not be forgotten. Nevertheless, large parts of the conservative social and political establishment in Germany were willing to tolerate the Nazis and collaborate with them. The American establishment, with only a few notable exceptions, was not. A tragedy followed, however, when the very same self-defence mechanisms of the US democracy went into overdrive and disastrous aberrations during the Cold War.

Extreme-right movements attract crooks and fraudsters like garbage attracts rats. The Bund was no exception.

[Barbara Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and incredibly detailed look into the world of organized Nazis in America in the 1930’s. The organization was called the German- American Bund. At its peak, the group had thousands of members across the America - with an especially large concentration in NYC.

The Bund actually held a massive event at Madison Square Garden on 2/20/39.

The book touches on powerful mobsters of the era (some of whom were Jewish), famous American politicians and leading businessmen (including Walt Disney and Henry Ford).

The book also traced the early history of Hollywood. The studios were predominantly Jewish owned. That was news to me!

As a Jewish American women (born in 1959), I have always been fascinated by the history of of the Hitler Holocaust. I was completely unaware of the push that occurred in America simultaneous to the awful events that were happening in Germany and all over Europe.

As an aside, my mother was born in Romania in 1930. In the mid 1930’s, she and her parents fled that country and moved to Trinidad. Nearly all of her family that remained behind were slaughtered. Despite my family connection to the Holocaust, I never understood how Hitler rose to power. How did seemingly intelligent people of Germany follow the lead of a maniac?

Living in trump’s America, I now have a better understanding of how this occurred and how it can occur again. Cult leaders are powerful leaders.

If we don’t study and learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.

The fact that the author is my cousin, Arnie Bernstein, and the fact that Arnie gave me a shoutout in the acknowledgments at the end of the book did not sway my review.

Arnie will be discussing this book with my bookclub. I can’t wait!

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compared with what American liberals are screaming about Trump and the Alt-right movement, America have never had closer brush with Nazism than with Fritz Kuhn and his German-American Bund. A failed chemist with past criminal record such as theft and numerous illicit affairs, Kuhn managed, against all odds, to climb the greasy pole and united various splintered German-Americans and Nazi Sympathizers in America into German-American Bund, which, while claiming to be for 100% American, not (so) suspiciously displayed its sympathy towards Nazi Germany, even as Hitler and the Nazi Germany viewed them as liability in their foreign policy.

The Bund and its explicit antisemitism was bound to have them clashing with the Jewish community in America, and jewish figures from small fry to powerful were arrayed against them. From journalist such as Walter Winchell, politicians such as Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and even jewish mobsters such as Meyer Lansky, Longy Zwillman, Mickey Cohen and Jack Ruby, whose glorifications as Golems who rose to protect jewish community from persecution I found rather distasteful, all united against the Nazi menace in America.

Kuhn and his ilks was seem to be on the right track towards the fulfillment of creation of Swastika Nation, if not for Kuhn's shortcomings. His inveterate womanizing led to the discovery of the Bund's financial irregularities, which gave the authorities excuse to convict Kuhn under the charge of larceny and embezzlement. This, coupled with America's entry into World War II put an end into Kuhn and the Bund's dream of Nazi America. Overall, I found this book about uninteresting man rather interesting. I am particularly piqued with American government commitment in the past to uphold free speech, even for literal nazis.

[David Downer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was bit conflicted reading this book. On the one hand, it was deeply disturbing to find out that a packed Nazi rally could take place at Madison Square Garden as late as 1939. It was interesting to see the world through the eyes of the people of the time period not knowing which way things were going to go only months later. On the other hand, the Nazis were not quite the menace that the rally suggests. Kuhn was a clownish oaf and the government overstated their threat as an excuse to crush the movement. In retrospect, it is a relief to see such a strong anti-Nazi reaction given the tolerance that white supremacists and neo-nazis are seemingly given today.

[Sarah Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Swastika Nation" draws the reader into a personalized narrative of a Kuhn, a real-life historical figure whose relationship to the German nation during the World War II era shows a perspective rarely humanized in literature. Bernstein's smooth and intense prose presents unique insight into a crucial era in European history as well as the individuals involved in its most important events.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to explore WWII events from the less trodden angle of the German antagonists.

