During the latter half of the 1930s, a surprising number of Nazi-themed summer camps sprouted across the United States. Organized locally and without the support of Germany, these summer outings bore a startling resemblance to the Hitler Youth. Here’s what these camps were like—and how, for a short ...
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The campers consisted of boys and girls aged eight to 18, most of them the children or grandchildren of German immigrants.
“Anti‐Semitism was at its absolute peak at this time,” he says. “Jews were excluded, beaten and on the defense. Suffolk County was at the center of right wing politics then.”
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Not surprisingly, and given the fervor surrounding the [Fascist] movement, a number of German–Americans sought to promote this political sensibility, along with its attendant racism. Among these groups was the German American Bund, a grassroots organization that sought to position itself as an American arm of Hitler’s Third Reich even though it had no formal ties with Hitler or the Nazi régime.
A Bund parade in New York, October 30, 1939. At this point in history, Germany had already invaded Poland and war was declared in Europe. The U.S. would remain neutral for another two years. (Credit: Library of Congress)
The group was founded in March 1936 in Buffalo, New York. It chose a chemical engineer by the name of Fritz Kuhn to be its leader, or Bundesleiter. The American press soon chose a different title for Kuhn, however, addressing him as the “American Fuehrer.” Born in Munich, he fought for Germany in World War I and briefly worked in Mexico. He came to the United States in 1928 and became an official citizen in 1934.