From "Buffalo (NY) Times," July 17, 1938, by Rollin Kirby
Things were hopping at Teutonia Hall on the evening of Wednesday, November 17, 1937. The modest venue on McMicken Avenue was packed and the crowd was celebrating.
The energetic congregation constituted most of the membership of the Cincinnati chapter of the Amerika-Deutscher Volksbund. They had assembled to welcome the national leader of their organization, Fritz Julius Kuhn, known as the “American Führer.” Although they insisted they were not Nazis, the members of the Volksbund, also known as the German-American Bund, were enthusiastic proponents of Adolph Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers’ Party. That support was demonstrated vividly at Teutonia Hall, according to a report in the next day’s Cincinnati Post:
“There were cheers when Mr. Kuhn called on more than 150 persons—men, women and children—attending the meeting to remain loyal to ‘Deutschland’ and ‘Der Fuehrer.’ Then with right hands upraised in the best Nazi saluting fashion the local bund members sang ‘Horst Wessel,’ the Nazi party song.”
The affiliation of the Cincinnati chapter was abundantly clear in the uniforms of the ten bundsmen who formed Mr. Kuhn’s welcoming committee. They wore dark trousers, grey shirts and armbands emblazoned with the Nazi swastika.
Fritz Kuhn spoke almost entirely in German, praising Hitler while condemning Jews, Communists, and organized labor. When one man in attendance rose to inquire why Hitler had banned unions organized by the workers, he was denounced as a Communist while the membership booed and hissed.
During his visit to the Queen City, Kuhn was hosted by the president of the Cincinnati Bund, Albert Zimmer, a stonemason who lived in Westwood. Not two months prior to Kuhn’s visit, Mr. Zimmer was embarrassed by a widely distributed exposé in the Chicago Times. A Times reporter, John C. Metcalfe, went undercover as a member of the German-American Bund and interviewed leaders of the organization across the United States, including Mr. Zimmer in Cincinnati.
Department of Defense, Office of the Chief Signal Officer
According to Metcalfe, Zimmer claimed a local membership of more than 100, that his chapter had nearly bankrupted a Cincinnati newspaper which had criticized the Bund and said the Cincinnati Bund was planning to open a youth camp where children would be educated in German culture. Zimmer, quoted by the Times, said:
“No one knows this, but we have a permanent list of silent contributors. Most of them are wealthy Germans who feel that they cannot afford, for political or business reasons, to support us openly, but who are sympathetic with our movement. And, of course, they are equally bitter toward Jews.”
Zimmer was outraged when the series appeared, describing Metcalfe as “cracked” and “nuts.” Approached by the Cincinnati Post to clarify comments attributed to him, Zimmer insisted that the Amerika-Deutscher Volksbund in Cincinnati existed only to promote German culture, to defend German-Americans from unfair accusations and to support the constitution. Having said that, he quite openly expressed his admiration for the Führer:
“It is true that Hitler represents German leadership and as such we respect him. And I do give Hitler credit for uniting the people, but as far as going over there to help him, that’s out. Of course, if Germany was attacked unfairly I would help defend it for the honor of my father and mother.”
Zimmer, shortly after Kuhn’s visit, traveled to Germany for a two-month tour of the Third Reich. While on-site, according to the Post [February 8, 1938] Zimmer sent back word that “everything is okay in Germany.”
By the time Zimmer returned to America in early 1938 the situation in Cincinnati was anything but “okay.” Investigations of pro-Nazi sympathizers were underway at the federal and state level. U.S. Representative Samuel Dickstein of New York charged that Cincinnati was a center of Nazi activity. Herbert S. Duffy, Ohio attorney general, launched an investigation of the German-American Bund in Ohio, focusing on Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dayton. Bund speakers were canceling public appearances after violent opposition interrupted their speeches. The Hamilton County Council of the Veterans of Foreign Wars had passed a resolution condemning the Bund as anti-American.
From "Brainerd (MN) Dispatch," June 21, 1938, by Herbert “Herblock” Block
Even Hitler had run out of patience. Preparing for the 1938 Berlin Olympics and, not quite secretly, for war, the Führer hoped America would remain neutral and on the sidelines. The last thing he needed was an “American Führer” stirring the pot about Jewish cabals and Communist trade unions. Orders came from Berlin that German citizens living in the United States were prohibited from joining the Amerika-Deutscher Volksbund.
Cincinnati’s paragon of tolerance, the Cincinnati Post columnist Alfred Segal, who wrote under the penname Cincinnatus, calmly suggested on St. Patrick’s Day 1938 that the Bund might learn something from the Irish.
“They have no ambitions to make an Irish colony of the United States, or do they harbor any secret loyalty to President de Valera, or do they entertain any dreams of Ireland ueber alles.”
In response, as if to make Segal’s point, an anonymous correspondent, who signed himself “Member of the German-American Bund,” wrote:
“I will meet you for a fight anytime for the honor of our organization.”
Segal instead offered to meet his critic for some suds:
“When Germans were philosophers instead of Nazis they knew the civilization that was in a stein of beer.”
Hitler’s order banning German citizens from the Bund was the last straw for Albert Zimmer. He publicly chastised Hitler for interfering in American business and announced his withdrawal from the Amerika-Deutscher Volksbund. According to the Post [March 8, 1938]:
“While Mr. Zimmer cited ‘ill health’ as the reason for his resignation, it is believed a series of embarrassing experiences culminating with last week’s order prompted him to quit the post.”
By 1939, the Cincinnati chapter was defunct. Richard Brand, a Northside jeweler who had been membership secretary, was the only former member the Post [April 3, 1939] could locate. He said the local chapter had not met for a year or so.
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