[Paul E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As fairly thorough history of the Bund in America, the book focuses, rightly, on its driving force, Fritz Kuhn, and his rise and (well deserved) fall. The book is clearly written, albeit with a number of typographical errors, and well organized. The epilogue is interesting, too, but I would have liked more detail in that section. Altogether, it's a worthwhile read about a subject that we cannot afford to forget.

[Anthony Faber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book, telling of the rise and fall of the Bund, with an assorted cast of characters. I was surprised by the number of Jewish gangsters that got involved in extra-legal harassment of the Bund, and I feel just the slightest bit guilty about it.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What some of the other reviewers are saying....why did the German-Americans join this group as opposed to the other German-American organizations that were out there at the time? This was never fully explained.

[Jon Etter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story from America's past told in an exceptionally engaging way. A both important and entertaining read.

[Jenny Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF'd at about 2/3 through. The story could be an interesting one, but the writing is dull.

[jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arnie Bernstein offers an interesting, if overblown and at times overwrought, examination of the Nazi German-American Bund with his work "Swastika Nation." The book is quite thorough, especially with regards to its discussion of Fritz Kuhn, a central casting figure if ever there was one.

The central issue with the book is Bernstein's glossing over just how tiny the Bund was in the years America's entry into WWII (Spoiler alert: already weakened by law suits and infighting, the Bund dissolved shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack). Yes Bernstein offers the conflicting membership numbers 200,000 according to Kuhn, 20,000 according to the FBI -- but he then quickly moves on lest someone realize the Bund's ineffectiveness and relative irrelevance. As a political movement the Bund never approached the relatively broader appeal of Britain's Union of Fascists; where Mosley's group at its height could point to proud public members, The German American Bund never successfully moved beyond a small fraction of America's German citizenry and certainly never gained the height of radio priest Charles Coughlin. Where Coughlin at one point might have scored somewhere in the single digits had he run for President, Kuhn likely wouldn't have even gotten beyond an asterisks.

The most interesting thing about the Bund is not its absurd program, but rather the degree to which it stood in as a target for frustrated Americans who were interested in opposing Hitler (and politicians wishing to score points with Americans). Bernstein considers some of this, but he seems too vested in making the Bund seem threatening rather than comical to explore it fully. Still, his discussion of Jewish leaders and Jewish mobsters targeting Kuhn's Bund makes for an interesting read. This topic is also given interesting consideration in Michael Chabon's novel, "Kavalier & Clay."

In the end, the German American Bund is barely more than a footnote in the rowdy politics of 1930s America. Bernstein does good work out thin material, but one should remember that the Bund was mostly irrelevant (just for perspective, "The Hollywood Anti-Nazi League" could boast some 6,000 members). This will certainly remain a significant work for those interested in exploring this narrow topic.

A free copy of this book was supplied by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[ManOfLaBook.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund by Arnie Bern­stein is a non-ficiton book detail­ing the rise and fall of the Amer­i­can Nazi move­ment before World War II. This is another for­got­ten chap­ter in his­tory, and even though we’d like to for­get it, it seems wiser not to.

Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund by Arnie Bern­stein is a dis­turb­ing, scary but very read­able his­tory book. The book starts with a 1939 pro-Nazi rally held in Madi­son Square Gar­den bring­ing in tens of thou­sands of sup­port­ers – an even which today is dif­fi­cult to fathom.

Mr. Bern­stein focuses on one man, Fritz Julius Kuhn, a native Ger­man who moves to the US, gets a job for a known indus­tri­al­ist anti-Semite (Henry Ford) joins the Ger­man Bud and dili­gently gets to the top, to the posi­tion of Bun­des­führer. Even­tu­ally Kuhn is brought down by Fiorello La Guardia, Thomas Dewey, and oth­ers when they had had enough of his shenanigans.

