1941 New Jersey "race hatred" trial
The 1941 New Jersey "race hatred" trial occurred after nine members of the German American Bund were indicted under that state's race hatred law. All were convicted including national leader Wilhelm Kunze on charges of "promoting hatred against people of the Jewish religion".[1] Sentences ranged from 12 to 14 months in state prison and fines as high as $2,000.
In early December 1941--days before the attack on Pearl Harbor and war with Japan and Germany--the New Jersey supreme court reversed the sentences of the nine Bund members ruling the law conflicted with the constitutional guarantees of free speech.[2]
Other defendants
- August Klapprott, of Andover, eastern Bund leader
- Matthias Kohler, of Irvington, state treasurer
- Leonard D. Clark, of New York, writer of the Bund magazine Free America
- Rev. John C. Fitting of Union City, state Bund secretary
- Four trustees of Bund Camp Nordland
- Richard Schiele of Paterson
- Paul Schaarschmidt of Paterson
- Carl Schipphorst of Glen Rock
- George Neuppert of Clifftside Park
