Bund Camp Nordland

Youth at a German American Bund camp stand at attention as the American flag and the Bund youth flag are lowered in a sundown ceremony in Andover, N.J., 21 July 1937

Bund Camp Nordland was a German American Bund recreational camp located near Andover, New Jersey on 204 acres of land.

History

The camp opened 18 July 1937. It is estimated around 10,000 German-Americans attended the grand opening of Camp Nordland. On 2 August 1937, some 3,000 members and friends of the German-American Bund of New Jersey visited Camp Nordland to swim, hike, picnic and drink beer, as even The New York Times reported. The camp was headed by Hermann von Busch. Von Busch received many death threats beginning in the early 1930s and later wrote:

How can you understand us? How can you understand the 6,000,000 German-born Germans living in America?

On 18 August 1940, an estimated eight hundred Bund members and two hundred Ku Klux Klansmen held a joint meeting at Camp Nordland. The state of New Jersey closed the camp in the Spring of 1941 when it passed it own anti-Bund law.

Generally, there were three different viewpoints that most German-Americans ascribed to: Many embraced their Americanism and rejected Germany altogether; A large portion recognized Germany as their homeland, the place where their parents came from and where their cousins still lived, but did not condone the actions of the new government there; Then there was a third group--the group that proudly embraced Nazi ideals and pledged their allegiance to them. This faction would come to be known as the Bund (which means federation). It was the American equivalent of the Nazi party, and boasted over 10,000 members--and its history is intricately tied to New Jersey. The Bund started out as a group known as “The Friends of the New Germany,” which had regional chapters scattered throughout the nation. The Bund was endorsed by the Nazi party in Germany and even given funding by them. In 1935, a Munich-born German Army veteran of WWI named Fritz Kuhn was chosen as the organization’s national leader, and the group was renamed the German-American Bund. Kuhn was hand-picked to head the Bund by Hitler himself, because he was a U.S. citizen, unlike former leaders who were German nationals. Kuhn’s first action as the new Bundesleiter was to travel to Berlin to meet with Hitler and get his blessing, and official recognition as the “American Fuhrer.” The Bund’s headquarters were located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, an enclave of German-American citizens, and recently immigrated Germans nationals. The Bund had other chapters in cities across the country with high populations of German immigrants. In New Jersey chapters were located in Clifton, Hackensack, Union City, Fairfield, North Bergen, Passaic, and Newark. Incredibly, the Bund promoted itself as a pro-American organization, preaching the values of isolationism and nationalism [...] Three such camps existed in New Jersey, one in Bloomingdale, one in Griggstown, and most importantly, Camp Nordland in Andover. Camp Nordland opened on July 18, 1937, and initially local residents were pretty happy about it. Its opening festivities drew 10,000 German-Americans to Andover, a town with a population of 479 people at the time. These out-of-towners patronized local businesses (though they were encouraged to only buy from Aryan owned shops). The Andover Fire Department even raffled off a car at the opening ceremonies of the camp, selling over 1,500 tickets. This flood of money led most locals to tolerate the Bund--despite their wearing of swastikas and military uniforms, the large portrait of Hitler they displayed on the main wall of their recreation hall, and the parade they held with their guests, a group of Italian-Americans dressed as Mussolini’s Blackshirts, who marched around giving the fascist salute.

See also

• Arthur H. Bell
• Edward James Smythe
• 1941 New Jersey "race hatred" trial
• Camp Siegfried