"Part of the 'We?'": the German American Bund

Abstract

On February 20, 1939, over twenty thousand Americans gathered in Madison Square Garden. Behind the stage was a photo of George Washington that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. People of all ages dressed in Nazi attire and, at the beginning of this infamous rally, recited the United States’ Pledge of Allegiance. The activities taking place would have seemed strange and contradictory to an observer unfamiliar with the crowd, but such a mix of culture was one of the key characteristics of Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, more commonly known as the German American Bund. This poster will discuss how the German American Bund used community outreach, youth camps, and several varieties of propaganda to bring the ideology of Nazi Germany to the United States using a combination of Nazi and American rhetoric and symbolism. This distinct blend of these vastly different cultures appealed to many and created a great amount of public attention and hysteria around in pre-World War II United States.