OLD AND NEW HATE GROUPS NJ

Perhaps stimulated by the Boston Marathon bombings and the threats to our national and individual safety on May 5th the Star Ledger published an article by Tom Deignan titled “How the swastika spread from suburban New Jersey: Opinion” I quote some excerpts from the article:

“The intersection of Front Street and Flanders Avenue in Scotch Plains is a modest, tree-lined stretch of green lawns, electrical wires and tidy homes.

You’d never know that in the summer of 1941, it was considered an epicenter of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi propaganda machine in the United States, and ultimately targeted by federal agents bent on rooting out saboteurs.

Then, as now, there were widespread fears about America’s enemies plotting right in our own backyards.”

But a much-discussed new book (by Lynne Olson )— as well as the long-forgotten Nazi ties of a New Jersey family headed by a former Plainfield High School teacher — reminds us just how fiercely many Americans fought to stay out of the war.

At one point, Olson notes that Hitler’s operatives in America “oversaw the creation of a publishing house in New Jersey that put out anti-war” propaganda.

That publishing house was Flanders Hall Publishing, an operation hatched at Front Street and Flanders Avenue, in a building once owned by Plainfield High School teacher Adolf Hauck Sr.

What Olson’s book does not delve into is the extensive role Hauck and his sons played in an elaborate Nazi propaganda operation based in Scotch Plains. In the months leading up to the war, the Hauck family helped churn out countless books and other material approved by Nazi officials who reported to Third Reich propaganda czar Joseph Goebbels. Among their offerings were books written and praised by rabid anti-Semites as well as isolationist U.S. senators and congressmen, some of whom were sympathetic to Hitler and his regime.”

Among them was Hauck’s family. For decades, Hauck had been active in German-American charitable circles, according to Nazi exposé author John Roy Carlson. Hauck eventually befriended a Munich-born writer and activist named George Sylvester Viereck, who would go on to become “Nazi Germany’s chief publicist in the United States,” according to Olson.

By 1941, Viereck was “one of the most closely watched men in America.”

Viereck and Hauck — and eventually his New Jersey-born sons Siegfried, Detlev and Adolf Jr. — were part of a robust movement bent on keeping America out of war with Germany.

That firm, the column added, was “Flanders Hall: Publishers, Scotch Plains, N.J.” and was said to be located at “none other than the residence of Professor Adolf Hauck, instructor of German at Plainfield High School.” Hauck’s sons were registered with the State Department as officers of the Flanders Hall Publishing Company

When asked if they dabbled in anti-Semitic material; Siegfried Hauck stressed he simply wanted to keep America out of the war.

In November 1941 — just three weeks before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor catapulted the United States into World War II — Siegfried Hauck decided it was time to close up Flanders”

In the 30s and early 40s the Bund was very active in Central New Jersey. One of their favorite gathering places was a large property Schwaebische Alb including a restaurant in Warren off Washington Valley Rd.

I had a relationship with the Haucks from my High School years and as a physician. I cannot believe that Herr Hauck was anti-Semitic nor was his son Adolf Jr. and his wife Myrtle who were my patients for many years.

Yes, Sieqfried and Detley were Nazi supporters from the get-go but I was always convinced that Herr Hauck was embarrassed by their wartime activities.

Herr Hauck, as a teacher was a fearsome sight to impressionable 14-15 years old High School students. He was the concept of the Prussian imperialist; although he was not Prussian. He not only taught German but also French and ran the afterschool chess club. But his bearing was a façade; he was a dedicated gentle teacher who loved teaching and his students.

I have always said that the best and only stories (jokes) to tell about people are the ones about you: As a 14 year old sophomore I was taking 2nd year French; along with Latin another language was required. Hauck was my teacher.

One day we were reading from some book in French it could have been “The Three Little Pigs?” and he was calling on various students to read a paragraph when he woke me up out of my day dream to read a sentence that started with “oui, oui. oui”’

I stood up and began”Oowee, Oowee. Oowee”! Of course the class exploded in laughter and Herr Hauck said ‘Are you trying to be funny?” That was the end of that and my relationship with him in class and at the chess club was not strained.

After the war his Daughter-in law and son were my patient for years and there was a personal relationship that I had with most of my patients.

The other reason for this blog is that not only was the depression years an era of bigotry and racial as well as religious hatred and discrimination; but unfortunately there is a similar and perhaps even a more dangerous atmosphere nowadays. It is becoming more apparent with the opposition on immigration reform as well as the obstructions raised to the building of certain houses of worship especially mosques.

But before we continue there is a third reason why I wrote this Hack story. We must be careful not to paint everybody with the same brush; even if there may be a close association. Judge each as an individual.

The Southern Poverty Law Center a nonprofit that has been the leader in bringing to Justice various Klug Klux Klans and other hate groups including one that few years ago was bombing black congregation churches in the South has recently issued a list of hate and anti-American groups in the United States. (click) It lists 51** known groups in NJ, including some on this area.

The point is that we must be vigilant and not destroy the base of the freedom that we all enjoy by condoning and supporting anyone of these groups.

** The latest SPLC mailing  claims  there are 82 organized extremist groups in NJ; and 2405 active groups in the USA. Those are numbers to be concerned.