The Bund finds many sup­port­ers of National Social­ism (and the “Jew­ish Prob­lem) but many high pro­file oppo­nents as well. My favorite chap­ter had to do with the Jew­ish gang­sters (Meyer Lan­sky, Longy Zwill­man, Bugsy Siegel among oth­ers) who, while not reli­gious and some­times even a cause of shame for their com­mu­ni­ties, took it upon them­selves to pro­tect “their peo­ple” – and even enjoyed it as well.

The author does not hide his dis­dain from the sub­ject of the book, a bunch of ugly peo­ple doing ugly things. The book is a fas­ci­nat­ing chap­ter in Amer­i­can his­tory show­ing how a fringe group can take the ideals this nation was founded on and manip­u­late them for their own pur­poses. Stu­pid peo­ple are dan­ger­ous in large groups and Mr. Bern­stein proves it on every page.

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[Ralphz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the rise and fall of the American Nazi movement German-American Bund in the 1930s and 40s.

The movement centered on a megalomanic, Fritz Kuhn, a German-born American citizen who admired Hitler and pursued the creation of a Nazi America. The stunning thing about this is that he had many on his side - including Henry Ford.

The group's antisemitism was a factor that attracted many to the cause. So was the idea of "Aryan" purity and German nationalism.

The book also is about out those that dared to challenge him - many of whom were Jewish newspaper columnists, such Walter Winchell, and Jewish criminals, such as Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel. Their involvement in bringing the movement down was a surprising angle.

I took off one star for one simple reason: the repetitive use of the title in every chapter. Fritz Kuhn sought to establish his Swastika Nation, we're reminded again and again. Look, I get that Bernstein likes his title, but why does he have to say that as though Kuhn really was seeking to establish something called "Swastika Nation"? It's annoying.

Otherwise, a good book about a forgotten chapter of American history.

More reviews at my WordPress site, Ralphsbooks.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

History of the German-American Bund, a group of German-American social clubs which endorsed the idea of Nazi ideology in American politics before WWII. An interesting topic I've not read much on. This book is a good starting place, but much of it is simply the re-wording and re-telling of many newspaper articles of the era. The author did his research, but then spends too many paragraphs, especially near the end as he writes about Kuhn's trail on charges of embezzlement, relating all the court exchanges, whether relevant or not. It's about 100 pages too long. His middle section, on American Jews (mostly gangsters) who fought against the Bund (whom he calls "golems") feels like it belongs in a different book.

[Harvey Solomon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has certainly done his research, yet Swastika Nation lacks a compelling storyline beyond its just-the-facts approach. It often feels like a compendium of a rally here, a rally there.

First-hand accounts, from either the major players or rank and file, might have led to a deeper, more nuanced look at the bund. How did members feel, for example, when it all disappeared overnight in the wake of Pearl Harbor?

The most glaring omission is the lack of any photos (other than the cover) or graphics of pamphlets, posters, anything. Including visuals would have helped enliven a rather dry read.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting if slightly dry read about a pro Nazi group in America before and during World War II. as I live near the former Bund I was excited to read about Kuhn and his group. The research is well done and the pictures complement the story well, but I didn't really feel the concern of the surrounding neighbors or the government. If you are a history nerd who loves anything World War II related then you might like this book. Be warned though it is not an easy story to read.

*I received this book as a digital ARC from NetGalley but the opinions in the review are my own.*

[Deb Novack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swastika Nation is the story of the German American Bund and its leader Fritz Kuhn in pre World War II times. Kuhn was a trained chemist and also a thief, he stole money from the Bund treasury to keep his many mistresses, he was eventually tried and imprisoned in Sing Sing for embezzlement. He had once worked for Henry Ford who who was known as an anti-Semitic.
The historical research and storyline were wonderful and the characters although sleazy were written with great care.
Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martins for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

[James Garner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping narrative about Nazi apologists at work in America during the 1930s. Bernstein is a great writer and researcher. This peek into a sordid corner of Americana gives a real taste of the era. I especially enjoyed the story of Jewish gangsters Mayer Lansky and Mickey Cohen and their efforts to interrupt the American Bund from spreading their message.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, the book is very informative. One criticism I have is that there were too many chapters. About 50% fewer would have been more managable.

[Loren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book on a dark part of American history but equally uplifting to see so many who took a stand.