History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust

Headline: The Once Over
Sub-Headline: The Funny Shirt Problem

Publication Date: Sunday, March 19, 1939
Historical Event: American Nazis Rally in New York City
This database includes 1,208 articles about this event
Tags: Gannett full page downloadable; Public Responses in America; Racism and Antisemitism in America
Article Type: Letter to the Editor
Newspaper: The Asheville Citizen/The Asheville Citizen-Times
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
Page Section and Number: 10
Author/Byline: H.I. Phillips and letter writer Elmer Twitchell
Article Text: Dear Ed:
What to do about the Nazi Bund in this country becomes more and more the question of the hour, and I think if you give the Bund rope enough it will hang itself. Although it would probably first take the rope and try to make a new kind of shirt out of it.
. . .
It is the American way to give all minorities freedom of speech, even though it seems that we carry the idea too far in some cases. I suppose nothing would please the Bund more than to stir up a lot of opposition and keep the front page. It might be the best idea to ignore the Bund, but there will probably have to be a showdown in time.
. . .
What to do is the problem. Uncle Sam can't start telling any faction that it can't wear funny uniforms, shirts, caps, belts, boots or jerseys because climbing into funny apparel is an old American custom. Every association, lodge or order in the country has some kind of outlandish regalia and we will get into a mess if we limit styles in queer clothes. We can't forbid the Bund to shout itself hoarse because we guarantee free speech, and every American with a message regards it as his privilege to leap unto a soap box and shoot his mouth off. It Is okay for him to hire Madison Square Garden or the Yankee Stadium, too, if he so desires, because one of this country's oldest retorts to the fellow with leaping tonsil trouble is, "Aw, go hire a hall!
. . .
But there is something about the manner of these Bund leaders that particularly rubs the American fur the wrong way. I am not half so offended by the Communists as I am by the Bund boys and I guess it must be due to the fact that Germans have been so much a part of American life, and German-Americans have in the main seemed such likeable, friendly, good-natured people.
. . .
It is part of German nature to be boastful in the matter of military affairs, and this country has never minded Fritz thumping the table and talking a little warlike over his beer. Up to the time of the World War the Germans were among our best liked citizens, and even during the World War thousands of them fought for the red, white and blue. They were, as a whole, strictly on the up and up. But there is something in the manner of these Bund leaders that is new and foreign and It makes me sore as a boil.
. . .
There have always been German-American organizations in this country and every community has had a bunch of 'em, like the Harugari Singing Society and the turnvereins and the scheutzen fest clubs, but the members were a rollicking, good-natured, song-loving bunch who liked to drink beer, sing old German songs, hold field days, plan picnics and have a jolly good time all around. They could get boisterous on the second keg and begin to boast about the power of Der Fatherland, and the wondrous performances of the old country's warriors. They would frequent scheutzenfests where they would take guns and blast away at clay pipes, et cetera, and grab off medals for marksmanship, although they would rather have had another beer any time. But above it all there was the picture of a lot of fat men who liked to have a good time, with loud music.
. . .
The German saloons back home were as a rule the most heart-warming places. The proprietor was apt to be a former Prussian soldier who still thought the German army the greatest on earth and liked to tell you so, but he said it with a smile, and any argument you got into was soon drowned out by a bunch of Germans at a round table suddenly bursting into "Old Heidelberg" or "It's Always Fair Weather." You could change the subject with the most truculent old-time Dutchman by suggesting that "we all get together and sing 'Hi Le, Hi Lo'. "
. . .
The outstanding characteristic of the German-American of the old days was his love of music. Everybody in the family played[sic] some sort of instrument, usually a noisy one, and the Germans were always prominent in the choral and singing societies back home. I can still see the old Harugari Society headquarters atop the old Woods building on a Saturday night, with beer flowing in rivers and everybody singing, dancing and laughing in the way only a German can laugh. I should say it was the real genuine[sic] belly laugh.
. . .
You wouldn't hesitate to dash into the street and join a parsing parade of German-Americans because you knew they were out for a lark and that even arguments would be good-natured and amusing. You never thought of these Germans attacking America, trying to undermine it or having the remotest idea of wanting to change the American system. They were strong for the American system. Most of 'em had found great happiness and prosperity in America and when they cried over their schnapps about the glories of Germany you knew it was just so much sentimental bosh.
. . .
But these Nazi Bunders are something else again. I question whether they know how to sing. Even if they can sing, I think they would regard it as undignified and not in keeping with the spirit of present-day Germany. I cannot imagine them joking or laughing. If you threw a bunch of 'em into an oldtime Harugari Society meeting they would look like wild men from Borneo, and the Harugari boys would toss them through the window without even offering them a seidel of pilsener[sic].
. . .
The German-Americans of yesterday were not very strong on uniforms. They had plenty of that at home and they gloried in plain business suits with loud Weber and Fields vests. They had no salutes, no undercover drills, no Sam Browne belts and no high boots with spurs, except when once a year they staged a Harugari Park a pageant in which they celebrated famous German battles. But even these battles were always put off until everybody had had plenty of lager beer, and when they were finally staged they looked more like a demonstration of old-fashioned folk dances.
. . .
But what a difference today! What A truculent, heel-clicking, noisemaking, desk-thumping crowd these Bund boys are! They put on warlike uniforms, even for regular business meetings, and they give the Hitler salute in exchanging the time of day I always thought, and I think I was right, that the old-time German-American deeply venerated the AmerIcan flag, and I am sure it was not in his heart to hold a mass meeting on Washington's Birthday, stand on a platform draped with Old Glory and then proceed to denounce American government officials and the American way of doing things.
. . .
If these modern-day Bund boys had staged one of their demonstrations in America twenty-five years ago, the German-Americans of the community would have given them the bum's rush without any outside assistance. And then they would have washed their hands, rolled in another keg of beer, and started singing. That was their strong point, song.
. . .
Of course a lot of German-Americans of today are in this Bund and boosting it heart and soul, but I am sure that the mas of Germans in this country are against it and would like to take a bung starter and use it on the nearest Nazi leader with both hands.
. . .
These Bundsters would offend anybody except fellow members and even at that, I guess they must do a lot of fighting among themselves. I do not think they are going anywhere in this country, although they are well dressed for it.
. . .
And I think they can count most of our German-Americans among their worst enemies. Yours in a lather,
Elmer Twitchell.
History Unfolded Contributor: Sharon A.
Location of Research: Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com)