Franz K. Ferenz
Franz K. Ferenz (25 November 1889 – 24 February 1956) was a California member of the German American Bund and a defendant in the Great Sedition Trial of 1944. He later became a noted California artist.[1]
Life
Conflicting reports claim he was born in Vienna or in Burgenland, Austria-Hungary, a German minority enclave in Hungary. He came to the United States in October 1914 and later became a US citizen.
Ferenz was an avid promoter of National Socialism in southern California. He ran the Continental Book Shop at 2509 West 7th Street, Los Angeles and published a collection of essays titled Hitler: What Every American Should Know About the Man Whose Influence is Felt the World Over.[2] He leased several theaters where he showed films from NS Germany.
Ferenz joined the Friends of New Germany in September 1933, and later became a member of the German American Bund.
Ferenz worked with fellow accused seditionists William Dudley Pelley in Hollywood and with Robert Noble and Ellis O. Jones leaders of The Friends of Progress.[3] Ferenz was also a defendant in the Friends of Progress subversive trial. He was convicted of violating California's sedition law and served time in San Quentin Penitentiary.
One of those who monitored the activities of Franz Ferenz was Joseph Roos a Jewish immigrant from Vienna who reported on National Socialist activities in southern California. Roos prepared an unpublished manuscript on Franz Ferenz.[4]
Death
Franz K. Ferenz is buried in Grand View Memorial Park alongside his wife Dorothy (1902–1984) in Glendale, California.[5]
References
- ↑ Franz K. Ferenz on Ask Art
- ↑ Subversive Activities in the America First Committee in California
- ↑ American Political Trials, by Michal R. Belknap, p. 185
- ↑ Finding Aid of the Joseph Roos papers
- ↑ Franz K. Ferenz at Find a Grave
